The Knockout (1932) User Reviews (4)

The Boy Friends

[jtyroler · 5/10 · 24 August 2008]

Hal Roach made several shorts with a group of young actors that he nicknamed "The Boy Friends." The "lead" Boy Friend was Mickey Daniels (as Mickey), a former Our Gang member - Mickey's the one with all the freckles. Mary Kornman, another Our Gang alum, plays Mary. As a general rule of thumb, when actors are repeatedly playing characters with the same first name as the actor, you're probably not watching award-winning acting. Grady Sutton plays Grady "Alabam" Sutton.

The Boy Friends were apparently college students and this gives you some idea of what college life was like in the early 30s and some of the fads - like Mickey's sweatshirt having a lot of writing on it. At the beginning, keep an eye out for a Mickey Mouse doll. Mickey, the actor, not the mouse, is very bashful when Mary sits next to him. In keeping with the Disney undertones, "Alabam" laughs a lot like Goofy. Apparently Sophomores are supposed to be frightened of Freshmen as part of some sort of abusive hazing ritual. Mickey knocks out the freshman boxing champ after the "champ" is trying to pick up Mary.

The Boyfriends are the oldest college freshmen outside of "Grease's" high school seniors.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 9 October 2017]

Occasionally funny but silly and preposterous, this Hal Roach short focuses on silent "Little Rascals" vet Mickey Daniels who, having never kissed a girl before, becomes a fight sensation after the first smackaroo, knocking out the Freshman champ and going up against the reigning champ. He's aided by the effeminate Grady Sutton and blonde bombshell Mary Kornman (also of the silent "Little Rascals") to go the full round with the nasty "Slug" (Gordon Douglas) who earlier kicked Daniels' derriere like a football. It seems that just a kiss can send the hyena laughing Daniels into Jake LaMotta, and that does lead to some funny moments. But in spite of those laughs, there are some groans too, and goofy Daniels provides many, just as he did in the few "Our Gang" shorts he did as an adult. Kornman's meddling glamour girl freshman only goes to show that getting mixed up with a ditz like this can only get you into trouble.

A funny boxing match

[bugsmoran29 · 10/10 · 25 February 2019]

I have to admit I really enjoyed the boxing match in this film. Mickey Daniels was a delight in and outside of the ring. I must also admit I enjoyed all fifteen short films made by Hal Roach and The Boyfriends. The girl friends are also sassay and sexy in this one!

Decent 'Boy Friends' Entry

[Michael_Elliott · 20 October 2009]

Knockout, The (1932)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent entry in Hal Roach's "The Boy Friends" series has Mickey (Mickey Daniels) at a co-ed dance where he admits to never kissing a girl. Soon a bunch of older guys bust in and humiliate Mickey but, after receiving a kiss, he ends up knocking out a Freshman boxer. With the big fight the next day, Mickey must fill in and go against the Sophomore boxer. I believe this is my fourth or fifth film from the series and I must admit that they're growing on me even though this one here isn't the best of the bunch. I'm really not sure what to think of Mickey because, on one hand, he's incredibly annoying but at the same time there's something about him that makes me feel sorry for him so rooting for him in something like this is very easy to do. I thought he gave a pretty good performance here and he's certainly not scared to embarrass himself because there are several times here he's made to look incredibly stupid. The supporting male actors pretty much stay in the background but Mary Kornman is very good in her part as the girlfriend. I think the film has a few too many spots without any laughs but when the big boxing match comes up there are plenty of moments that managed to make me laugh including the "trip up" to where Mickey is finally able to get a few punches in.