Day of the Fight

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Day of the Fight is a 1951 short subject (16-minute) documentary in black-and-white, which is notable as the first picture directed by Stanley Kubrick. (At some points in the film, Kubrick himself may be seen, operating a camera.)

It was based on an earlier photo feature he had done for Look (Prizefighter, published January 18, 1949), which featured Irish middleweight boxer Walter Cartier, during the height of his career.

Day Of The Fight shows a day in his life, in particular the day of his fight with black middleweight Bobby James, on April 17th, 1950. The film opens with a short section on boxing's history. We then follow Cartier through his day, as he prepares for the 10:00 P.M. bout. He eats breakfast, then goes to early mass and next eats lunch. At 4:00 P.M., he starts preparing for the fight, and by 8:00, he is waiting in his dressing room.

There he sets himself to become the fighter the occasion demands. We then see the fight itself, where he comes out victorious in a short match. (The fight features a noted knock-out scene, which was not filmed by Kubrick himself, as he was reloading a negative cartridge in his camera at the time of the blow.)

Although the original planned buyer of the picture went out of business, Kubrick was able to sell Day of the Fight to RKO Pictures for the $4,000, making the small profit of $100 on his $3,900 cost to make it.