Body and Soul is a 1947 American film noir sports drama directed by Robert Rossen and starring John Garfield, Lilli Palmer, Hazel Brooks, Anne Revere, and William Conrad. The screenplay by Abraham Polonsky is partly based on the 1939 film Golden Boy. With cinematography by James Wong Howe, the film is considered by some to be one of the best films about boxing. It is also a cautionary tale about the lure of money—and how it can derail even a strong common man in his pursuit of success. The film uses the song Body and Soul for the main musical theme and underscoring throughout. Premise Charley Davis, against the wishes of his mother, becomes a boxer. As he becomes more successful the fighter becomes surrounded by shady characters, including an unethical promoter named Roberts, who tempts the man with a number of vices. Charley finds himself faced with increasingly difficult choices. When talented fighter Ben Chaplin finds himself blacklisted from a title shot because of his race, Davis hires him as a well-paid sparring partner. Davis begins to have a moral awakening when Chaplin has a seizure and dies in the training camp ring. Davis finds the moral courage to win a title fight that he was supposed to throw and shrugs off Roberts' post-fight threats. Cast John Garfield as Charley Davis Lilli Palmer as Peg Born Hazel Brooks as Alice Anne Revere as Anna Davis William Conrad as Quinn Joseph Pevney as Shorty Polaski Lloyd Gough as Roberts Canada Lee as Ben Chaplin Art Smith as David Davis Larry Steers as Fight Spectator (uncredited) Reception Critical response When the film was released, critic Bosley Crowther praised the film, writing, "Body and Soul has up and done it, with interest and excitement to spare, and we heartily recommend it in its present exhibition at the Globe ... Still [Abraham Polonsky has] written his story with such flavor and such slashing fidelity to the cold and greedy nature of the fight game, and Robert Rossen has directed it with such an honest regard for human feelings and with such a searching and seeing camera, that any possible resemblance to other fight yarns, living or dead, may be gratefully allowed." Film critic Dennis Schwartz discussed that the film had a definite sociopolitical point of view and praised Garfield's work. He, wrote, "Robert Rossen's Body and Soul becomes more than a boxing and