Day of the Fight

Day of the Fight is a 15-minute short documentary about the middleweight Irish boxer Walter Cartier. While working as a photographer for Look magazine in the late '40s, Stanley Kubrick encountered Cartier through a photo shoot and article entitled "Prizefighter." Inspired, Kubrick met with him and created his first film, which was then purchased by RKO. Narrated by news reporter Douglas Edwards, the film follows the boxer and his twin brother, Vincent Cartier, during a typical day of eating, praying, and preparing to fight. The conclusion involves a fight against Bobby James, which was filmed live in 1950 at Laurel Gardens. Day of the Fight premiered in 1951 as part of RKO-Pathé's "This Is America" series.