Partly a story about the rise of a poor young boxer(Audie Murphy, as Tommy Shea), from the wrong side of the tracks, who has to decide whether to play straight or follow the dictates of a crime boss(Harry Cram), who wants him to throw an occasional fight. Also, partly, it's the story of an unlikely romance between unsophisticated Tommy and bookish society girl Dorothy(Barbara Rush). Her wealthy father: Robert Mallinson(Jeff Morrow) was a good amateur boxer in his day, and continues to work out in the gym in his house. He lets Dave Bernstein, an honest trainer, work with his clients, of which Tommy is one, in this gym. Harry Cram is the kingpin crime boss promoter. At first, Tommy wants nothing to do with him. But, after he seems to be picking up Dorothy as a girlfriend, he gets greedy, and succumbs to the suggestion of her father that if he wants to advance quickly, he should work with Cram. But Dorothy gets wind of this. She blames her father for corrupting Tommy, and walks out on both. As a result, Tommy changes his mind, and, the night before the fight, tells Cram he wont throw the fight. Cram sends his goons over to beat up Tommy, mostly concentrating on his chest, apparently breaking most of his ribs. Very surprisingly, when Tommy is revived, he says he will go on with the fight. Assuming Tommy's ribs were damaged as bad as said, it was very dangerous, not to mention, very painful, for him to be engaging in a boxing match! Tommy lost the early rounds, but finally knocked out his opponent with a flurry of punches. Since this was a championship fight, Tommy was happy to receive a good purse. Dorothy saw the fight, and was happy Tommy changed his mind about throwing the fight. But, the doc said Tommy's boxing days were over(punctured lung?). Looked like Tommy and Dorothy might make a couple after all. Ray was Tommy's manager through most of this, and had a connection with Cram...... Dani Crayne played the sexy blond at Ray's party, who made a play for Tommy when he arrived: a minimal 'bad' girl role to contrast with Dorothy's 'good' girl characterization. .......In conclusion, this is an unremarkable film, which I believe has a fatal flaw in having Tommy in a boxing match with broken ribs. The pain, alone, would have greatly distracted him, not to mention the distinct possibility of puncturing nearby organs, such as lungs.

Occasionally Universal Pictures let Audie Murphy do some work other than westerns. I'm sure he was grateful for the change of scenery and pace and a chance to vary his roles. Rural Texas country kid Murphy does quite well in World In My Corner as an aspiring young boxer from the mean streets of Jersey City.

Getting laid off from a job means that Murphy has to give his all to a boxing career. He's unpolished, but has the instinct. Two people take an interest in him, millionaire sportsman Jeff Morrow and old time fight manager John McIntire. And Murphy takes an interest in Morrow's daughter Barbara Rush.

The conflict in this film is whether Murphy will keep his integrity or turn himself over to racketeer promoter Howard St.John. When this film came out there were rumblings about organized crime's involvement in boxing and soon it would come out at the Senate rackets committee hearings.

World In My Corner has Murphy getting the most of what boxing could give him. But he pays a heavy price for it.

As you can see a great cast of players back Murphy in this film. I would also include Tommy Rall in a non-musical role as one of Murphy's friends from Jersey City. He's quite a conniver, but does show he's Murphy's friend in the end.

A very nicely done boxing film that gets too little attention.

The mid-1950s proved to be the last stand for Hollywood's traditional boxing movie. (In 1955, for example, Tony Curtis appeared in "The Square Jungle" while John Derek donned gloves for "The Leather Saint.") Audie Murphy's "World in My Corner" may be the best of this lot even though it follows a well-worn formula: poor but honest boxer from the wrong side of the tracks gets a taste of the high-life, falls for a rich society girl, and is tempted to "take a dive" for money.

The sole variation here is that rich-girl Barbara Rush is also the good-girl. (In some movies, the rich-girl is portrayed as a flashy blonde temptress who tries to lure the boxer into corruption. Opposing her, of course, is a poor but devoted good-girl who dresses modestly and who has dark hair. Guess which girl the boxer winds up with in the final scene.)

At least "World in My Corner" seems aware of its routine nature. Rather than trying to hide it, the movie makes it an asset by playing things straight, avoiding unnecessary detours and keeping both plot and characters within a narrow focus. The result may not be stylish or innovative but it does offer a modest degree of satisfaction.

Audie Murphy may never have been Oscar-material but he's well-cast here and does passably well in the many boxing sequences. Needless to say, he often appears bare-chested and this opportunity to exploit a young actor's "beefcake" potential partially explains the appeal of the boxing movie. Had Ben Affleck come along a generation or two ago, for example, he'd probably have had at least one boxing movie under his belt, though his chest would probably have been shaved for the sake of "decency."