The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight

1897
1h 40m

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Documentary film depicting the 1897 boxing match between James J. Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons in Carson City, Nevada on St. Patrick's Day. Originally running for more than 100 minutes, it is... Read allDocumentary film depicting the 1897 boxing match between James J. Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons in Carson City, Nevada on St. Patrick's Day. Originally running for more than 100 minutes, it is the world's first feature film.Documentary film depicting the 1897 boxing match between James J. Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons in Carson City, Nevada on St. Patrick's Day. Originally running for more than 100 minutes, it is the world's first feature film.

Director
- Enoch J. Rector
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.3/10

555

YOUR RATING

Director
- Enoch J. Rector
Stars

4User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win total

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Trivia
In the early 1980s, world class sports athlete and fight film collector, Jim Jacobs acquired surviving original nitrate print elements of this 63mm film. He took these elements to ASC cinematographer and film restoration specialist, Karl Malkames who designed and built a printer to copy the film to standard 35mm and 16mm formats. It's because of Jacobs and Malkames that these fragments of the film are viewable today.

Connections
Featured in Legendary Champions (1968)

User reviews4

Featured review

8/10

Fight!

The first known feature film! A very unusual filmed record of the Corbett-Fitzsimmons fight originally ran over 90 minutes in length. (The one I saw went for around 19 minutes.) The first feature film and the first film in widescreen, shown as early as 1897. That is rather remarkable considering how primitive many of the 1896 films we have preserved today look. This was a huge leap forward.

What is also interesting is the boxing technique. While I am not well-versed in boxing, what I see here does not look all that different from modern fights. My understanding was that boxing used to be more of an underground thing, but if this film is any indication that is clearly not the case.

Interestingly, Wyatt Earp was a reporter for The New York World at the time, which published his commentaries on the fight on March 14 and March 18. He disagreed with referee George Siler's decision when Fitzsimmons allegedly hit Corbett in the jaw, which should have resulted in a foul, coming after a knockout blow to Corbett's solar plexus.