Directed by:
King VidorScreenplay:
Frances MarionCinematography:
Gordon AvilCast:
Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich, Roscoe Ates, Edward Brophy, Hale Hamilton, Marcia Mae Jones, Frank Hagney, Dannie Mac Grant, Lee Phelps, Tom McGuireVOD (1)
Plots(1)
Wallace Beery stars as Andy "Champ" Purcell, the former heavyweight champion, now down and out, who is kept alive by the devotion of his young son, Dink (Jackie Cooper). The champ is trying to make a comeback but continues to backslide into drinking and gambling in Tijuana dives, despite the efforts of Dink and his friends to save the boxer from himself. While gambling, the Champ does manage to win a horse, and while he and Dink are at the track, the boy runs into his mother, Linda (Irene Rich), although neither knows the other. When she speaks with the Champ, he agrees that the boy would be better off living with her and her wealthy husband, Tony (Hale Hamilton). Hiding his love behind a mask of indifference, the Champ convinces the boy to go to the country to live with his mother. But Dink can't abide the separation and runs away to rejoin his father in time for the biggest fight of his career. An unusually understated and affecting performance by Beery along with good work by Cooper erase some of the triteness of the melodrama, which must have spoken powerfully to depression-era audiences whose numbers undoubtedly included more than a few "Champs" struggling to care for their children. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Wallace Beery
USA
Best movies:
Beggars of Life (1928)
Behind the Door (1919)
Robin Hood (1922)
Jackie Cooper
USA
Best movies:
Producers' Showcase (1954) (series)
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006)
Irene Rich
USA
Best movies:
The Mortal Storm (1940)
Lady Windermere's Fan (1925)
The Champ (1931)
Roscoe Ates
USA
Best movies:
Gone with the Wind (1939)
City Girl (1930)
Freaks (1932)
Edward Brophy
USA
Best movies:
The Cameraman (1928)
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
Dumbo (1941)
Hale Hamilton
USA
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
Marcia Mae Jones
USA
Best movies:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
These Three (1936)
The Way We Were (1973)
Frank Hagney
Australia
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Modern Times (1936)
The General (1926)
Dannie Mac Grant
USA
Best movies:
The Big Trail (1930)
The Champ (1931)
Platinum Blonde (1931)
Lee Phelps
USA
Best movies:
Love Crazy (1941)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Tom McGuire
UK
Best movies:
After the Thin Man (1936)
Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)
City Girl (1930)