MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Wallace Beery won an Academy Award for his tour de force performance as a washed-up boxer. The bibulous Beery travels from one tank-town bout to another in the company of his faithful son Jackie Cooper and his stuttering manager Roscoe Ates. Hoping for a comeback in Tijuana, Beery is approached by his ex-wife Irene Rich, now married to wealthy Hale Hamilton. Rich convinces Beery that Cooper would be better off with her. Feigning brusqueness, Beery orders his son to get lost, hoping that the kid will be disillusioned enough to remain with his mother. But Cooper runs away from his new home and shows up back in Tijuana, just as Beery is in the middle of his comeback bout. Cheered on by his son, Beery knocks his opponent cold--and then collapses himself. Dying, Beery tells the tearful Cooper that everything will be all right if the boy returns to his mom. While Wallace Beery was capable of laying on pathos with a trowel, his final scene in The Champ can still move an audience to tears--far more so than the similar scene between Jon Voight and Rick Schroeder in the wearisome 1979 remake. In 1953, writer Frances Marion updated and revised her Champ script, changed the washed-up pug to a washed-up comedian, and came up with The Clown, one of Red Skelton's few dramatic vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Screen: Black and White
• Subtitle: English, Spanish, French
• Features:
  • • cc Colortone Revue short Crazy Horse
    • Radio production with Wallace Beery
    • Theatrical trailer
    • Subtitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Won Best Actor - 1931- (Wallace Beery)
•     Won Best Original Screenplay - 1931- (Frances Marion)
•     Nominated Best Director - 1931- (King Vidor)
•     Nominated Best Picture - 1931-

• Film Daily

•     Won 10 Best Films - 1931

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  King Vidor

• Producer:

  Harry Rapf

• Screenwriter:

  Frances Marion, Leonard Praskins, Wanda Tuchock

• Cinematographer:

  Gordon Avil

• Editor:

  Hugh Wynn

• Art Director:

  Cedric Gibbons

REVIEW:

• A 1931 tear-jerker famous for Wallace Beery's portrayal of a has-been boxer, The Champ was one of the earliest boxing melodramas, and many of its classic scenes became staples of later imitators. Beery plays a fighter who wants to make a comeback, but only his devoted son (played by the famous child star Jackie Cooper) believes in him. For his all-out performance, Beery won an Oscar, as did writer Frances Marion for her original story. Famed director King Vidor was making a successful transition from a long career in silent films to talkies; he was also Oscar-nominated. Beery and Cooper became a team, appearing together in two subsequent films. Cooper had starred in the original Our Gang series of the 1920s that inspired The Little Rascals. Writer Marion reworked the script in the 1950s for a remake called The Clown, which starred Red Skelton. A remake more closely following the original came in 1979, starring Jon Voight and Rick Schroder. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi