The Champ (1931 film)

For the 1979 remake, see The Champ (1979 film). For other uses, see The Champ (disambiguation).

The Champ
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKing Vidor
Written byFrances Marion
Leonard Praskins
Produced byKing Vidor
Harry Rapf (uncredited)
Irving Thalberg (uncredited)
StarringWallace Beery
Jackie Cooper
Irene Rich
Roscoe Ates
CinematographyGordon Avil
Edited byHugh Wynn
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • November 9, 1931 (1931-11-09)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$356,000[1]
Box office$1.6 million[1]

The Champ is a 1931 American pre-Code film starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper and directed by King Vidor from a screenplay by Frances Marion, Leonard Praskins and Wanda Tuchock. The picture tells the story of a washed-up alcoholic boxer (Beery) attempting to put his life back together for the sake of his young son (Cooper).

Beery won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance (sharing the prize with Fredric March for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), Frances Marion won the Academy Award for Best Story, and the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director.[2] In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career.[3]

  1. ^ a b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles, California: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^ Osborne, Robert. 70 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards. New York: Abbeville Press, 1999; ISBN 0-7892-0484-3
  3. ^ "Berlinale 2020: Retrospective "King Vidor"". Berlinale. Retrieved February 28, 2020.