The Champ (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) will probably extract more tears than any other cinema made in 1931, with the possible exception of The Sin of Madelon Claudet (TIME, Nov. 9). It is about a broken-down pugilist (Wallace Beery) and his ragamuffin son (Jackie Cooper). There is really only one situationJackie Cooper struggling to go on worshiping his father in the face of Beery's unworthy behavior (guzzling, crap-shooting, brawling in bad company) and Beery, shamed at his shiftlessness, struggling to preserve his son's loyalty. Every time Beery gets drunk, gambles away the racehorse which he has presented...
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