The Champ (1931)

豆知識

• 撮影地：メキシコ
• 受賞：2 · ノミネート：4. 主な受賞：アカデミー主演男優賞; アカデミー原案賞

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, Frances Marion won the Academy Award for Best Story, and the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. 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.

Production

Screenwriter Frances Marion wrote the title role specifically for Wallace Beery. His flourishing career in silent movies had almost abruptly ended with the advent of sound films. However, Beery returned in 1930 with an Academy Award nomination for The Big House and the huge box office success of Min and Bill with Marie Dressler.

Beery claimed to have turned down a $500,000 offer from a syndicate of Indian studios to play Buddha in order to take the role in The Champ. Cooper was paid $1,500 a week while working on the film. A special outdoor set, rather than location shooting, was built to accommodate the Tijuana horse racing track scenes.

The film had its world premiere on November 9, 1931, at the Astor Theatre in New York City. Beery flew his own plane from Los Angeles, California cross-country to New York to attend the premiere. After the film's debut, Beery declared Cooper was a "great kid", but that he would not work with him again. Beery that promise within a year when he joined Cooper for the remake of Treasure Island and the film The Bowery.

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