The Champ series

(On Cable TV, February 2020) I’m slowly but surely discovering my appreciation for King Vidor, an early filmmaker whose successes remain impressive. After familiarizing myself with silent-era movies such as The Big Parade and The Crowd, here is The Champ—a film whose profile remains heightened due to its 1979 remake. The remake, which I don’t recall seeing but probably did, probably accounts for the familiar nature of the premise—an aging boxer trying to take care of his son despite self-destructive bouts of alcoholism and gambling. The ending can be felt coming from a mile away, but it remains heartbreaking. While there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done afterward, the film does feel hard-hitting by 1931 standards—noticeably willing to confront issues related to debilitating alcoholism, for one thing, and with an ending that does everything necessary to make audiences cry. The Champ is not exactly my cup of tea, but it’s well done in its genre.