O'Shaughnessy's Boy [DVD]

From boxing ring and Bowery to seagoing pirate ship, Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper made swell screen travelers. Their fourth outing takes them to the big top for another heart-tugger in The Champ mode. Animal trainer Windy O'Shaughnessy (Beery) has an adoring son (Spanky McFarland), but an unstable trapeze-artist wife (Leona Maricle), who bolts with the child when she can no longer stand the sawdust life. Further tragedy strikes when a distraught O'Shaughnessy loses an arm in a tussle with a tiger. Years later, father and grown son (now played by Cooper) are reunited after the mother dies, and the resentful youngster must spend the summer with his dad in the circus, where the old man must regain his nerve as an animal man to win permanent custody -- and the reluctant affection -- of the boy. With warm support from Clarence Muse, chill treachery from Sara Haden as a possessive aunt and lustrous James Wong Howe cinematography placing Beery and the audience in the thrilling center ring, you'll cheer for O'Shaughnessy's Boy.