MGM tried to re-capture the magic of The Champ (1932) by moving the story and stars Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper from the boxing ring to a circus. It was a formula they would return to repeatedly over the years, but in 1935, they had yet to go to the well too often. The result is a touching tale of a wild-animal trainer (Beery) trying to get his adoring son (first Spanky McFarland, then Cooper) back after his wife deserts him. Complicating matters is Beery's loss of an arm when, distraught over losing wife and child, he gets too close to one of the circus lions. Despite the formulaic plot, this low-budget MGM film has a lot to recommend it, including strong acting from the stars, Lenore Maricle as Berry's straying wife, Sara Haden as his hateful sister-in-law and African-American actor Clarence Muse (who almost won the role of Sam in 1942's Casablanca) as his assistant. Chief among the film's delights is the cinematography of James Wong Howe, who had worked with Beery a year earlier on Viva Villa! (1934). Here he has the double challenge of making Beery appear to have lost an arm and creating the illusion that he's in the same cage as his lion and tiger co-stars.

By Frank Miller