THE LITTLE PICTURE HOUSE
1933 · Crime · USA · English · Black & White · approximately 62–63 minutes
About the film
A promising young boxer’s career is controlled by a crooked manager who plans to profit from a fixed championship fight. Romance and a boy’s admiration give the fighter reasons to change, but escaping the scheme means risking far more than his reputation.
The boxing ring offers a public test of courage, while the harder choices happen beyond the ropes. This story places ambition beside loyalty, asking what success is worth when the people arranging a fighter’s future have already decided how he should fall.
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Meet the cast
Cast
John Darrow — Frankie “Rocky” Morgan
Merna Kennedy — Mary Wilson
Natalie Moorhead — Babe
Mickey Rooney — Arthur Wilson
Matthew Betz — Flash McQuaid
J. Carrol Naish — John Wilson
Hank Mann — Tugboat
Production credits
Director: Albert Herman
Story: Mauri Grashin
Dialogue director: Victor Potel
Assistant director: Gordon Griffith
Production: Morris Shiller / Eagle Pictures Corp.
Photography: George Meeker
Editing: John Brugg
Music: Brown-Spencer
Sound recording: David Stoner
Behind the scenes
The working title was Fighting in the Dark. Production took place at Monogram Studios during April–May 1933, and the film opened in New York on 29 August. Contemporary reviews noted its use of real boxing footage.
Source: AFI Catalog — The Big Chance (1933).
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