Stunt-rider Kit Denton is the star of his father’s circus, Rainey’s Greater Shows. When the circus arrives in the small Western town of Big Ben, Denton tells his son that he’s been on the run for eighteen years and is a hunted man in this county. He explains that he left Big Ben when Kit was only a baby after being framed for murder and says he can only appear in public in clown makeup. Chris McDonald, who runs the county, has forbidden any circus from performing in Big Ben ever since the husband of Martha, whom McDonald loves, ran off to join the circus, taking her only child. Martha, still heartbroken, refuses McDonald’s offer of marriage, hoping for the day when her husband and son will return to her. When Bart Connors, one of McDonald’s men, orders the circus out of town, Denton refuses to leave. Kit then catches Connors trying to molest Kit’s girl friend, Alecia Rousselet, and beats him up, but his father, who is against any man getting involved with a woman, orders Kit not to fight over Alecia. Kit then tells Alecia that he never met his mother and that he is forbidden from even speaking of her. McDonald then warns Denton that he will never finish his performance and orders Connors to shoot him during the show. As he buys a horse, Kit meets his mother, unaware of who she is, and invites her to the show. Connors then reports to McDonald that Denton will appear as a clown in the show. The show begins and, after many daring and sensational feats, “The Flying Dentons” begin their acrobatic routine. When Denton is seated in a rope swing near the top of the tent, Connors shoots him. Denton falls and dangles by one arm, but Kit rescues him just in time, then goes after the killer. Kit fights Connors and gets him to confess that McDonald was behind the attempted murder. Kit confronts McDonald, who then realizes that Kit is Martha’s long-lost son. While Connors is being taken away by the sheriff, he shoots McDonald and, as he dies, he confesses to Kit that he framed Denton for murder because he loved Martha. He then points to Martha and dies. Denton, who received only a flesh wound, learns from Kit that McDonald tricked him into believing that he was a murderer all these years. Kit then escorts his mother into Denton’s tent and they are reunited. More on Wikipedia
Watch The Gallant Fool (1933)
