A Million to One

John Kent (Monte Blue') wins the Olympic decathlon but is disqualified on a charge of professionalism. William Stevens (Kenneth Harlan), the second-place finisher, is awarded the title and trophies. Six years later Kent is running a moving truck for a living and training his young son Johnny (Bruce Bennett) to become an athlete. Chance brings about a meeting between Ken and Stevens, now a prosperous business man, with a little daughter, Joan (Joan Fontaine), who makes friends with young Johnny. As the years pass, the grown-up Johnny has developed to where he stands a chance of becoming an Olympic athlete and is in love with Joan. Mr. Stevens also wants to see Johnny succeed, and is annoyed that his attention to Joan may interfere with his training. Rich girl Patricia Stanley (Suzanne Kaaren) is also interested in Johnny, a proceeding which suits wealthy young athlete Duke Hale (Reed Howes), who is Johnny's main rival in sports and for Joan. Stevens, in an effort to repay the elder Kent for the wrong done him in stripping him of his rightful Olympic title, makes Johnny a member of the athletic club that sponsors the preliminary track-and-field events leading to the choosing of the American team for the Olympic Games. Johnny wins first place in the initial trials and is carried away by the flattery of the social set, which leads to a quarrel and separation from his father. At a party given by Patricia, Johnny drinks heavily, and Joan, feeling she is partly to blame for Johnny breaking his training, tells him she is through if him, hoping to bring him to his senses.