The Man from Down Under

The Man from Down Under is an American 1943 drama film starring Charles Laughton as a man who raises two war orphans.

After the end of World War I, Australian soldier Jocko Wilson Charles Laughton admires the spirit of a destitute Belgian orphan who fights a larger boy. He feeds the child, whom he names Nipper, and the boys younger sister Mary. When he receives orders to go home, he gets his friend Ginger Gaffney Clyde Cook to smuggle the pair aboard their ship. Then, realizing he knows nothing about raising children, he proposes to his singer girlfriend Aggie Dawlins Binnie Barnes. She accepts. However, he gets drunk and is nearly arrested in the confusion, he forgets and sails home without her.An exboxer, Jocko buys a tavern and trains the boy to fight, while Mary is sent off to a boarding school. The adult Nipper Richard Carlson gets to fight the boxing champion of the British Empire for the title. Jocko takes all bets, even after Ginger warns him he cannot cover them all if Nipper loses. Mary Donna Reed graduates and returns home. ........

Source: Wikipedia