Pride of the Blue Grass

Animal movies - I don't care if they're B movies done on the cheap, I'm as into them as I was Gone with the Wind, Rebecca, Vertigo - all the greats. I can't watch dog stories, though, even if I know the dog lives. I get too nervous.

Pride of the Blue Grass is the true story of the horse Elmer Gantry, known as Gantry the Great, who became a great steeplechaser. In the film, he's originally trained as a racehorse but contracts a disease and becomes blind.

A dedicated young man, Danny Lowman (James McCallion), originally owns the horse with his dad, who was ousted from racing due to a scandal. The foal, Gantry, is rescued from a fire after birth, during which Danny's father and Gantry's mother are killed.

When Lowman Sr.'s effects are to be sold to pay his debts, Danny runs away with Gantry. He gives the horse to his good friend, Midge (Edith Fellows) whose father (Granville Bates) also races horses.

Two years pass, and it's time for Gantry to start training. He's impossible, and the trainers and Col. Bob, Midge's dad, give up on him.

Around this time, Midge learns that Danny is in trouble and up before a judge. She has him released to her custody. He begins working with Gantry and turns him into a racing champ. Then blindness strikes.

I loved it -- it's a programmer that comes in less than 1:15, but directed by a pro, Vincent Sherman. The actors give it their heartfelt best, as does Gantry, who plays himself.

Some exciting race scenes as well as a steeplechase.

Believe it or not, the actor playing Col. Bob, Granville Bates was only 57 when this film was made. He was a respected and prolific character actor who died the next year of a heart attack.

As for Gantry, he was actually a show horse, an exhibition jumper, and racehorse. His disease process of Periodic Ophthalmia actually began when he was 11. Today anti-inflammatories could treat him, but there were none in the 1930s.

After he went totally blind, his owner, seeing how miserable he was, started to ride him again and re-taught him to jump and gallop with verbal cues. The horse perked up right away. His owner said, "It is not miserable to be blind...it is miserable not to be able to endure blindness."

Like any other actor, Gantry made personal appearances for Warner Brothers. Lovely film - if you see it on TCM, watch it.

In the blue grass country of Kentucky, dimpled teenager James McCallion (as Danny Lowman) is overjoyed upon the arrival, during a thunderstorm, of young "Gantry the Great". Later, lightning strikes his thoroughbred horse stables, leading to the deaths of both Mr. McCallion's father and the young colt's mother. Since the deceased John Butler (as Mack Lowman) was accused of fixing races, creditors seize son McCallion's assets. The now penniless lad leaves "Gantry" in the care of plucky platonic girlfriend Edith Fellows (as Midge Griner), then leaves to become a jockey. "Gantry" grows up on Ms. Fellows farm, under the care of her horse ranch owner father Granville Bates (as Bob Griner)...

Elsewhere, McCallion has run afoul of the law. Actually innocent, he returns to work for Ms. Fellows' father, upon her insistence. Meanwhile, "Gantry" has proved difficult to train. Inevitably, the troubled McCallion and the frisky thoroughbred work magic at the race track, then tragedy strikes… This will be no surprise to anyone watching the film's opening, but it doesn't really extinguish interest. The story has you believing in "Gantry" jumping to victory. In his starring role, McCallion is very appealing. You may even forgive "Danny" for using likable "Domino" Sam McDaniels as a guinea pig. This unassuming film is nicely photographed by Ted McCord and tightly edited by Frank DeWar with director William McGann.

****** Pride of the Blue Grass (10/7/39) William McGann ~ James McCallion, Edith Fellows, Sam McDaniels, Granville Bates

Race horses have been a subject for motion pictures since before there were motion pictures -- Eadward Muybridge's series of photos, meant to figure out how a horse runs, is considered an important datum in the movies' history. This story, about how a boy trained his blind horse to be a champion steeplechaser, has the added fillip of having the actual horse play himself.

But the story is given the B movie treatment and it shows great indication of having been cut down, past the fat into the muscle and perhaps the bone -- there's apparently a wonderful back story about the breakup of the juvenile's father and the stable owner, and a clear sense that he came to no good -- although exactly what he did is never made clear.

Nonetheless, in the context of a small budget, the actors do a fine job. Granville Bates, another actor with a familiar face usually relegated to uncredited roles or the cutting room floor, does a nice turn as the grouchy Colonel Griner, a role that could have been very monotonous.

Tried to find this film for many years....Thank you TMC for having the old horse stories marathon last week. PLEASE DO IT AGAIN.

After watching the film ( a real B Movie with a capital " B " ), you get the feel it has been minced in the editing room BUT, the acting is great and using a cute foal in the opening scenes later to become the " real blind horse, Elmer Gantry - quite an amazing animal " draws you into the story. Now, the question - HOW MUCH IS THE TRUE STORY ? Did he run in the Derby to finish 2nd and then his blindness was discovered, and did he win the Grand National in Europe? Makes you want to do some research homework. I did.

I fell in love with a gray roan mare named " LADY " at a farm close to my home who had moon blindness due to an infection - but just one eye affected....so I was a "sucker" for this movie. It's a film of REDEMPTION and OVERCOMING A DISABILITY and I highly recommend it.

Now how much is TRUE ------------------------ due your homework.

A Teacher from NY did, HGB