Glory

I was born in Louisville, on Derby Day, in the year of the Horse. I grew up in horse farm country (Lexington), and I used to work in the horse race business (as a Video Engineer).

I enjoy this film, immensely, because there are not many great horse race films (Seabiscuit, was a near-classic). I really enjoy the location shots, the horse barn, the race tracks, the close-ups of the magnificent horses.

The acting is not great, despite some excellent character actors. The verisimilitude of horse racing, is however, spot-on. The writers obviously did their homework. Seeing the color photography of Keeneland, and Churchill Downs, in the 1950's is always a treat.

There have only been three (3) fillies, to win the Kentucky Derby: Regret, Genuine Risk, and Winning Colors. So, the title horse has to be a filly! The horse race crowd, loves an underdog, look at the enthusiasm for Mine That Bird, who was a 50-1 shot in the 2009 Derby.

Long live the races!!

We were all pulling for Maggie O'Brien back then. She had been a child star in the early 40s and we all fell in love with her. So, when he was a teen ager and made this film at 17, we wanted her to make it. Alas, it wasn't in the cards. Even the great character actors Walter Brennan, Charlotte Greenwood and Sasha Kinsky couldn't add to a racehorse story that stirred about as much excitement as watching a dog scratch fleas. She played the guitar, looked cute and tried to be charming but that's a far as it went.

Her age mate, Jane Fonda, was waiting in the wings and would take off. Both Margret O'Brien and Jane Fonda were born the same year but Jane had the talent and Maggie couldn't market hers.

Such are the blessings of the muses. If this film rolls around sometime on the late show-- there's no video or DVD at this writing-- give it a look-see. Maggie was cute and talented. It's worth seeing.

A perfectly dreadful film that was poorly directed especially in the comedy sequences where in the Director Butler's idea of comedy is to have his actors gesture wildly and contort themselves making the audience more nauseous than merry. Margaret O'Brien was a complete horror..I suppose some found her cute when she was small,I always found her contrived and cold..lite years away from Shirley Temple! Here she proves herself to be the consummate amateur constantly looking at the camera with the glazed look of an anvil hitting her over the head! The songs that she is armed with are certainly musical bombs altho I will admit that she has a passable voice.. I would recommend this film for friends to assist you in laughing at it's unintentional humor and throw old shoes at the screen..Pity that this was Charolette Greenwood's last performance,but not even this great lady can save this train wreck with hooves.

Bit of fluff about a teenage girl named Clarabel (child actress Margaret O'Brien in a grown-up role), living in a trailer on a Kentucky horse ranch, who falls in love - with the new little chestnut filly just born on the ranch, who she names "Glory". When Glory becomes a yearling, Clarabel's "Gram" (Charlotte Greenwood) puts the horse up for sale (she has warned Clarabel to "never fall in love with one horse") for they need the money badly - but sad, sad Clarabel is helped out by local millionaire youth Chad and a horse doctor who prevents the sale. Clarabel and Chad have tons in common since, after all, all he talks about is horses, apparently - one problem, it's rumored he is engaged to one Candy Trent, who is one rich stuck-up snob. Well, Glory is trained for racing and proves to be a fast runner, and Clarabel decides to enter her prized horse in the "Kentucky Derby", even though it's rare for a filly to have a chance to win against the colts.

This film is a decent B-movie with a racehorse theme, mildly entertaining, painlessly pleasant. It oddly switches gear about the middle of the way through into a semi-musical (with several rather mediocre songs thrown in). Clarabel plays guitar and sings to her horse, then suddenly she is heard in the stables by a good-looking radio celebrity and hired to sing on his show, a second little romance to follow for her (but you just know she'll always be loyal to horse-lovin' Chad). There is a bit of history of thoroughbreds related at the beginning of the film including a shot of real-life Triple Crown winning race horse Citation; the finale features real footage of a Kentucky Derby race. For fans of Margaret O'Brien, it is so nice to see her in one of her almost adult roles - she's a charmer, but unfortunately the weak script doesn't really give her much of a chance to shine here. A side story features favorite character actor Walter Brennan as her "Uncle Ned" who constantly bickers and yells back and forth with Clarabel's Gram (but it appears they secretly really like each other!). Cute, lightly entertaining film - nothing great though.

Obviously, this a 'feel good' film, but that is typical of the 50's when everyone was good, honest and Ike was president.

Margaret O'Brien and Walter Brennan carry this film. I thought Margaret was just as good an actress as in her childhood roles. She is just as pretty as Natalie Wood and I have never figured out why she wasn't cast in more adult roles. Was she adverse to playing femme fa tales? Did she lack the figure of a Janet Leigh or Elizabeth Taylor (note: O'Brien had small breasts and large thighs, calves). Was she flat in acting roles that required an adult theme? Or, was she just sick of acting? The film is not of the quality of 'National Velvet' but pretty good family fare. Personally, I think Margaret O'Brien would have been a superstar had she been born twenty years later.

I thought Margaret was 13 in 'Little Women' made in 1948 and released in 1949, but, if she was 19 in 1956 she would have been 11 in 'Little Women.' Many lay critics have told me she was 13 in 'Little Women,' Janet Leigh was 17, Elizabeth Taylor was 16 and June Alyson was 34.

Margaret O'Brien was very attractive in 'Glory,' and I would rank her with Natalie Wood and Janet Leigh in looks and acting ability. Taylor? NOT! Someone, please tell me why Margaret O'Brien didn't have an adult career at the level of the others mentioned in my review