Sporting Blood

Sporting Blood was Clark Gable's first top-billed role, playing a gangster with a softer side, willing to take the shots but not at the expense at the life of a dumb animal. Just one problem though; he doesn't show up until halfway through! I've seen some movies in which it takes a long time for the top-billed star to show up but this is the most extreme example I've seen of this; so don't go in expecting Gable from scene 1. Sporting Blood has an odd narrative structure with characters introduced late in the game and a second half which largely contrasts the first half but it works. The first half takes place in a peaceful farm paradise, the latter in a world of gangsters in which Tommy Boy becomes a commodity merely being passed around.

Sporting Blood is a romantic tribute to the world of equestrianism, set in the horse racing heartland of Kentucky; and when I say romantic, I mean romantic. This is a movie which would have you believe an entire group of horses would come running to a horse being taken away in a truck as a sign of farewell. But the anamorphisation of animals doesn't end there; when Madge Evans proclaims, "What do I want to run him in the Derby for? For himself, for running for himself. Don't you think a horse has some rights, the same as you and me to run straight and honest and to give his best in order to win what he can." We're all guilty of it though, aren't we?

"Since the beginning of time the Horse has been Man's loyal friend...BUT Man has not always been the friend the Horse has to Man....", this section of the opening prologue confuses me; didn't early man hunt horses for food? But I digress. I found myself getting engaged in the story with the death of Tommy Boy's mother Southern Queen (was a real horse injured here?) and I believe must of this can be credited to the very naturalistic acting present in Sporting Blood. Unlike other films of the classic Hollywood era, Sporting Blood features African American actors in prominent roles. While they are still presented in a stereotypical manner and seem dim-witted at times, they are treated with more dignity and illicit genuine emotion, especially the black children near the beginning of the film feel just like real kids.

Sporting Blood gets a major benefit from its handsome production values, location filming and impressive race footage which gets right up close to the action. The film is full of in-depth compositions and extensive camera pans; just look at the gorgeous use of lighting and shadows when Tommy Boy is introduced to his new mother. It also wouldn't be pre-code without some drug use thrown in there, ok its horse narcotics but still ("We've hopped him up so much in the last few months that it ain't working like it used to"). Sporting Blood isn't the most intense film ever but is one with a relaxing charm to it.

SPORTING BLOOD which stars Madge Evans and Clark Gable is a film with its central thesis being the struggle for redemption of both an abused race horse named "Tommy Boy" and its owner Madge Evans. This film fairly bursts with love for horses and horse racing. In fact, the first thirty minutes are devoted to horses without any appearance on the part of the two stars. When they do enter the story, we immediately are thrust into a world of gangsters and their associates, including both Evans and Gable. Each has made compromises in order to get where they are. She sees a chance to straighten her life out when she inherits "Tommy Boy." The question is... can she? And what of her relationship with Gable? Is there enough decency left in him to chart a new course?

This film is a classic example of the old studio system at work. Both Madge Evans, and Clark Gable, were brand new at MGM. The studio bosses weren't at all sure how well either star would fare with the public. Hence, though each was working on another picture, the studio assigned them to work on weekends and holidays when they filmed SPORTING BLOOD. Only in Hollywood!

In fact, there is a sense of freshness about this film. It hasn't the ordinary Hollywood veneer to it. It makes no pretensions and avoids clichés typical of so many similar films of the 1930s. Evans and Gable are absolutely marvelous in their respective roles. Evans is especially fresh and beautiful. But... it is the way blacks are treated in this film that set it apart from most films of its time. "Tommy Boy's" trainer, Uncle Ben is black. He is as far removed from Stepin Fetchit as a teacher is from an illiterate. Indeed, Uncle Ben is central to the plot... and in as loving a manner as could be imagined. This alone sets out SPORTING BLOOD as a better film by far than many others of its day.

Finally, the camera technology was fairly crude in 1931. Film speeds were slow and the cameras sometimes weighed five hundred pounds. Remember this when you watch the racing scenes. The photography is impressive.

Gable's gangster laden character career before "It Happened..." continues in this saga about a race horse looking for respect from a succession of owners mishandling its career. Clark may have the lead in the film but a fine supporting cast including the horse Tommy Boy run neck and neck throughout.

Horse breeder Jim Rellence (Ernest Torrence) is forced to shoot his prize mare Southern Queen but not before she gives birth to Tommy Boy who develops the right stuff in no time. Reluctantly he sells the horse whose new owner succumbs to dollar signs and the whims of a dilettante. Lacking horse sense and ignoring trainers advice Tommy Boy is run into the ground before being rescued by a moll (Madge Evans)left to her by a recently whacked boyfriend gambler who over estimates Tommy's abilities. She returns to Rellence's farm to get Tommy as well as herself back in shape.

Sporting Blood moves at a decent pace as it moves from owner to owner, first with the touching and warm affection of a restrained Torrance at the farm followed by a series of inept meretricious owners to Evan's Ruby who finds her own redemption in bringing Tommy Boy to the Derby. Marie Provost and Hallam Cooley provide comic relief while black actors Gene Jackson and John Larkin lend dignity instead of wide eyed Tomming to their roles in playing key contributions to the plot. Gable is self assured and imposing but Evans handles him well throughout while Tommy Boy's big heart adds to the crowded field in a suspenseful well edited finale that has Sporting Blood finishing in the money.

In the very first film in which he received top billing, Clark Gable plays a gambler, no better than he ought to be, who by a variety of circumstances gets ownership along with Madge Evans of his late boss's prize thoroughbred. Lew Cody who played the boss departed this life abruptly and Gable and Evans are left with Kentucky Derby contender Tommy Boy.

In fact the horse is the star of the film with Tommy Boy being born in a thunderstorm where his mother is trapped in mud on Ernest Torrance's farm. Next to the horse the Scotch born Torrance who conveys a real love of the breed and sport is the most memorable in the film. Gable doesn't even appear until the film is half way over.

Some black players got a lot of work from this film and the usual racial stereotyping abounds. Still these people who are grooms, stable boys, exercise riders, etc. are the backbone of the racing industry and they're there also for love of the sport and atmosphere thereof.

The inevitable which is expected actually happens, the goal of everyone who is involved in thoroughbred racing. But the trip in Sporting Blood is a nice one as Tommy Boy foils the machinations of many greedy humans. You have to see how he does it..

SPORTING BLOOD (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1931) directed by Charles Brabin, is a horseracing story, one of many produced at that time since and beyond. Taken from the story "Horseflesh" by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan, rather than concentrating on a story about a jockey and his horse, for example, the opening credits claims this to be a biography about a horse. Of the twelve film releases featuring Clark Gable, SPORTING BLOOD is relatively known for being his first starring role. Even though he comes 42 minutes into the story, it's the second billed Ernest Torrence who's very much the leading human character and thoroughbred Tommy Boy both its subject matter and main focus.

The story begins with Jim Rellence (Ernest Torrence), a horse breeder in Lexington, Kentucky, showing off his many horses to his friend, Maguire (J. Farrell MacDonald). During a heavy rainstorm, Southern Queen is reported missing only to be found injured with a broken leg resting in a puddle of mud where she has given birth. Unable to save the horse, with the help of Uncle Ben (John Larkin) and Sammy (Eugene Jackson), Jim and Maguire return the colt they name Tommy Boy to the farm where he's milk fed and later placed under the care of a new mother horse. From pony to full-grown horse, Rellence, very much attached to Tommy Boy, finds himself having to sell the thoroughbred to Jerry Hartwick (Harry Holman) in order to keep his horse-trading business. Hartwick enters Tommy Boy to the races at Latonia where the horse wins the race, attracting the attention of Angela (Marie Prevost), who insists her husband, Bill Lideking (Hallam Cooley) buy him for her. He offers Hartwick $40,000 for Tommy Boy, only to have the thoroughbred purchased by gambler "Tip" Scanlon (Lew Cody) only after Mrs. Lideking loses interest in him. Hoping to earn some big wages from his gambling friends, Scanlon drugs Tommy Boy to win. Losing the race and unable to pay off his debts, Scanlon attempts to leave town and fails in the process. With Tommy Boy now under the ownership of Ruby (Madge Evans), Scanlon's mistress of three years, she and her new love interest, "Rid" Riddell (Clark Gable), former gambling table dealer under Scanlon, must decide what's to happen to this poor animal used only as a "reward for past favors.

Although the story is well-paced through much of its 82 minutes, its presentation with "My Old Kentucky Home" theme song has more to its Fox Films/20th Century-Fox (where many horse racing themed stories were produced) feel to it. There are some cute elements involving animals. One that stands in memory is of a little dog imitating the horse's gallop. While Madge Evans has more to do than Gable, Gable one scene of merit is grabbing on to Evans and saying, "Come here, woman!" Evans' introduction to the story as a tough-looking cigarette smoking mistress may be placed against type but is well-played. Ernest Torrence, a fine actor with a rough exterior, is quite believable as a man showing his love and affection for his many horses, especially Tommy Boy.

With this being Clark Gable (sans mustache) on his way up to super star status, the supporting players benefit well in their assigned roles that keep this from being just another horseracing story. Though MGM produced another SPORTING BLOOD (1940) with Robert Young and Maureen O'Sullivan, that latter edition is not a remake.

Other than some limited broadcasts on Turner Classic Movies cable channel, SPORTING BLOOD is available for viewing on DVD. (***)