La course de Broadway Bill

Dan Brooks is tired of his dull life as the manager of a paper box manufacturing company, given to by his father in law, J.L. Higgins, a man obsessed with acquiring as many businesses and properties as he can. The only thing Dan seems to enjoy is racing his horse, Broadway Bill. When Higgins forces Dan to choose between his work or the horse, Dan continues the movie by choosing the latter, which causes his wife, Margaret, to stay behind and be disowned by the family. Dan, along with his stablehand Whitey, plans to race Broadway Bill in the $25,000 sweepstakes (and show Higgins that he wasn't wasting his time working on Broadway Bill), but needs to come across $500 for the entry fee. Dan, Whitey, Margaret's sister Alice (who really has a crush on Dan) and one of Dan's old friend's from his racetrack days, Col. Pettigrew, come up with every trick they know to get the money, while still dealing with a gambling syndicate trying to clean up on a rival horse by driving up the odds, Broadway Bill suffering from a cold, and Dan locked up for failing to pay the stable & feed bill. Very good film, but lacks the magic Capra had with his other films (It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, etc.) Baxter is good as Dan, but just doesn't seem right for the hopeful characteristics needed. Loy is a delight as Alice/Princess, Connelly repeats the same role he played in It Happened One Night, & Muse, Walburn, & Overman lend fine support as Whitey, the Colonel, and Happy respectively. Good script, using nice humorous touches, and a touching ending. Rating, 8.

Extremely heart-warming depression era movie by director Frank Capra about a big-hearted race-horse who ran his heart out to the point that it burst leaving those who believed and loved him, in the audience as well as those in the movie, in tears: Broadway Bill.

Marrying into money Dan Brooks, Warren Baxter, just couldn't take being big business tycoon J.L Higgins' son-in-law anymore and left him as well as his wife Margaret, Helen Vinson, to go back to his life on the racetrack with his horse Broadway Bill and his horses groom Whitey, Clarence Muse. Dan got Broadway Bill into a number of low purse money races at the local Imperial Racetrack to get the horse, if he won them, into the big race at the track The Imperial Derby against Kentucky Derby favorite Gallant Lady.

With that wonderful Frank Capra spirit the movie is about the little man standing up to the powerful establishment and with both his hopes and dreams prevail against the establishments money and power in the end. Warren Baxter and Myrna Loy were both wonderful as Broadway Bill's owner trainer and Dan's sister-in-law Alice who, unlike her older sister Margaret, saw the good that Dan had inside of him. A goodness that was reflected on Dan's caring and feeling for the horse and for the people who, unlike Alice's father, had to live day by day with no hope for the future but for their next meal and a place with a roof over their heads to sleep overnight.

Everything was stacked against Broadway Bill in the movie but like the champ that he was he overcame all of them and ended the film with a heart-stopping as well as heart-breaking finish on the racetrack. Re-made 16 years later in 1950 with Bing Crosby in the movie "Riding High" which even has a number of scenes from the movie " Broadway Bill" inserted into it but the original is still by far the best of the two and the one to watch.

Noble and uplifting with Frank Capra using the betting at the racetrack to make a point about the conditions in the country at that time, 1934. With most of those betting on Broadway Bill being down on their luck and looking for the gallant and courageous equine to give them back the hopes and dreams that they lost because of the Great depression that hit America as well as the world after the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929. Tremendous final race sequence with a both heart-lifting as well as heart-breaking stretch run that will leave you totally speechless as well as reaching for your handkerchief.

Incredibly up-lifting ending that only Frank Capra could have dreamed up with Dan's hopes and dreams as well as Broadway Bill's courage and determination making even Dan's father-in-law the greedy and unfeeling J.L Higgins finally see the light in that being a kind and giving human being was worth more that all the wealth that he had."Broadway Bill" has everything going for it: a great story with great acting and directing and last but not least a great star Broadway Bill.

Once upon a time, horse racing was considered the sport of kings. In the first half of the 20th century, it was the most popular sport in America - believe it or not. Baseball may have been America's favorite pastime then, but more people followed the horses than any other sport.

Of course, well into the second half of the 20th century, horse racing had come to lose its moniker as a sport. And, the public's interests had then grown to include more organized and competitive sports such as football, soccer, basketball, tennis and golf. Horse racing in America has itself continued to decline in all aspects - the numbers of tracks, horse farms and animals, trainers and followers.

But, with that background, one can understand why a considerable number of movies were made about horse racing during Hollywood's Golden Era. The plots of many were built around the race track or the horses, while others had days at the races. Some were crime and mystery films, some were comedies and romances, others were dramas. "Broadway Bill" is a combination drama, comedy and romance.

Many of these dramas had similar plots. This is a fairly good story with a top cast of the period. Warner Baxter is Dan Brooks and Myrna Loy is Alice Higgins. Behind those leads are some top supporting actors of the day. Walter Connolly is J.L. Higgins, Alice's father. Raymond Walburn plays Col. Pettigrew and Douglas Dumbrille is Eddie Morgan.

Brooks is one of three men married to daughters of J.L., each of whom has been installed as president of one of the self-made millionaire's companies. All seem happy with their lot, and Dan did for a while because he loved his wife, Helen Vinton plays Margaret, who basks in the comfort of her hierarchically demanding father, J.L., played by Connolly. But, Dan's yen for race horses begins to sway his heart away from giving his all to the box company he has headed since marrying Helen.

Myrna Loy is the youngest, as yet unmarried of the Higgins daughters. While J.L. has one last company presidency to install on whomever Alice marries, she has her heart set more on Dan. There's no hanky panky going on here, but she shares Dan's enthusiasm for racing and his prize colt, Broadway Bill. Dan hopes to start racing his horse, and is aiming for the big derby. When he finally leaves his job and the family to put everything into racing his horse, wife Margaret doesn't go after him. Her thinking is that he will either come back to her or they are through. So, it's not hard to imagine how the film ends.

Columbia Pictures had been a Poverty Row studio in the 1920s, and was a second-tier studio by the early 1930s. But director and writer Frank Capra's work for Harry Cohn was gaining the studio wide recognition. After a 1933 Oscar nomination for "Lady for a Day," Cohn and Capra made "It Happened One Night" in February 1934. It would win the studio its first Academy Awards, and be the first movie to win the top four Oscars - for best picture, director, actor and actress. But after that, and before the next major story that Capra would work on ("Mr. Deeds Goes to Town"), he made "Broadway Bill" for Columbia.

A number of things about this production show that Columbia (and Capra, perhaps?) were still in that second tier of studios. The opening scene of "Broadway Bill" is an example. Dan Brooks is driving alongside a racing horse. It had to seem phony even way back then - it was a stage setting with a stationary car filmed with a video of a horse running behind - to the side of the car. The film shows some other deficiencies as well. Its scenes are choppy in places, and some seem to have poor direction or editing. And the screenplay itself is weak. There are some scenes when one waits for Baxter to say his next line, while he stands there tearing hay apart in his hands.

Capra himself didn't think too much of this film in later years. He wanted to remake it, which he did in 1950 as "Riding High." While the plot stayed the same, it was a musical comedy with Bing Crosby in the lead.

This isn't a rollicking comedy, but it is a somewhat interesting, if jumbled story. Those who enjoy old films may like this one. Others might find it too slow or boring. Here are some favorite lines.

Col. Pettigrew, played by Raymond Walburn, "Milked by my own chicanery."

Oscar 'Happy' McGuire, played by Lynne Overman, "First time I ever saw a guy sucked in by his own gag."

Col. Pettigrew, "Well, I guess I'm just a child of impulse."

In his memoirs Frank Capra gave very short shrift to Broadway Bill. In fact he only mentions it when he starts to talk about the remake of this film Riding High. The remake was in 1950 and Broadway Bill was done immediately after It Happened One Night.

In just a couple of paragraphs he mentions that he did a film called Broadway Bill sandwiched between It Happened One Night and Mr. Deeds Goes To Town. He was dissatisfied with it because the leading man, Warner Baxter, was afraid of horses and it showed. Capra then said he resolved to do the film over again with an actor who loved horses. Of course he got Bing Crosby and second to golf Crosby did love horses and horse racing. It was a perfect fit.

I didn't notice anything too terribly wrong with Baxter's performance away from the horse playing the title role. Baxter's a footloose sort of guy who's married to the daughter of millionaire Walter Connolly, Helen Vinson. Baxter's heart is at the racetrack, he loves the life and the people there. Vinson's younger sister Myrna Loy understands him though and it does take Baxter a while to figure out he married the wrong sister.

Frank Capra filled out his cast with many of the regulars who appeared in his more well known classics and they all look like they were born and bred at the racetrack. In this and in Riding High, my favorite is Raymond Walburn, the larcenous and lovable old 'Colonel' Pettigrew ready to make the ultimate sacrifice and marry 'Vinegar Puss' Margaret Hamilton.

Broadway Bill is not up there with Capra's more populistic films nor is it as good as Riding High, but it still is a wonderful heartwarming story of a horse who showed us in the higher species, the meaning of courage and heart.

Broadway Bill (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Wonderfully charming film about Dan Brooks (Warner Baxter), a man who walks away from his wife's family business so that he can enter his horse, Broadway Bill, in the Derby where the hopes to become a winner. The only one who believes in Dan is his wife's sister (Myrna Loy) and the not-all-there Colonel Pettigrew (Raymond Walburn). This film followed IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT so that's probably the main reason this here isn't as well remembered but apparently not even the director himself liked it as he would never speak about it an only discussed it in his book when talking about its remake RIDING HIGH. With that said, I personally found the film to be quite charming due in large part to the wonderful cast with Baxter and Loy leading the way with some very strong supporting performances. Baxter gets to play the fast-talking, go getter and he's wonderful in the part. He brings to so much energy and good charm to the role that you can't help but want to see him succeed. Loy is at her very best as she has no problems getting smiles and making for a good love interest even though the film keeps their relationship rather watered-down considering you really couldn't have a married man wrapped up with his sister in law. The supporting cast features Walburn getting plenty of laughs playing a lovable moron, Walter Connolly, Douglas Dumbrille, Margaret Hamilton and Raymond Walburn. Clarence Muse plays the servant in the film but he nearly steals the film as he's given plenty of a very good scenes and works extremely well with the entire cast. I was a little surprised to see how the movie ends but it's quite touching as only Capra could do. This isn't one of the director's greatest films but it's a pleasant little "B" movie that has a terrific cast, some nice laughs and a winning story so recommending it is easy.