The Dark Horse

One of the reasons that I decided to watch this film today when it was broadcast was the splendid cast. The Dark Horse anticipates what Preston Sturges did with The Great McGinty and it's quite a commentary on what occasionally gets elected now and then due to astute political management and the gullibility of the voting public.

Looking down the cast list nearly everyone in it is cast in roles I've come to expect to see them play. The title role in The Dark Horse is played by Guy Kibbee as he's nominated by one of the parties because they're deadlocked at the convention between better candidates. Kibbee is absolutely priceless as the dumber than a post county coroner the party has as its candidate. Well they've got him and the only way to put him over is get the best campaign manager around even if he's in the slam.

Which is where Warren William is even if its for owing back alimony to ex-wife Vivienne Osborne. William takes his Dave the Dude character from Lady For A Day and proceeds to make Kibbee the favorite in the race for governor. Kibbee's very dumbness is programmed to work in his favor, his slogan could have been elect Kibbee, he's too stupid to steal.

The opposition candidate is Berton Churchill playing another one of his patented pompous windbags. The prospect of seeing Kibbee in a race against Churchill is what really attracted me to this film and I was not disappointed. Churchill and his party may be down, but not out and they've got some tricks up their sleeve. And those tricks involve Kibbee and Osborne.

The only one who is wasted really is Bette Davis. She plays Warren William's loyal and efficient secretary who loves him. She does her best with a traditional good girl role, but there isn't much for her to work with. Vivienne Osborne gives the ex-wife part the kind of bite we normally find in Bette Davis films later on.

The Dark Horse is a really crackerjack political film that deserves to be better known.

The Dark Horse (1932)

*** (out of 4)

The dimwitted Zachary Hicks (Guy Kibbee) gets nominated for governor through a complete mistake but since he's such a long horse his secretary (Bette Davis) suggests that they hire political spinner Hal Blake (Warren William) to try and help them win the election. THE DARK HORSE is a Warner comedy at its very best as we get a fun story, some pre-code moments and of course there's the terrific cast that really seals the deal. The majority of the credit has to go to the terrific cast, all of which deliver perfect performances. William has no trouble playing the fast-talking spinner who constantly has to be on his toes try to cover and make people like this idiot. Kibbee can play dumb like no other and he does it in a charming way. I think most actors would have been annoying playing a character as dumb as this one but Kibbee manages to make the character very charming and fun. Davis is basically reduced to a supporting role but it's fun getting to see her at this early point in her career and she has a nice chemistry with William. Vivienne Osborne is perfect as Blake's ex-wife who is a complete snake that you love to hate. Frank McHugh plays his typical comic relief role and does a nice job with it. I think the film works best when it's making fun of politics. The last portion of the film finds the ex-wife working for the other party to set up Kibbee and I think some of this was a bit too far fetched to be entertaining. Still, the terrific cast and amount of laughs make this a must see for fans of this era.

Despite obvious limitations, this 1932 programmer is as perceptive and provocative as many of the more modern-day political films. What this minor movie underlines so importantly is the ease and appeal of electing an intellectual simpleton (Guy Kibbee) to high office (governor) for partisan purposes. Just wrap him in the appropriate populist symbolism, and he's a shoo-in. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't show how much money can be made from having an unquestioning dolt in office.

What it does show is the ease with which clever manipulators can say the right words and pander to an uncritical electorate. Consider the irony of both party candidates (Progressive Kibbee and Conservative Churchill) speaking from the same plagiarized page of Lincoln's soaring campaign rhetoric. What then separates the two if the speeches themselves are indistinguishable. What this comically made point suggests is that it's rhetoric rather than policy that's uppermost in winning the electorate. Comic or not, the point is still worth pondering.

Here the master manipulator is Warren William in a bravura performance-- too bad this dynamic actor is almost totally forgotten. Unfortunately, Guy Kibbee goes over the top as the good-natured simpleton, while Bette Davis shows both fire and flair in a very early role as William's office girl-friend. And in an unheralded albeit sleeper role is Vivenne Osborne as William's shrewish ex-wife, who's every guy's nightmare and enough to undo the whole institution of marriage.

Reviewer Hausner is correct that the focus shifts half-way through from Kibbee as governor to William's marital woes. It's almost as if the writers didn't know where to go with Kibbee's character once he's in office. Too bad-- there's real potential for incisive comment there. Anyway, we know the film precedes the deadening Production Code of 1934 since violation of the Mann Act turns up as a prominent plot device, ie. transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes, intended to stop what was then known as "white slavery" or forced prostitution. I don't recall mention of this risqué law any time during the 30-year Code era.

All in all, the movie is fitfully funny and interesting, but unfortunately fails to follow through on a fascinating premise.

The progressive party convention has been deadlocked for four days. Then a delegate has an idea: Why don't we nominate a dark horse to split our rival's votes and then squeeze our candidate in? Thus is born the gubernatorial candidacy of Zachary Hicks (Guy Kibbee), a sleepy and footsore conventioneer who soon inspires one of his own supporters to argue in his support, "Now there's no use to quarrel, gentlemen….It isn't the first time a fool was nominated to a political office."

The cast is excellent in this political satire that makes no pretense at being a tale of redemption or morality. Bette Davis is sharp as a party secretary and operative who is, as much as anyone, the brains behind the party's workings. Warren William is the political king-maker for hire who promotes Kibbee ruthlessly and brilliantly—and yet can't seem to quite escape from his own ex-wife, played saucily by Vivienne Osborne. Frank McHugh is William's loyal assistant, steady as always. Kibbee is possibly a little dumber than necessary, but very entertaining.

The weak spot in the story is the romantic subplot between the two leads—Warren William is impressive but he's all talk; Bette Davis appreciates his talent for glibness but has to keep walking out on him, for good reasons. Will he eventually convince her of his sincerity? Well, not really. Will he instead wear down her resistance? Well…. When this kind of plot is done best, we in the audience are won over by the wooer along with the object of his affections. In this case, I'm afraid I was rooting for Bette to run fast. –In other words, the romantic subplot isn't quite convincing, and is thus somewhat distracting. But oh well—both Bette and Warren talk fast and shoot penetrating glances all over the place.

Among a full cast of schemers and liars, Vivienne Osborne as William's wicked ex-wife perhaps comes off best: she at least is honest about what she wants, and almost becomes a likable character at one point. Frank McHugh, too, is very good in a role where he's constantly squeezed in uncomfortably among other people's problems and survives by his wits and dexterity.

All of the politicians in the film are atrocious hacks--schemers and backstabbers without exception. Politics has certainly come a long way over the decades!

I've read that the Warner's release, High Pressure, with William Powell, as the fast-talking pitchman Gar Evans, was a hit when it was released in January, 1932. Daryl Zanuck (writing as Mark Canfield) wrote a sequel. When Warner's couldn't get the writer of the original novel to agree to a price that they wanted to pay they transformed conman Gar Evans into the rapid-fire king-maker "Hal Blake." Instead of goods he was selling candidates. They bumped Powell (fearing a lawsuit if they used the same actor for similar characters) in favor of Warren William and the movie became The Dark Horse.

What a crackerjack little film! It had a large cast of assembly-line actors and crew who knew how to crank out a film hot enough to ignite the nitrate stock it was printed on. This film went through pre- production, production and post-production in time for its release in June, 1932. That's just five months after the film that inspired it! Its rushed release didn't show in its spot-on rapid fire dialog or delivery.

Other reviewers have whined about a later subplot involving Hal Blake's ex. By that time I was so completely won over the charms of this pre- code gem that I completely accepted, and enjoyed, the late curveball.

How could you not love a movie with a song like:

Upstate, downstate Cities and the sticks, The voters yell for change Even babies cry for Hicks! Boys and girls together Toms and Harrys and Dicks, Climb the big bandwagon, While they cast their vote for Hicks!