Glory

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.

Just a fun film-Especially for people who love the Horse Racing Game and it's history. A lot of good one liners and humor from Walter badgering with the other old timer (lady). I would love to own this movie. A lot of history will be lost if this film is not made available to the general public. Where is The Classic Movie Channel when you need them? A lot was accomplished in this tight budget movie. The film footage of the actual Kentucky Derby for the year is enough in itself to justify releasing it on video. People love these types of movies, Look at Dreamer, and of course the very well Done Seabiscuit. What a nice addition it would be for the JOckey Club or other Race related industry.

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.

I'm a horse racing fan, so I enjoyed seeing the color footage of the Churchill Downs and Keeneland racetracks from the 1950s. The footage they used for Glory's Kentucky Derby was from the 1955 Derby, when Swaps and Bill Shoemaker beat Nashua and Eddie Arcaro in one of the all-time great matchups.

Aside from the peak at history, the story is so hokey that it makes "Leave It To Beaver" seem like a gripping reality series. It's one of those really campy movies where you might want to invite some friends over, pump 'em full of beer, and have fun laughing at how bad the plot, dialog and acting are.

Call it "Plan Nine From Churchill Downs."

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!!