Silks and Saddles

Working college student Jimmy inherits a race horse, Lightning Lad, who he discovers is really fast spurned on by the braying of a goat Albertine. He knows he can win the big handicap race but he is never going to be able to come up with the $1000 entrance fee or pay for the care and up keep of the horse. His friend comes up with the idea to sell shares of the horse to other college students and then enter some shorter races to earn the fee...which they manage to do successfully. Just when things are looking up a gambler, con artist and competition try to throw a monkey wrench in the works.

Short and sweet this film has a surprising twist in that the pretty girl who seemed really evil makes an about face and helps make the race fair in the end!

Producer Sam Katzman, never one for spending foolish money on a film, cast himself as a cigar-smoking gambler and director Robert Hill as a stableman, and beat a couple of central-casting players out of their $7.50 day-contract roles. No, Bunky, these weren't hoity-toity Cameo appearances...Sam didn't last forty years as an independent producer by not knowing how to cut some expense corners.

This Katzman opus finds college-student Jimmy Shay (Herman Brix)inheriting a race horse named "Lightning Lad." He also inherits a goat named "Adolph" (probably played by a goat named Adolph), and Adolph's role is central to the plot as he and "Lightning Lad" are good friends, and "Lightning Lad" will only run fast when his buddy "Adolph" is present. (Forget the mention that "Adolph" was played by a goat named "Adolph", lest some dolt comes along and changes Adolph's role name to Himself.) "Lightning Lad" wins a few races, and an Oil-Can Harry-type named Les Winters (Frank Melton) comes along and tries to buy the horse for his fiancée, Marian Braddock (Toby Wing), a spoiled rich-girl who owns Braddock Stables. Jimmy refuses to sell for a couple of reasons; first, he has devised a plan to incorporate "Lightning Lad" and sell stock to the students at his college so he doesn't need the money. But, secondly and foremost, he is still carrying a childhood grudge against Marian for a childhood episode in which she treated him "badly." Jimmy just talks about this, so there is no flashback sequence depicting this bad treatment, as Sam also did not believe in wasting money money in filming as sequence when the actor who was already getting paid could just talk about it. That was really a shame as it would have been interesting to see just which child-actress of the time could have played bombshell Toby Wing as a child.

But any character played by Toby Wing isn't going to take No for an answer to any question, since she fears that "Lightning Lad" will beat her own entry in the big, upcoming Handicap Race, so she vamps the stockholders into selling out. The stockholders were all male students, so no need, for those interested in such things, to run out and get this film in order to see Tony vamping co-eds.

Anyway, some gamblers get involved and wishing to hedge their bets against "Lightning Lad" decide to kidnap either the horse or the goat. But Toby gets religion and regeneration, all in one fell swoop, and she helps Jimmy foil this dastardly plan.

A "keyword" for this film could be "Debut Film"...for Adolph the Goat.

Before Sam Katzman bought his penny pinching ways to Monogram he produced other cheapies for other poverty row outfits. In this case Silks And Saddles was for an outfit called Victory Pictures.

Bruce Bennett was still under his real name of Herman Brix when he starred in this film. He's playing a college student who inherits a race horse but said horse is earning his keep pulling a milk wagon. Something in real life no thoroughbred would be doing.

He needs money to race him in the big handicap so he incorporates the horse and shares are bought by his college pals. The local hangout owner Fuzzy Knight takes a couple of shares too.

The horse has a pet mascot that's a goat named Adolph. They are a team and the horse gives it that extra kick when he hears Adolph bray.

The main competition seems to be Toby Wing and her horse, but some gamblers have plans for both.

Not a bad film considering it has zero production values. The last 20 minutes are a long involved chase sequence to get the horse to the track. What Hal Roach could have done with it.