The Return of October

I think it is interesting to know, and most people don't, but this was the first movie using real jockeys in the horse-racing scenes. My father was one of those jockeys, James Cassity. I have never seen this movie. If anyone knows how I can get a DVD of this I would greatly appreciate it. A lot of the horse-racing movies from this era were campy and by todays standards, the acting is probably quite lacking, especially because a lot of the information about the racetrack was not accurate; this is one of the reasons that I would love to be able to see this movie. Not only because my father was in it, but to see just how accurate they were in portraying the the racetrack portions of it.

Pleasing piece of yesteryear, a whimsical, contrived, and often extremely silly comedy from (of all people) director Joseph H. Lewis. Terry Moore is brash and appealing playing a headstrong, stubborn eighteen-year old girl facing a sanity hearing after her boyfriend, a campus psychologist, publishes a paper detailing her 'delusional' belief that a racehorse named October is her beloved deceased uncle come back to life; her relatives, greedy sorts who have been cut out of the last will of the lass's eccentric aunt, hope to put the kid away, but all she really wants is to race the horse in the Kentucky Derby! Typically overstuffed screenplay by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank has lots of lickety-split talk, a courtroom sequence played at breakneck speed, but much affection for its characters as well. Moore, with her red hair, wide eyes and fashionable jodhpurs, looks like Nicole Kidman's sassy kid sister; she often struggles with her reactions, and she's so alert that at times she appears to be staring blankly, however she acquits herself nicely with this role, and her romantic scenes with Glenn Ford are sweetly screwball. The big race finale isn't given the same care as the rest of the picture (it's pushed along and then cut a bit short), but then this isn't a teary, sentimental piece and the sub-plots are neatly tied up. Good fun! **1/2 from ****

When I came across this video (on the old GoodTimes budget label) in a Half Price Books in Tacoma, WA, my initial shock came from the fact that the film was directed by none other than cult auteur Joseph H. Lewis (GUN CRAZY, THE BIG COMBO). The fact that it was shot in Technicolor and starred one of Columbia's two contract leading men (the other being William Holden) makes me assume that this must have been a prestige picture for the studio that year. In all honesty, it's not very good, with a contrived courtroom finale that recalls the previous year's MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET for all the wrong reasons. A brief synopsis of the relevant plot points: greedy relatives are trying to cover up the fact that they've squandered a dead aunt's fortune by getting niece Terry Moore declared insane, based on the fact that she thinks her horse is her reincarnated uncle (isn't it funny how in films of this period people can be declared insane on the flimsiest of premises? maybe not so funny, though, if you were Francis Farmer). Glenn Ford is a doctor of philosophy who is researching the relationships between animals and humans (whatever) and his boss at the university thinks that a paper he's writing about Terry's 'delusion' will be a big seller and bring in lots of publicity and money for their foundering school (yeah, maybe in the Bizarro Universe). Terry Moore is cute but not a very good actress, over-emoting in her scenes with the horse to the point that you begin to think that, Yeah, this chick IS crazy. The late, great Glenn Ford is, as always, charming and essentially decent, though he hasn't at this point fully developed the comedic skills that would serve him much better in the '60s. There are some trademark Joseph H. Lewis shots here and there (early in the film there's a view of Terry and her uncle up in a stand observing a horse on a track shot from a ground level POV, framed by a white wooden railing; a lengthy automobile conversation between Moore and Ford recalls, if vaguely, similar scenes in GUN CRAZY between Peggy Cummins and John Dall), but is of interest on a stylistic level only for completists of the director's work. Still, that trained cat is pretty amazing (though it does look slightly narcotized in some of its scenes).

I have nothing against the other reviews, but they do not seem to convey the message that this movie is well-worth watching. Almost anything Glenn Ford was in was worth watching and for that reason I watched this one morning and was thoroughly delighted. The pace of the movie is quite lively and the various actors all competent in their various roles. The direction and editing were also good and to get all that in a movie spells just what you want in a film - entertainment! There are a substantial number of humorous moments, lines and scenes. The viewer gets drawn into the events just as do the cast which is their role in the movie. I have seen almost all of the films starring Glenn Ford and this is not a typical "Glenn Ford" movie and was not on any "must see" list of mine. Although he performed admirably, any number of people could have played his role. The value of this movie is in its production and enjoyability.

Since Mr. Deeds Goes To Town and Broadway Bill were owned by Columbia Pictures, I'm figuring that Harry Cohn thought he could do just about anything he wanted with those two Frank Capra classics. But it might have been nice if Capra and authors Clarence Buddington Kelland and Damon Runyon got some kind of acknowledgment in the credits for The Return Of October. Elements of both films are combined in the plot of The Return Of October.

Young Terry Moore has grown up around racetracks being raised by her uncle Willie played by James Gleason who is a track character. All his life he's wanted like millions of other owners to own and train a Kentucky Derby winner. But he dies before he accomplishes the goal.

Ms. Moore goes to live with her rich aunt Dame May Witty in what was her farewell screen role, but can't keep away from the track. With the help of Deeds like psychology professor Glenn Ford she buys a race horse who with certain mannerisms and incidents Moore thinks is James Gleason returned.

Ford's got those publish or perish problems that university professors perennially have and he hits upon the idea of publishing a paper on Terry Moore's obsession about the horse being her reincarnated uncle. In this he's unwittingly used like Jean Arthur's articles to bring Gary Cooper down by some unscrupulous relatives of Moore and Witty when Witty passes away.

If you've seen Mr. Deeds Goes To Town and Broadway Bill you know exactly where this whole story is going and how it will end.

The Return Of October does not come anywhere near being the classic that either of those films does. It still is an enjoyable fantasy with a lot of very good players penciled into parts that fit them well. I'm only sorry the story called for James Gleason to die so soon because he's always fun.

One of the great Hollywood stories that Frank Capra told was how Harry Cohn had stuck Capra's name on another film from Columbia to boost it in overseas markets. This caused Capra to leave Columbia when his contract was up, but the real upshot of that story was that Cohn would not even see that he did anything wrong.

Bearing that in mind it certainly is easy to see how Cohn could take two Capra classics and rework them and not give Capra nor two distinguished authors any credit at all.

The film was shot at Santa Anita racetrack with some establishing shots of Churchill Downs for the climax.

The Return Of October is no classic, but a pleasant piece of entertainment in any event.