Vitaphone Pictorial Revue (Series 2) #6

A Vitaphone Pictorial Revue, Series 2, No. 6 (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This entry in the series certainly isn't going to be mistaken for a masterpiece but it's worth watching for a couple reasons. We get two different segments with the first covering "Horseplay," which features some Hollywood actors watching horses get a workout. These stars include Ronald Reagan, Lana Turner, Dick Foran, Marie Wilson and Kenny Baker. We also get to see the horse that was used in the film THE SON OF THE SHEIK. The second portion of the film takes a look at hockey where we get to see portions of a game. The hockey segment really doesn't have too much going for it except that it was pretty interesting to see such an early state of the game. It's certainly a lot different from today including the lack of any real equipment and wait until you see the goal post. It was also funny hearing the narrator talk about players keeping their cool in regards to fighting. Again, there's certainly nothing terrific here but if you've got eight minutes to kill then it's worth watching.

Except for a glimpse of RONALD REAGAN, KENNY BAKER, DICK FORAN, MARIE Wilson and LANA TURNER, who were then the up and coming fresh young faces at Warner Bros., there's really very little reason to watch this short subject from 1937.

An uninspired narration is severely hurt by the bad sound recording of the TCM print recently shown. You can barely make out what the narrator is saying about scenes showing Reagan and Marie Wilson at the stables petting a couple of horses.

This opening scene at the racetrack is followed by an ice hockey game, again narrated in poor style so that it's unclear as to what we're supposed to be observing.

Then, the only good segment shows a horse performing tricks and this should have been the main subject of the short since the animal is put through a series of surprising tricks you'd never expect to see outside of a circus.

Then, to add insult to injury, we get a title that says, "A Foot to be Shod"--and The End flashes on the screen with that segment cut entirely from the print.

Not exactly a good short, to put it mildly.