Racing Lady

Making generous use of newsreel footage of racetracks of the era, Racing Lady is the story of a woman entering the man's world of race horse training. The pioneer in this case is Ann Dvorak who comes by her interest naturally being raised by small time owner Harry Carey. It's in her blood.

Young and rich sportsman Smith Ballew claims Dvorak's horse, partly to get a winner, but also partly to gain her as a trainer. Dvorak and Ballew go through quite a rough patch before the film ends.

Stepping into a role that would normally go to someone like Raymond Walburn is Berton Churchill, a foxy fellow owner and quite the sportsman himself. Churchill is probably best known to today's audience as the stuffy banker/embezzler who was a passenger on John Ford's Stagecoach, but in Racing Lady he goes against type and quite successfully.

It's a B film without a terrible lot of production values, but Racing Lady is entertainment enough for those who follow the sport of kings.

Mediocre script is almost saved by excellent, very talented cast.

Ann Dvorak really shines, and it is such a treat to watch that exotic face showing so many different emotions. She was usually great, but in "Racing Lady" she out-does herself.

She is very ably supported by the rest of the players, including the shamefully little-known Alex Hill as the jockey.

Willie Best and Hattie McDaniel, Harry Carey and that marvelous singer Smith Ballew, who doesn't sing here, are just a few of the highly talented actors who rescue this clichéd story.

It's a little movie, and has nothing spectacular but a stellar cast. But it's worth watching just for them.

Ann Dvorak and Harry Carey wound up in this B movie, Racing Lady, done by RKO and probably made in about three days.

Dvorak and Carey are daughter and father, Ruth and Tom Martin. Ruth has a horse that she believes has the makings of a winning racehorse. There aren't any female trainers in the racing field (in fact, I'm not sure there are many today). However, during the horse's first race, she is injured when pushed into the rail. The vet advises euthanasia, but Ruth has the horse's leg bandaged up, and retires her to the home she shares with her father.

The horse's filly turns out to be an excellent racehorse. Ruth can't afford the high fee for one of the big races, but puts the horse in a claiming race, which means all the horses are up for sale for about the same price until the actual race. Ruth's horse wins, but she learns it was claimed by one Steven Wendel (Smith Ballew), who owns many winning racehorses. He offers Ruth a job training, and she takes it, wanting to be near her horse.

Not much in the way of character development here as the film only runs one hour. Dvorak was better than this; she eventually became disgusted with her roles, married an Englishman, and made films there for a time. The actor playing Wendel, Smith Ballew, was the first singing cowboy and a popular radio star. He eventually retired and moved to Texas. The wonderful Harry Carey would go on to be nominated for an Oscar for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington not long after this.

Hattie McDaniel gives a spirited performance as a beloved employee, but the other two blacks in the film played cringe-worthy stereotypes, always difficult to see nowadays.

The horses were beautiful, and the racing footage was interesting.

Ann dvorak had already starred in some biggies by this time, including three on a match! She was huge in the 1930s. In this one, she's a horse trainer, sure that her horse can win any race. She has her ups and downs, finally getting her big chance. At the time, women horse trainers were rare, so she gets in the headlines every time. Co-stars harry carey as tom; hattie mcdaniel and willie best, a couple years before gone with the wind. It's pretty good, for a low budget film. Directed by wallace fox. It's okay. A 59 minute B film from rko pictures.... although dvorak was actually on the payroll of warner brothers at the time!

Horse breeder Tom Martin has been having some bad luck. His daughter Ruth convinces him to enter a race. Their horse nearly wins but gets run into the rails by a crooked rival. Ruth takes on the job of training the horse's offspring, Katydid. She gains some fame as a female trainer. She enters Katydid in a claiming race. When she wins, rich amateur owner Steve Wendall claims Katydid. In order to stay close to her horse, she accepts the trainer job from Steve.

Quite frankly, I've never heard of Damon Runyon and I don't know anything about his writings. This is fine. There is a bit of horse sports story, a bit of female empowerment story, and a bit of romance. The one aspect that I don't like is the portrayal of the black folks. They are the stereotypical black servant family. They are house black folks and the man are called boys. They all talk a certain way. It's that era in time. It just feels a little wrong with today's eyes. The acting is generally fine although the romance can be a bit stilted. This is fine but not more than that.