Grandad of Races

Grandad of Races (1950)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Oscar-winning short takes a look at the annual horse race that takes place in Siena. The race is held in the Piazza del Campo and this documentary takes a look at the actual event as well as everything else that goes into making it so memorable. I must say that this here is a decent short and a fine way to kill 9-minutes but you have to scratch your head and wonder why it won an Oscar but then again, perhaps all the other nominations that year were worse. With that said, for the most part this remains entertaining even if it's certainly nothing special. Art Gilmore does the narration as we see the actual horse race, which looks incredibly dangerous and we're told why it's so dangerous. Considering it's in the streets of a small place you have to wonder how many people have been killed or injured over the years. The film also shows us the various flags that are laid out for the event and the beautiful colors certainly come to life with the Technicolor, which is without question the highlight. The film really isn't all that different than what you'd see in MGM's TravelTalks series so fans of that should enjoy this here.

It's hard to tell, more than sixty years later, if the blotchiness of this Oscar-winning short subject is due to less than perfect, newsreel-style photography or poor preservation. I would guess it's the photography, because the colors are fine -- particularly the greens, which are usually the first to go. It would be nice if the industry would spend a few bucks on conserving stuff they thought worth honoring, but that seems unlikely.

Still, this short subject covering the Pallio, a race of Barbary horses over the rough streets of Siena -- it was originally run with oxen according to tradition -- is most noteworthy for the display that the flag bearers use in playing with the flags they carry. As for the soundtrack, Art Gilmore does a good job on the narration, but the crowds sound dubbed.