Kings of the Turf

Knox Manning narrates this Oscar-nominated short subject about the birth, youth, and training of a high-bred harness-racing horse called Mortimer.

There's a lot of anthropomorphism in Manning's monologue. I'm not a fan of horse racing, but I know several fans of harness racing, and they act like they're personal friends with the subjects of their bets.

Like many of the Oscar-nominated Warner shorts before the the Second World War, the beauty of the Technicolor visuals is paramount. The browns and the velvety blacks are particularly prominent in the pretty good print that plays on Turner Classic Movies.

Unless you're a devoted horse racing fan, I doubt whether this will be of more than average interest to the viewer. Some fine points about the difference between "trotters" and "pacers" is interesting, and both kinds of harness horses are depicted doing their thing--sometimes in slow motion to better illustrate the points being made.

The short starts with the birth of a young foal who is standing on his own wobbly feet within thirty-five minutes. The care that trainers have to demonstrate in training the young horse for their ultimate destination on the racetrack is shown, as is their remarkable patience in putting the horses through their paces so that they have the "style, stamina and speed" necessary for the country fair.

Of limited appeal, and the footage is all from a 16mm print of the film in muddy color that is not in the greatest shape for showing on TCM.

The film was very entertaining and cute but with some major flaws as far as I'm concerned. I happen to be a horse person and own horses. I felt like they assumed it wouldn't be noticed that they used a different horse for every new stage of life scene with Morty. Starting with the gray foal (baby horse) being born with no white markings whatsoever. Then the breaking of the "Bay" yearling with one white sock,a star and a snip.The #3 horse (Morty) in the race also had different markings. Even when identifying the Draft horse breeds in the pre race exhibition, he misidentified a Belgian! I guess for an audience that doesn't know anything about horses it wasn't a big deal but I just feel that they should have more respect for the horse world and horse enthusiast when making a movie about horses! For this reason alone I was surprised it was nominated for an Emmy

Kings of the Turf (1941)

*** (out of 4)

Part of Warner's "Sports Parade" series, this Technicolor short received an Oscar-nomination. The short takes a look at how horses are selected and trained for harness racing. We see a new horse being born, taking his first few steps and then the training of the animal until the day comes when he's able to race. If you're a fan of animals or racing in general then you'll probably get some entertainment out of this short, which runs just under ten minutes. There's certainly nothing ground breaking or Earth shattering here but the film remains mildly entertaining throughout its short running time. The best sequence is early on when the horse is being born and we're left outside with the nervous father who is causing all sorts of trouble waiting for the birth of his new son. This here is certainly a very funny sequence as is the horse trying to take its first steps.

Meet "Morty", an horse that's being groomed - physically and metaphorically - to be a champion at the trot. That's different from an actual race, race - if you get my drift. How can you tell? Well that's explained in a commentary that delivers quite an interesting accompaniment to the activities of these horses on the Californian dirt tracks. It's all in the dynamics, you see. How many hooves are on the ground at any one time, and what synchronicity there is between opposite legs. You can just about spot those distinctions on the photography, once you know what you are looking for. There are some fine looking animals on display here and they can get up quite a speed pulling their light-weight buggies behind them in front of large crowds. Worth ten minutes, I'd say.