O.K., so the future Wicked Witch of the West isn't quite a leading lady, but how often is she billed fourth in a movie, under all men? In this case, she has a major supporting role, possibly with even more screen time than her roles in "The Wizard of Oz". The two stars getting the bulk of the screen time are Wallace Beery and Mickey Rooney, playing a drunken former veterinarian and his jockey pal who is fired after the horse he rides loses. Rooney offers to forgo his owed back salary in exchange for the horse (set to be killed), and begs Beery, now a janitor at the racetrack, to fix the horse's leg. It becomes very touching to watch Beery strive to stay sober while operating on the lame horse and for Rooney to assist him with great love for the horse he hopes to ride at Bellmont. When their barely running car and horse trailer are swept out to sea, they seek shelter in Margaret Hamilton's barn, and after being confronted by the five time widow with shotgun, they begin doing chores for her. Rooney takes off for Bellmont to register the horse where he learns that Beery is wanted for the accidental death of a jockey whose horse he had operated on, while Beery finds himself entangled further with the widow who wants to make him husband number six.
If you disregard the personal histories of both Beery and Rooney, you will find yourself engrossed in this comical drama of a young teen boy's love for his horse as well as his adoption of Beery as his pop, and ultimately concerned for their outcome. The comedy comes naturally here with several ironic references to the not yet made "Wizard of Oz" (Hamilton asking if the horse is lame, as well as the presence of another character named Gale), plus the presence of veteran character actress Marjorie Gateson as the gracious horse owner who becomes a surprise benefactor for Rooney at Bellmont. (Hamilton played the maid to Gateson years later on the soap opera "The Secret Storm", although they share no scenes here.) Hamilton proves her comic genius without saying a word as she ogles Beery in the singing party sequence, and can deliver a self-deprecating line with knowing delight. ("I look the same...wet or dry....") The ending might require a few handkerchiefs because no matter how gruff he was rumored to be offscreen, onscreen Beery comes off as an old softie, and nobody could pass tears in an emotional farewell better than Rooney in his heyday.
If you disregard the personal histories of both Beery and Rooney, you will find yourself engrossed in this comical drama of a young teen boy's love for his horse as well as his adoption of Beery as his pop, and ultimately concerned for their outcome. The comedy comes naturally here with several ironic references to the not yet made "Wizard of Oz" (Hamilton asking if the horse is lame, as well as the presence of another character named Gale), plus the presence of veteran character actress Marjorie Gateson as the gracious horse owner who becomes a surprise benefactor for Rooney at Bellmont. (Hamilton played the maid to Gateson years later on the soap opera "The Secret Storm", although they share no scenes here.) Hamilton proves her comic genius without saying a word as she ogles Beery in the singing party sequence, and can deliver a self-deprecating line with knowing delight. ("I look the same...wet or dry....") The ending might require a few handkerchiefs because no matter how gruff he was rumored to be offscreen, onscreen Beery comes off as an old softie, and nobody could pass tears in an emotional farewell better than Rooney in his heyday.