This is one of Ealing Studios' finest productions.
It's a simple story. Thirteen-year-old Georgie Crain, has a passion (inherited from his late father) for everything to do with horses in general and horseracing in particular. He falls in with suspended jockey Sam Lillee (Bill Owen) who sees him as a "natural" and takes him under his wing, eventually getting him a place in a Lord's racing stable. His widowed mother, who is still struggling with money problems stemming from his father's losses through betting on horses, is less than enthusiastic at first, but finally won over.
We get to see both sides of the racing world. The patronising arrogance of the toffs who run it will drive any egalitarian up the wall. In the scene where Crain is up before the Stewards, one half-expects them to produce a cane and tell him to bend over. By their own lights, they are decent enough, but even this lifelong Conservative voter found their attitude hard to stomach. Perhaps they are best summed up as "honourable but insufferable".
But the Sport of Kings has a far less genteel side to it, and this threatens all Crain's and Lillee's hopes. Attempting to get the boy's mother out of money trouble, Lillee has to fall back on the same bad company which had got him suspended - and to get his young pupil involved as well.
Fella Edmonds takes a wonderful part as Crain. There is a really touching scene where he chooses to take a fall (breaking his arm in the process) rather than mistreat a horse. Later, he takes an even greater risk to save Lillee from losing his last chance of returning to the sport they both love. Lillee, sensing that something ain't right, and that the boy may be about to lose his racing career almost before it has begun, finds that he can save it only at a terrible personal price.
Well, this being an Ealing film, of course he duly redeems himself. Put like this, some may find it a bit trite, but this sentimental old twit found it deeply moving all the same, literally shedding tears at the end. As far as I know, Fella Edmonds is still alive. If so I hope he re-watches this film from time to time. It is a genuine masterpiece.
It's a simple story. Thirteen-year-old Georgie Crain, has a passion (inherited from his late father) for everything to do with horses in general and horseracing in particular. He falls in with suspended jockey Sam Lillee (Bill Owen) who sees him as a "natural" and takes him under his wing, eventually getting him a place in a Lord's racing stable. His widowed mother, who is still struggling with money problems stemming from his father's losses through betting on horses, is less than enthusiastic at first, but finally won over.
We get to see both sides of the racing world. The patronising arrogance of the toffs who run it will drive any egalitarian up the wall. In the scene where Crain is up before the Stewards, one half-expects them to produce a cane and tell him to bend over. By their own lights, they are decent enough, but even this lifelong Conservative voter found their attitude hard to stomach. Perhaps they are best summed up as "honourable but insufferable".
But the Sport of Kings has a far less genteel side to it, and this threatens all Crain's and Lillee's hopes. Attempting to get the boy's mother out of money trouble, Lillee has to fall back on the same bad company which had got him suspended - and to get his young pupil involved as well.
Fella Edmonds takes a wonderful part as Crain. There is a really touching scene where he chooses to take a fall (breaking his arm in the process) rather than mistreat a horse. Later, he takes an even greater risk to save Lillee from losing his last chance of returning to the sport they both love. Lillee, sensing that something ain't right, and that the boy may be about to lose his racing career almost before it has begun, finds that he can save it only at a terrible personal price.
Well, this being an Ealing film, of course he duly redeems himself. Put like this, some may find it a bit trite, but this sentimental old twit found it deeply moving all the same, literally shedding tears at the end. As far as I know, Fella Edmonds is still alive. If so I hope he re-watches this film from time to time. It is a genuine masterpiece.