Racing Lady (1937) User Reviews

The Sport Of Kings Has A Princess

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 1 May 2009]

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.

Pointing for the Big Cap

[sol-kay · 7/10 · 20 February 2010]

**SPOILER** With the Martin Farm colors or silks back on the racetrack it's only horse the hard running mare "Pepper Mary" ends up getting slammed into the rail during her race and barley surviving being put down when her injured leg ended up badly bruised instead of being broken.

It's then that the the Martin Farm's owner Tom Martin, Harry Carey, young daughter Ruth, Ann Dvorak, decided to train "Pepper Mary's" yearling filly "Katydid" to follow in her mother foot, or huff, steps on the racetrack. As you would have expected "Katydid" was gotten into shape by Ann and entered into a maiden claiming race at Santa Anita that she easily won. What wasn't expected was that the victorious "Katydid" was claimed after the race by automobile tycoon Steven Wendel, Smith Ballew, from right under Ann's nose! Pleading to get "Katydid" back from Wendle Ann is given an option to train the two-year old for Wendel's stable for the remainder of her two year old, and into her three year old, campaign! Only under the condition that "Katydid" run only in races that she's certain to win as if certainty is something that's certain in horse racing! Sure shots like Man O' War Gallent Fox and War Admiral ended up losing races that they were sure to win so what makes Wendle think that "Katydid" no matter how good she is will be any different!

Touching little racing movie based on the works of Damon Runyon's "All Scarlet" and J. Robert Bern & Norman Huston's "Odds are Even" that shows all the different and colorful characters, human as well as animal, involved in horse racing; That make it not only the Sport of Kings but the sport of the two dollar better as well. Feeling that "Katydid" has what it takes to be a champion Ann has the three year old filly pointed for the biggest race at Santa Anita against colts the "Big Cap" or the $100,000.00 Santa Anita Handicap.

**SPOILERS*** It's "Katydid's" owner Steven Wendel who doesn't like to lose who feels that his fast closing filly is over her head in the race and refuses to run "Katydid" that cause Ann to quit her job as his stable's trainer. Ann still determined to run "Katydid" on her own even if she as to horse-nap her from Wendel! It's later that horse mysteriously disappears from her barn as her groom and hot-walker Mr. Brass, Willie Best, was asleep on the job. In the end it's non other then Wendel himself who knew where the filly was, she was horse-napped by his former trainer Gilbert (Hartland Tucker), and got a sudden change of heart that had Ann find out-through the horses groom Brass-where "Katydid" was and entered her, with only minutes remaining, into the big race.

The predictable happy ending was only secondary to the reason that Ann entered the under dog, or under horse, "Katydid" into the "Big Cap" in the first place. Like her Dad Tom Martin always thought Ann it's not winning but not being afraid to lose that counts in both being a both great horse trainer as well as great racehorse.

Too Fast a Pace

[boblipton · 5/10 · 28 September 2006]

This one-hour feature from RKO, about how Ann Dvorak wants to revive father Harry Carey's racing stable but winds up following a filly after it's picked up in a claiming race, moves along at too fast a pace to be particularly engrossing. Even the large number of fine actors in supporting roles -- not only Carey, but Berton Churchill, Hattie McDaniel and WIllie Best, can't make this much of a picture. Carey's slow, honest pace of dialogue conflicts with the limits imposed by the short length of the film, and the other supporting actors are given almost no time to work in their roles.

A movie only for fans of the actors involved.

B movie from RKO

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 14 September 2014]

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.

fine

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 15 June 2022]

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.

She has to learn what she loves more: the horse or the race.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 22 November 2013]

It ain't no day at the races for the daughter (Ann Dvorak) of a horse owner (Harry Carey) whose prized race horse has just given birth to a friendly colt. Dvorak takes it upon herself to train the horse for the future and in the process, forgets about the spirit of the race, focusing more on profit. Hopefully a visit home with dad and the still affectionate colt's visit with its own mother might bring Dvorak back to reality to see why she got into the sport in the first place.

Dvorak's basically nice girl may be the star of the show but it is the performances of Carey as the wise papa and Hattie McDaniel as the lovable cook that stand out, in addition to the cute little pony. McDaniel stands out in light-hearted scenes that focus on the affections with her family, which includes the comedic Willie Best. The film is also a sweet reminder of how much many species of animals love the species of animal known as human beings, and how we sometimes exploit them.

Cliché Lady

[Michael_Elliott · 16 June 2013]

Racing Lady (1937)

** (out of 4)

Forgettable "B" picture from RKO about Ruth Martin (Ann Dvorak), a woman who plans to bring her father's (Harry Carey) racing stable back into power but finds herself hitting one hurdle after another. RACING LADY clocks in at 59-minutes so obviously you're not going to find any sort of character development or story that manages to do much. What we've basically got is a very predictable sports melodrama with all sorts of clichés that were already out-dated by 1937 standards. Even worse is that the screenplay really doesn't offer up anything new or original so all of these clichés just lead to a rather boring movie and even a slow one, which is really shocking considering how short this is. Dvorak brings some nice energy to her role and she tries her best to help keep the film moving but there's just nothing here for her to work with. Carey is good in his supporting bit as are Smith Ballew and Benrton Churchill but, again, they just don't have anything to work with. Hattie McDaniel and Willie Best are on hand delivering the type of good performances we expected of them but in the type of roles that really aren't that special. The film follows one predictable turn after another and the film is actually so lazy that they cut out any sort of story development in favor of title cards that move the action along.

some big names in a low budget rko film

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 25 April 2024]

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!

Just think what a bigger budget could have accomplished

[morrisonhimself · 8/10 · 15 June 2022]

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.