Riding High ** (1950, Bing Crosby, Coleen Gray, Charles Bickford) – Classic Movie Review 9592

Frank Capra tepidly remakes his 1934 Broadway Bill as a vehicle for Bing Crosby in the 1950 comedy Riding High.

Crosby is reasonably animated as the cheerful chappie Dan Brooks who is trying to raise a winning horse, Broadway Bill, to win a big race. But unfortunately the love interest Alice Higgins (Coleen Gray) isn’t at all interesting.

On the credit side Raymond Walburn, Douglass Dumbrille, Clarence Muse, Paul Harvey and Ward Bond all re-create their original roles to effect, while Oliver Hardy has a cameo without Stan Laurel. So it has got to be worth a look if only for the cast.

[Spoiler alert] Capra’s career wasn’t riding high any more and it shows: see for example how he lets sentimentality take over when the horse dies.

Riding High is amiable enough though.

Also in the cast are Charles Bickford, Raymond Walburn, James Gleason, Oliver Hardy, Ward Bond, Margaret Hamilton, Frances Gifford, James Gleason, William Demarest, Clarence Muse, Percy Kilbride, Harry Davenport, Douglass Dumbrille, Gene Lockhart, Charles Lane, Frankie Darro, Joe Frisco, Paul Harvey, Marjorie Lord, Rand Brooks, Willard Waterman, Dub Taylor and Max Baer.

Riding High is directed by Frank Capra, runs 112 minutes, is released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Robert Riskin (screenplay), Melville Shavelson (additional dialogue) and Jack Rose (additional dialogue), based on a story by Mark Hellinger, is shot in black and white by George Barnes and Ernest Laszlo, is produced by Frank Capra, scored by Victor Young, with Art Direction by Hans Dreier and Walter H Tyler, and Victor Young as musical director, and new songs with music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke.

Oliver Hardy was in his element as a regular at the Santa Anita Racetrack and owner of a stable of horses.

Capra went on to make Here Comes the Groom with Crosby (1951).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9592

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