Customer Reviews

Broadway Bill [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A cheerful horse trainer finds he has a winner. A very entertaining, lighthearted film which is very thirties, with Capra's early style in full bloom. For years, this film was actually considered lost. Good thing it wasn't! The title refers to a thoroughbred horse. Trivial though the plot may be, this film has great style: a happy film to watch. Trivia information: This film was remade as RIDING HIGH with Bing Crosby and Colleen Gray in 195O. Location footage was shot at the Tanforan Racetrack in San Mateo county in California. Watch for a 23 year-old blonde Lucille Ball as an extra - a switchboard operator! The cast is inspired and entertaining: Myrna Loy as Alice, Helen Vinson, Margaret Hamilton, Ward Bond, Inez Courtney and Jason Robards (Sr.). The nearly forgotten Warner Baxter plays the lead role of Dan Brooks. Originally, the film was released at 125 minutes.

A once-lost Capra film, with a plot revolving around a long-shot champion racehouse that everyone had written off as a nag. Great chemistry between Myrna Loy and Warner Baxter, who had a Clark Gable-ish charm as the fast-talking rogue who gets Bill his big break. Cast notes: Clarence Muse is cool as Baxter's sidekick, in a surprisingly strong role for an African-American actor at the time; Margaret Hamilton (aka the Wicked Witch of the West) plays "vinegar puss", the spinsterish landlady of one of Baxter's ne'er-do-well pals. Capra remade this film in 1952, with Bing Crosby in the lead role; I far prefer Baxter. This is a good classic film; the ending will slay you.

Broadway Bill is the story of a man played by Warner Baxter, married to the daughter of a business tycoon, who has sacrificed his love for horses to work for his empire building father-in-law. He decides to break away from the life he hates, and he pins his hopes on Broadway Bill, a horse with a lot of heart. Along for the ride is Myrna Loy, his wife's younger sister who shares his disdain for the family empire and his love of horses. Baxter, a forgotten actor from the 1930's is alright in the central role, and Loy is really appealing as the girl secretly in love with him. The story has a lot of good moments, particularly those surrounding the betting and the racetrack. The parts of the story dealing with Baxter's in-laws aren't as well written or interesting (although I liked the way they ate dinner "together"), and the ending doesn't quite ring true. But all in all, it's an entertaining movie.

BROADWAY BILL was like a lost jewel, until it was unearthed around 1990. It has romance, laughter, triumph, tears, & despair, and while the pairing of Myrna Loy & Warner Baxter is not Nick & Nora, they still are very well paired. Baxter is slightly smarmy as Broadway Bill's owner, and while I think a better choice could have been made in his role, he still does a good job. Try a double bill of this with It Happened One Night, or better yet, a triple bill with My Man Godfrey.

This is not a good movie, despite the directorship of Capra and the presence of some solid actors. Warner Baxter is miscast. The story is very weak and predictable. And the technical aspects of the film are poor. (Harry Cohn loved stock shots; they were cheap.) Save your money.

This is a review for the 1934 Frank Capra film, BROADWAY BILL.
BROADWAY BILL was considered a lost film until the early 1990s
and has been available for home viewing for some time. This movie
is currently a Paramount DVD although the film was originally a Columbia
release.

The screenplay for BROADWAY BILL was written by Robert Risken from a story
by Mark Hellinger. The stars of BROADWAY BILL are Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy,
Walter Connelly, Helen Vinson (yes, of DRACULA), Douglas Dumbrille and a
wonderful crew of colorful character actors who help to make things
enjoyable just by thier presence. This film was Frank Capra's first
film release after IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT so he probably felt that
he had a lot to live up to.


The story concerns a young husband played by Warner Baxter who heads a successful business because of bis father in law's largess. After a couple of years Baxter struggles to maintain interest in the business while his old love of horseracing and life at the track take hold again. Eventually he starts racing a horse named Broadway Bill and gets involved with his like-minded sister- in- law
played by Myrna Loy.

The comedy in this Capra film is a little rough edged for modern sensibilities
but over all this is quite an entertaining tale and as usual, the common people help the Capra hero succeed. The only complaint I can offer is the rather
shocking development near the end of the story but that's quickly amended with
a touching ceremony and the introduction of new story elements just before
the conclusion of the film. In a way this story reminds me of the story of Seabiscuit but that tale unfolded a few years after BROADWAY BILL was released.

Was part of Seabiscuit's story somehow inspired by BROADWAY BILL or was it just another coincidence? Or possibly was the press inspired by hazy memories of a fictional horse and rode BROADWAY BILL'S story across the finish line on the real life Seabiscuit? None of us were there so we'll probably never know but it is fun to speculate.

Anyway, I give BROADWAY BILL 4 1/2 stars, only because of the rather abrupt
fate of a key figure in this story. This film is certainly worth seeing for Capra fans or anyone else who appreciates a good movie.