A bright and sparky romantic comedy from Paramount that probably needed songs and colour and really top line stars but is fine. George Raft is animated and engaging as a hopeless gambler - which actually isn't that fun to watch at times he's a real addict. A pretty thing called Ellen Drew is the girl who owns a horse in which Raft gets an interest. Drew never had a massive career but I really liked her.
20th Century Fox would specialise in this sort of Americana - they'd ensure color. Raft always looks odd walking around in the country, but he is well cast. He and Drew do a bit of dancing.
The film throws away some opportunities - I kept expecting Raft's old gangster cronies to do more (why not threaten the horse more? why not have an old floozie type keen on Raft who goes against Drew?); ditto Drew's family. It's a bit yuck that self righteous horse race dude at the end doesn't want to have anything to do with Raft.
But there is an unexpectedly sweet and genuine love of horses, and a touching scene where a horse gives birth. It moves along at a fair clip. It's not a classic or even a particularly good movie, but it's absolutely fine.
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