Broadway Bill

The Comedy Successor to 'It Happened One Night'

Comedy Drama
104 min     6.1     1934     USA

Overview

Tycoon J.L. Higgins controls his whole family, but one of his sons- in-law, Dan Brooks and his daughter Alice are fed up with that. Brooks quits his job as manager of J.L.'s paper box factory and devotes his life to his racing horse Broadway Bill, but his bank- roll is thin and the luck is against him, he is arrested because of $150 he owes somebody for horse food, but suddenly a planed fraud by somebody else seems to offer him a chance...

Reviews

CinemaSerf wrote:
At a family dinner, patriarch "Higgins" (Walter Connolly) - who has his name on practically everything - is bemoaning the failures of his cardboard box division. That's run by son-in-law "Dan" (Warner Baxter) but he's bored witless by the whole operation and decides he wants to quit and focus on his eponymous racehorse. He quickly discovers that owning an horse is a pricey occupation, and without a job or family money he is soon borrowing from anyone he can to keep the thing on four legs. It's first outing at the track is an unmitigated disaster, followed by a spell in jail for not paying his debts. Then "Alice" (Myrna Loy) steps in to help - and maybe, just maybe, they can get the horse entered into the Imperial Derby. What now ensues is actually quite good fun and features some of the tightest and exciting horse-racing coverage I've ever seen. The romantic elements can be largely ignored as the hapless "Dan" begins to look like he can make his father-in-law eat some humble pie and irritate the gambling fraternity at the same time. There are a couple of engaging supporting contributions - Raymond Walburn and Lynne Overman add value and if you're eagle-eyed you might spot Margaret Hamilton too. It's quickly paced and light-heartedly humorous and though probably twenty minutes too long, is still worth a watch.

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