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Sporting Blood (1931)
1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
A pleasant surprise, 27 November 2004
Author: Lydcaro
I recently caught this film on TCM during their celebration of Clark Gable as "Star of the Month" and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Good behind the scenes racing story, with the added attraction of a very young Clark Gable in his first top-billed role. Yes, the story is sentimental, but exceedingly well done, with excellent performances by all. But the best surprise of all is the treatment of the African American characters in the film. Considering the time period, all of the African Americans are treated as intelligent, thinking HUMAN beings, not as shuffling minstrel show caricatures. Why isn't this film better known? Catch it when you have the chance. Highly recommended!
1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
SPORTING BLOOD is a story of a struggle for redemption of a horse and its owner., 29 June 2004
Author: Paul Becker (piccadillyjim@hereigo.net) from Shady Cove, Oregon
SPORTING BLOOD which stars Madge Evans and Clark Gable is a film with its central thesis being the struggle for redemption of both an abused race horse named "Tommy Boy" and its owner Madge Evans. This film fairly bursts with love for horses and horse racing. In fact, the first thirty minutes are devoted to horses without any appearance on the part of the two stars. When they do enter the story, we immediately are thrust into a world of gangsters and their associates, including both Evans and Gable. Each has made compromises in order to get where they are. She sees a chance to straighten her life out when she inherits "Tommy Boy." The question is... can she? And what of her relationship with Gable? Is there enough decency left in him to chart a new course?
This film is a classic example of the old studio system at work. Both Madge Evans, and Clark Gable, were brand new at MGM. The studio bosses weren't at all sure how well either star would fare with the public. Hence, though each was working on another picture, the studio assigned them to work on weekends and holidays when they filmed SPORTING BLOOD. Only in Hollywood!
In fact, there is a sense of freshness about this film. It hasn't the ordinary Hollywood veneer to it. It makes no pretensions and avoids clichés typical of so many similar films of the 1930s. Evans and Gable are absolutely marvelous in their respective roles. Evans is especially fresh and beautiful. But... it is the way blacks are treated in this film that set it apart from most films of its time. "Tommy Boy's" trainer, Uncle Ben is black. He is as far removed from Stepin Fetchit as a teacher is from an illiterate. Indeed, Uncle Ben is central to the plot... and in as loving a manner as could be imagined. This alone sets out SPORTING BLOOD as a better film by far than many others of its day.
Finally, the camera technology was fairly crude in 1931. Film speeds were slow and the cameras sometimes weighed five hundred pounds. Remember this when you watch the racing scenes. The photography is impressive.
1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Stunning for its time., 2 July 2003
Author: sideways8 from Kings Park NY
A very realistic film about Kentucky thoroughbred raising and racing that includes a large number of black characters including featured players. John Larkin is great as is the direction in general. Madge Evans is truly beautiful. The plot ending is ingenious. It's a keeper if you've taped it off of TCM. A piece of cinema history, I think.
an agreeable time-passer, 18 March 2006
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
Wow. 1931 was SOME year for Clark Gable. Up until then, he'd only been in a couple bit parts over about a five year period. Now, in 1931, he starred, co-starred or supported in a dozen films! It was very obvious that someone at MGM saw promise in this unknown actor and tried him in a dizzying array of films. Some of them worked okay, such as this film and NIGHT NURSE, others were pretty stupid and forgettable (such as when he played a Salvation Army worker).
Well, this film certainly isn't a great film by anyone's standards. It's a bit hokey and old-fashioned tale about a race horse with such promise and the dirty people who keep it from achieving greatness. One of these clods in Gable, but throughout the film he does evolve and show a bit more depth than you might first expect.
Give it a try if you are a Clark Gable fan or if you lost your remote and are just too lazy to get up to change the channel!
Fast start, sloppy finish, 2 July 2003
Author: boblipton from New York City
The first part of this movie, about the birth and rearing of "Tommy Boy", is pretty good, if a tad sentimental. Ernest Torrence does his usual excellent job. In the second half, Tommy Boy leaves the farm and falls in with bad companions, and the whole thing degenerates into into bad soap opera. The camerawork is erratic: the shots in the field were apparently shot MOS and look pretty good, but the second half becomes stage bound.
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