Broadway Bill (1934)

A runaway heiress and her sister's husband join forces to race the latter's fast horse, Broadway Bill.

Director:

Frank Capra

Writers:

Robert Riskin (screenplay), Mark Hellinger (based upon a story by),

Stars:

Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, Walter Connolly

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Warner Baxter	...	Dan Brooks
Myrna Loy	...	Princess
Walter Connolly	...	J.L. Higgins
Helen Vinson	...	Margaret
Douglass Dumbrille	...	Eddie Morgan (as Douglas Dumbrille)
Raymond Walburn	...	Colonel Pettigrew
Lynne Overman	...	Happy McGuire
Clarence Muse	...	Whitey
Broadway Bill	...	Broadway Bill - a Horse
Margaret Hamilton	...	Edna
Frankie Darro	...	Ted Williams
George Cooper	...	Joe
George Meeker	...	Henry Early
Jason Robards Sr.	...	Arthur Winslow (as Jason Robards)
Ed Tucker	...	Jimmy Baker

Storyline

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...

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Plot Keywords:

horse | heiress | animal in cast credits | family business | colonel | 

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Taglines:

The comedy successor to "It Happened One Night"

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 December 1934 (USA)

Also Known As:

Broadway Bill - A Vitória Será Tua

Filming Locations:

Tanforan Race Track, San Bruno, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Frankie Darro plays jockey Williams in both this film and the its remake, Riding High. This saved considerable funds in not having to re-shoot the racing footage for the newer version.

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Quotes

Dan Brooks: Doesn't anything ever change in this mausoleum?
Alice Higgins: Yes. Bedspreads and underwear.

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Connections

Remade as Riding High (1950)

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Soundtracks

"Split-Pea Soup and Succotash"
(uncredited)
Composer Unknown
Sung several times by Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy

User Reviews

Horse With A Heart

In his memoirs Frank Capra gave very short shrift to Broadway Bill. In fact he only mentions it when he starts to talk about the remake of this film Riding High. The remake was in 1950 and Broadway Bill was done immediately after It Happened One Night.

In just a couple of paragraphs he mentions that he did a film called Broadway Bill sandwiched between It Happened One Night and Mr. Deeds Goes To Town. He was dissatisfied with it because the leading man, Warner Baxter, was afraid of horses and it showed. Capra then said he resolved to do the film over again with an actor who loved horses. Of course he got Bing Crosby and second to golf Crosby did love horses and horse racing. It was a perfect fit.

I didn't notice anything too terribly wrong with Baxter's performance away from the horse playing the title role. Baxter's a footloose sort of guy who's married to the daughter of millionaire Walter Connolly, Helen Vinson. Baxter's heart is at the racetrack, he loves the life and the people there. Vinson's younger sister Myrna Loy understands him though and it does take Baxter a while to figure out he married the wrong sister.

Frank Capra filled out his cast with many of the regulars who appeared in his more well known classics and they all look like they were born and bred at the racetrack. In this and in Riding High, my favorite is Raymond Walburn, the larcenous and lovable old 'Colonel' Pettigrew ready to make the ultimate sacrifice and marry 'Vinegar Puss' Margaret Hamilton.

Broadway Bill is not up there with Capra's more populistic films nor is it as good as Riding High, but it still is a wonderful heartwarming story of a horse who showed us in the higher species, the meaning of courage and heart.