Teddy the Rough Rider (1940)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Ray Enright

Writer:

Charles L. Tedford (writer)

Release Date:

24 February 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Biography | Drama | Family

Plot:

This short follows the political career of Theodore Roosevelt, beginning in 1895, when he was appointed police commissioner of New York City...

Plot Keywords:

Political | Spanish American War | San Juan Hill | New York | New York City

Awards:

Won Oscar.

Cast

Sidney Blackmer	...	Theodore Roosevelt
Pierre Watkin	...	Senator Platt
Arthur Loft	...	Big Jim Rafferty, city boss
Theodore von Eltz	...	William Loeb
Clay Clement	...	Avery D. Andrews
Douglas Wood	...	President William McKinley
Robert Warwick	...	Captain Leonard Woods
Glenn Strange	...	Jim Rawlins
Selmer Jackson	...	John W. Riggs, Cabinet Member
Edward McWade	...	Russell Alger, Secretary of War

Runtime:

19 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Blackmer played Roosevelt in six other films.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: Theodore Roosevelt: soldier, president, statesman, American. In 1895 Roosevelt became police commissioner of New York City, declared war on corrupt politicians.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Warner at War (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Auld Lang Syne

Oscar winning two-reel short that's quite good

his two-reel short won an Oscar in 1940 and is a fairly good look at Teddy Roosevelt and reasonably historically accurate, for Hollywood. Sidney Blackmer actually looks like TR (thanks to a good makeup job) and it suffers only sligtly from melodramatic excess. The performances are for the most part good and it's a good example of an all but lost form-the 20 minute short film. Turner Classic Movies runs this occasionally as filler and it generally runs as part of their "31 Days of Oscar" feature in March. Recommended.