The Kid Stakes

Name: The Kid Stakes
Genre: Drama
Released: 1927-06-09
Duration: 1 h 9 min
Rating: 6.8
Cast: Robin 'Pop' Ordell, Charles Roberts, Ray Salmon

19271927
1h 9m

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

232,404

188,319

Drama

Young "Fatty" Finn and his friends enter their pet goat in a race, but his rival "Bruiser" Murphy lets the goat loose, right before the race.Young "Fatty" Finn and his friends enter their pet goat in a race, but his rival "Bruiser" Murphy lets the goat loose, right before the race.Young "Fatty" Finn and his friends enter their pet goat in a race, but his rival "Bruiser" Murphy lets the goat loose, right before the race.

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

232,404

188,319

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

3User reviews

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Trivia
All the then-known prints of this film had been cut up into two-reel comedies. These and the residual nitrate materials were "rescued" by members of the Sydney University Film Group in 1953, re-edited into a single apparently complete version, and presented in a revival season in September 1954 in the Union Hall at Sydney University. Some of the original cast were on stage for the presentation. The existing film known as "The Kid Stakes" is the re-edit done by John Jackson Morris, a member of the Group, in 1954. A new negative was made which--with great difficulty--the National Library of Australia was persuaded to buy at cost. (there was no National Film and Sound Archive in Australia until 1983). In frustration, the student Group had paid for a fresh 16mm print to be taken to London by Mary Field, the children's film advocate who was visiting Australia at the time; that print is now in the National Film Archive in Britain. The film has since become highly regarded as a "dinki-di" Aussie comedy and a valuable record of the city of Sydney in locations and cultures of the day (1927), also a gloss to the extensive body of work (including political drawing) by the artist Syd Nicholls.

Connections
Featured in Forgotten Cinema: The Golden Age of Australian Motion Pictures (1967)

User reviews3

Review

Featured review

7/10

My daughter and I both enjoyed it...

I am not an Australian and I have never heard about the Fatty Finn comic strip. So, I had absolutely no idea what to expect when this film began. However, by the time it was over, both my daughter and I agreed that it was a lot of fun.

In many ways, the movie is a lot like Hal Roach's "Li'l Rascals" series. This isn't surprising, as MANY studios in the States made their own knockoff of the series--so why wouldn't the Aussies also make what sure looks like a knockoff. Now this is not really a complaint, as the end result still is quite pleasing.

The film is, at first, almost like a couple shorts combined. It's only a bit later in the film when the race occurs--from which the title derives. This big race is a weird affair--with carts pulled by goats and little kids riding at incredibly brisk speeds. But the race itself is only one of many little vignettes that make up this cute little film. Pretty good child acting and a good fast-paced script make this worth seeing.

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