blanche-2 Ann Dvorak and Harry Carey wound up in this B movie, Racing Lady, done by RKO and probably made in about three days.Dvorak and Carey are daughter and father, Ruth and Tom Martin. Ruth has a horse that she believes has the makings of a winning racehorse. There aren't any female trainers in the racing field (in fact, I'm not sure there are many today). However, during the horse's first race, she is injured when pushed into the rail. The vet advises euthanasia, but Ruth has the horse's leg bandaged up, and retires her to the home she shares with her father.The horse's filly turns out to be an excellent racehorse. Ruth can't afford the high fee for one of the big races, but puts the horse in a claiming race, which means all the horses are up for sale for about the same price until the actual race. Ruth's horse wins, but she learns it was claimed by one Steven Wendel (Smith Ballew), who owns many winning racehorses. He offers Ruth a job training, and she takes it, wanting to be near her horse.Not much in the way of character development here as the film only runs one hour. Dvorak was better than this; she eventually became disgusted with her roles, married an Englishman, and made films there for a time. The actor playing Wendel, Smith Ballew, was the first singing cowboy and a popular radio star. He eventually retired and moved to Texas. The wonderful Harry Carey would go on to be nominated for an Oscar for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington not long after this.Hattie McDaniel gives a spirited performance as a beloved employee, but the other two blacks in the film played cringe-worthy stereotypes, always difficult to see nowadays.The horses were beautiful, and the racing footage was interesting.

mark.waltz It ain't no day at the races for the daughter (Ann Dvorak) of a horse owner (Harry Carey) whose prized race horse has just given birth to a friendly colt. Dvorak takes it upon herself to train the horse for the future and in the process, forgets about the spirit of the race, focusing more on profit. Hopefully a visit home with dad and the still affectionate colt's visit with its own mother might bring Dvorak back to reality to see why she got into the sport in the first place.Dvorak's basically nice girl may be the star of the show but it is the performances of Carey as the wise papa and Hattie McDaniel as the lovable cook that stand out, in addition to the cute little pony. McDaniel stands out in light-hearted scenes that focus on the affections with her family, which includes the comedic Willie Best. The film is also a sweet reminder of how much many species of animals love the species of animal known as human beings, and how we sometimes exploit them.

bkoganbing Making generous use of newsreel footage of racetracks of the era, Racing Lady is the story of a woman entering the man's world of race horse training. The pioneer in this case is Ann Dvorak who comes by her interest naturally being raised by small time owner Harry Carey. It's in her blood.Young and rich sportsman Smith Ballew claims Dvorak's horse, partly to get a winner, but also partly to gain her as a trainer. Dvorak and Ballew go through quite a rough patch before the film ends.Stepping into a role that would normally go to someone like Raymond Walburn is Berton Churchill, a foxy fellow owner and quite the sportsman himself. Churchill is probably best known to today's audience as the stuffy banker/embezzler who was a passenger on John Ford's Stagecoach, but in Racing Lady he goes against type and quite successfully.It's a B film without a terrible lot of production values, but Racing Lady is entertainment enough for those who follow the sport of kings.

boblipton This one-hour feature from RKO, about how Ann Dvorak wants to revive father Harry Carey's racing stable but winds up following a filly after it's picked up in a claiming race, moves along at too fast a pace to be particularly engrossing. Even the large number of fine actors in supporting roles -- not only Carey, but Berton Churchill, Hattie McDaniel and WIllie Best, can't make this much of a picture. Carey's slow, honest pace of dialogue conflicts with the limits imposed by the short length of the film, and the other supporting actors are given almost no time to work in their roles.A movie only for fans of the actors involved.