By Richard Harland Smith
Over the Goal
Brief Synopsis
A college football star risks his health to play in the big game.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Noel M. Smith
Director
June Travis
Lucille Martin
William Hopper
Ken Thomas
Johnny Davis
Tiny Waldron
Gordon Oliver
Benton
William Harrigan
Jim Shelly
Film Details
Also Known As
Block That Kick
Genre
Drama
Adventure
Sports
Release Date
Oct
16,
1937
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Location
Los Angeles--University of Southern California, California, United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 3m
Film Length
6 reels
Synopsis
Haines, a loyal alumnus of Carlton College wills his fortune to the school on condition that they beat football rival State for three years in a row. The will becomes general knowledge when Haines dies before the third game. Meanwhile, Dr. Martin has advised Carlton star football player Ken Thomas that he must stop playing football because another injury might permanently cripple him. He enlists his daughter Lucille, Ken's girl friend, to extract a promise from Ken that he will not play no matter what. Ken will not tell the coach why he refuses to play, so he assumes that Ken wants the fortune to go to the Haines family instead of Carlton because his mother is a distant Haines relative. When he learns the truth from Ken's freshman roommate, Tiny Waldron, the coach wires Lucille in San Francisco, where she is about to sail to China. Lucille immediately wires Ken, releasing him from his promise. The news that Ken will play in the big game excites the entire campus but greatly disturbs the lawyers for the Haines family. To remove Ken from the game and thereby ensure Carlton's loss, the lawyers loan Ken their car to join in some interschool pranks and then report it stolen. Ken tries to explain the situation to the police, but they are reluctant to defy the lawyers. Tiny discovers Ken's location by accident and rouses the entire campus to his rescue. The students are thwarted by the police, however, who arrange for Ken to move to another jail. Ken's driver turns out to be a Carlton supporter, and after Ken finally makes his identity clear, the driver turns around, and delivers him to the field just in time for him to make the winning goal and win the money for Carlton.
Director
Noel M. Smith
Director
Cast
June Travis
Lucille Martin
William Hopper
Ken Thomas
Johnny Davis
Tiny Waldron
Gordon Oliver
Benton
William Harrigan
Jim Shelly
Willard Parker
Duke Davis
Eric Stanley
Dr. Martin
Raymond Hatton
Abner
Herbert Rawlinson
Stanley Short
Douglas Wood
Dr. Marshall
Eddie Anderson
William
Hattie Mcdaniel
Hannah
Fred Mckaye
Clay
Eddie Chandler
Peters
George Offerman Jr.
Teddy
Jack Chapin
Pinky
Robert Hoover
Larkin
John Craven
King
Mabel Todd
Bee
Edward Peil Sr.
Student
Hugh Mcarthur
State student
Cliff Saum
Trainer
Gene Hibbs
Carlton player
Sam Hayes
Radio announcer
Mary Doyle
Nurse
Myrtle Stedman
Secretary to President Marshall
Crew
E. A. Brown
Sound
Anthony Coldewey
Screenwriter
Everett Dodd
Film Editor
Pat C. Flick
Contr to Screenplay const
Bryan Foy
Associate Producer
Marshall Hageman
Assistant Director
William Jacobs
Original Story
William Jacobs
Screenwriter
M. K. Jerome
Composer
Warren Lynch
Photography
Max Parker
Art Director
Jack Scholl
Composer
Harry Seymour
Dialogue Director
Howard Shoup
Gowns
Videos
Trailer
Hosted Intro
Film Details
Also Known As
Block That Kick
Genre
Drama
Adventure
Sports
Release Date
Oct
16,
1937
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Location
Los Angeles--University of Southern California, California, United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 3m
Film Length
6 reels
Articles
Over the Goal
As Hedda Hopper's acting career was guttering in the mid-30s (she would rebound as one of Hollywood's preeminent gossip columnists), the stock of her actor son DeWolf Hopper, Jr. was rising. Eventually trading in his tony birth name for something more modest, the strapping William Hopper had bit parts at Columbia, Republic, and Paramount Pictures but got to play the occasional lead at Warner Brothers - as in Nick Grinde's sideshow comedy Public Wedding (1937) and Noel Smith's college football farce Over the Goal (1937). Produced during the summer of 1937 as Block That Kick, Over the Goal showcases the 22 year-old Hopper (later dependable private eye Paul Drake of TV's long-running Perry Mason) as Ken Thomas, star player for struggling Carlton College, whose continued existence depends on gridiron glory. When Ken's doctor informs him that he must quit the team or risk permanent injury, the school's future seems dim until Ken's love for a pretty girl (June Travis, fresh from the RKO football comedy The Big Game [1936]) sends him back onto the field in the nick of time. Hopper acquits himself well in this rare lead role but Over the Goal is stolen from him by supporting players Hattie McDaniel and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson (as comic college caretakers), while Jane Wyman and Carole Landis turn up in unbilled bits as campus coeds.
By Richard Harland Smith
By Richard Harland Smith
Over the Goal
As Hedda Hopper's acting career was guttering in the mid-30s (she would rebound as one of Hollywood's preeminent gossip columnists), the stock of her actor son DeWolf Hopper, Jr. was rising. Eventually trading in his tony birth name for something more modest, the strapping William Hopper had bit parts at Columbia, Republic, and Paramount Pictures but got to play the occasional lead at Warner Brothers - as in Nick Grinde's sideshow comedy Public Wedding (1937) and Noel Smith's college football farce Over the Goal (1937). Produced during the summer of 1937 as Block That Kick, Over the Goal showcases the 22 year-old Hopper (later dependable private eye Paul Drake of TV's long-running Perry Mason) as Ken Thomas, star player for struggling Carlton College, whose continued existence depends on gridiron glory. When Ken's doctor informs him that he must quit the team or risk permanent injury, the school's future seems dim until Ken's love for a pretty girl (June Travis, fresh from the RKO football comedy The Big Game [1936]) sends him back onto the field in the nick of time. Hopper acquits himself well in this rare lead role but Over the Goal is stolen from him by supporting players Hattie McDaniel and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson (as comic college caretakers), while Jane Wyman and Carole Landis turn up in unbilled bits as campus coeds.
By Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film's pre-release title was Block That Kick. Some scenes were filmed on location at the University of Southern California. According to Film Daily, this was the film debut of Johnny Davis, a former trumpeter with Fred Waring's band.
