Speed to Burn
Cast & Crew
Otto Brower
Michael Whalen
Lynn Bari
Marvin Stephens
Henry Armetta
Chick Chandler
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After his veteran horse, War Paint, comes in last in a race, Pop Williams vows to auction the horse. War Paint's jockey and trainer, young Tim Turner, quits and tries to talk delicatessen owner Papa Gambini, the father of his friend Tony, to buy the horse, but Papa refuses. Tim then visits W. R. Hastings, a wealthy horseman known for his success in bringing old horses back as stake winners, and offers to work for nothing for Hastings if he buys the horse. Hastings, who is impressed with Tim's knowledge and remembers his father, who was a great rider, sends his secretary, Marion Clark, to the auction to bid for the horse. When the auctioneer puts War Paint in with six other horses that Williams is selling, Marion, flustered, is outbid by Matt Kerry, an Irish-American policeman, who buys the group for his department. Hastings, it turns out, had arranged for War Paint to lose the earlier race by having Swipe, a boy who works at the track, give the horse a lot of water; Hastings then planned to make a killing with the horse in the upcoming Cloverdale Handicap. He now is angry with Marion, but he plans to get the horse at a later date. Tim is upset because he thinks that it is demeaning for War Paint to be a police horse. However, when he sees Matt effectively control the horse after Sport Fields, who works for Hastings, instructs a cab to backfire near the horse, Tim tells Matt he is glad War Paint has someone like him. Tony invites Matt to dinner at the delicatessen, and Matt brings Marion, with whom he has become infatuated. Later, Tim sees Sport drive a motorcycle in front of the horse and throw powder in its face. As War Paint tips over a cart and throws Matt, Tim chases Swipe, who was with Sport, and tackles him in an alley. Swipe reveals Hastings' plan and says that Sport and Marion are in on it. After learning that Matt has suffered a concussion, Tim overhears an officer say that War Paint should be shot. With Tony's help, Tim then substitutes Papa's horse Betsy for War Paint. When Tim visits Matt in the hospital, he finds Marion there and tells of Hastings' scheme and Marion's part in it. Marion walks out disturbed, and when the police find that War Paint is in Papa's stall, Marion reveals that she bought the horse from the police. She tells Tim that she is through with Hastings and really cares about Matt and asks Tim to ride the horse. They keep the horse at Papa's stall and train him early in the morning in the park so that Hastings will not locate them, while Marion works as a waitress at the deli to earn money for the entry fee. Sport finds out about the workouts, and one morning comes to the park with another mug. After slugging Tim, Sport takes the horse; however, Tim had substituted Betsy for War Paint. On the day of the Cloverdale Handicap, two police officers, not knowing that their radio microphone is on, repeat Matt's tip to bet on War Paint if he ever raced again. Officers throughout the city overhear the conversation and place bets on War Paint. Matt also hears the "broadcast" and leaves the hospital. After Sport's mug kidnaps Tim, Matt calls in a report, and when the police learn that War Paint's jockey is missing, they go on alert. Seeing the kidnapper's car go through a stop sign, the police chase it, and it goes over an embankment. The police rush Tim to the track, and although he is hurt, he wins the race before collapsing. Later, in the deli, Papa sings, as Matt is happy with Marion, and Tim feeds War Paint and Betsy.
Director
Otto Brower
Cast
Michael Whalen
Lynn Bari
Marvin Stephens
Henry Armetta
Chick Chandler
Sidney Blackmer
Johnnie Pirrone
Charles D. Brown
Inez Palange
Eleanor Virzie
Betty Greco
Edward Emerson
Lon Chaney Jr.
Harold Goodwin
Gloria Roy
Edwin Stanley
Paul Mcvey
Dick Rush
William Newell
Eddie Dunn
Fred Kelsey
Hooper Atchley
Ivan Miller
Stanley Andrews
Edward Keane
Wilfred Lucas
Ralph Dunn
James Flavin
Eddie Hart
Jerry Storm
James C. Morton
Emmett Vogan
Chester Gan
Dave Thursby
Cliff Clark
J. Anthony Hughes
John Gibson
Pat O'malley
Bill Cartledge
Ky Robinson
Bud Wiser
Hal Craig
Harrison Greene
Tom Mcguire
Jack Byron
Phil Smalley
Crew
Murray Abrams
Fred Allen
William H. Anderson
Al Baker
Bob Braggins
Edwin Dial-torgerson
Ed. Ebele
Robert Ellis
Bernard Freericks
Chester Gore
Kenny Green
Virgil Hart
Hal Herman
Bernard Herzbrun
Jerry Hoffman
Bruce Hunsaker
Gladys Isaacson
Sid Jordan
Samuel Kaylin
Harry Kornfield
Joseph Krumgold
Helen Logan
Bob Martien
Carl Meyers
Helen A. Myron
Emmet O'brien
Chauncey Olcott
D. B. Redd
James Riemer
Maynard Rugg
Sam Schneider
Edward Snyder
Frank Sullivan
Jack Vernon
Saul Wurtzel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Lucky Day, Sporting Chance and Racing Blood. The opening screen credits read, "Twentieth Century-Fox presents Another Adventure in the World of Sports Speed to Burn." This was the first film in Twentieth Century-Fox's "Sports Series." According to news items, Jerry Hoffman, a former newspaper motion picture critic, was promoted from story adviser at the studio to producer in October 1937, in line with studio head Darryl Zanuck's policy of taking executives from within the studio's ranks. Hoffman was signed to produce three sports features a year with Marvin Stephens in the lead. Stephens actually only appeared in this film, but the fictional family of his friends, "The Gambinis," played by Henry Armetta, Inez Palange, Johnnie Pirrone, Eleanor Virzie and Betty Greco, are supporting characters in all the films. The series included two other films dealing with other sports, Road Demon, about auto racing, and Winner Take All, about boxing (see below). According to information in the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department at the UCLA Theater Arts Library, some scenes in the film were shot in Griffith Park in Los Angeles and at Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, CA. The legal files reveal that a solicitor for an English racehorse trainer named David Hastings claimed that his client was grossly libelled by the fact that the villainous horseman in the film was also named "Hastings." Fox paid the man £110.10 in damages and added two introductory cards to prints of the film which stated that all incidents and names of characters are fictitious, and that the names do not relate to any person bearing the same name.
