Broadway Bill (1934)

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Broadway Bill is Frank Capra's forgotten follow up to It Happened One Night, likely due to the film being out of circulation until the 1990's and what a shame too. Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy are not romantic leads as she is his sister in law but both of them have great admiration for each other with Dan Brooks (Baxter) referring to her affectionately as The Princess and Loy clearly in love with the man and holding the same ideals as him but unable to go any further due to family ties; I find this dynamic is more interesting than a standard romance. Capra originally wanted Clark Gable in the lead role but had to settle with Warner Baxter who at least seems to be the next best thing as he holds much of the same rugged, footloose appeal of Gable.Broadway Bill features many of the same Capra-isms as seen in his other films. The small town of Higginsvillie being run by business mogul J.L Higggins played by Walter Connolly is a much more light hearted version of Mr Potter from It's a Wonderful Life. He is in control of his entire family who run his individual enterprises and even their own national bank as visualised in a gag in which the entire Higgin's family proceed to eat dinner in perfect unison. They're not the Rothchilds but they're wealthy and powerful ("Higgins, that's not a family, that's a disease"). Yet at the end of the film J.L. gets rid of his businesses or as he puts it, gives back institutions to the people who founded them. Like the Sycamore family in You Can't Take It With You, Dan Brooks want to leave behind his life of work in favour of leisure and enjoyment, ideals comparable to the counter cultures of the 1960's. After all what could be more dull than running a paper box company? Unless you're Seymour Skinner.One of the most pivotal scenes in Broadway Bill involves one of the richest men in the world, J.P. Chase putting a $2 bet on Broadway Bill at 100/1 as a means to pass time will in hospital. When word gets out it spreads like wild fire and the claims of what the amount of money he placed on the best become exaggerated from $2 to $20,000 to $50,000 all the way up to a quarter million. Simple message - don't believe everything you hear.I love Broadway Bill for its simple cheerful Innocence. This is one of several films which has managed to tug my heart strings over the fate of a horse. One plot element even involves the horse Broadway Bill refusing to race because he doesn't have his pet chicken called skeeter. You wouldn't find this kind of innocence today in a film which is supposedly made for adults.

Frank Capra spotted Broadway BILL (1934) between IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) and MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936). The Director did not think much of the film at the time nor in his memoirs. Critics remarks mainly praised the cast and little else. They were right, there are better Race-Track films out there, from CHARLIE CHAN AT THE RACE TRACK (1936) too SEABISCUIT (2003). This film has a first rate cast starting with Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy, the leads. The rest, competent character actors from Capra's stock company at COLUMBIA the producing studio. So what went wrong?The screenplay has 'whiskers' on it even for a mid 1930s' programmer. There is every corny and trite cliché that can be imagined in the script. They even have Franky Darro as BILL's Jockey, TED WILLIAMS! Darro made a Hollywood career out of playing Jockey's. The worse portrayal is Baxter's DAN BROOKS. Maybe in the 1930's being a irresponsible and obnoxious jerk was somewhat enduring, it certainly is not in the 21st Century. This film should be viewed solely as a curiosity piece or for the real Frank Capra fanatics.For some reason Capra felt the need to remake this film with Bing Crosby as DAN BROOKS. RIDING HIGH (1950) though longer is no better and we also rate it IMDb Four****Stars. Capra, post WWII seemed to have lost his 'touch'. He would also remake LADY FOR A DAY (1933) as POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES (1961) his last film. His time had run out.

Frank Capra is a great favourite of mine and I thoroughly appreciate his system of values. However, I find the message of "Broadway Bill" questionable at least. Flogging a horse to death rather than accepting your parent's money doesn't sound like a clever rationale to me. The only sense I can make of it is to take the horse's name "Broadway Bill" literally. This way it's cynical, on all other levels it's just stupid. Now that I've got that out of my chest, there are several great Capra moments ("Dough Boy!") to be found throughout the film. But the whole doesn't add up to anything worth keeping in mind. What a shame.

A failed racehorse fancier, desperate to emerge from the shadow of his dictatorial father-in-law, pins all his hopes on his magnificent new steed, BROADWAY BILL.This rather obscure Frank Capra film - made after IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT - has a lot going for it, including fine performances, a well-written story, good production values & a hilarious example of an expertly crafted film montage.Warner Baxter deserves some credit in being willing to play a flawed and somewhat unlikable fellow. Besides being an alcoholic shyster, he's also physically abusive to those he feels are beneath him. And he's a racist. Despite these major disqualifications, Baxter still displays enough enthusiasm to make the viewer actually care what happens to the lout.Although it's difficult to fathom why her character adores Baxter so much, it's actually quite easy to see why audiences love Myrna Loy. Beautiful, vivacious, classy, this lady exuded charm for decades. As Baxter's infatuated sister-in-law, she is a pleasure to watch, even though we don't really feel Baxter deserves her.Playing his role with great dignity, Clarence Muse stands out as Broadway Bill's groom. An actor of enormous competence, Muse perhaps brought more of a well-rounded characterization to his performance than was originally expected. That he could play a role subject to racial slights and still make it something memorable, speaks very well of the actor.The supporting cast contains a fine collection of character actors: blustery Walter Connolly as Loy's tyrannical, yet tenderhearted, father; Raymond Walburn as a pompous confidence trickster; Lynne Overman as his laconic assistant; Douglass Dumbrille as a race-fixing mobster; and vinegar-faced Margaret Hamilton as Connolly's stern boardinghouse landlady.Movie mavens should have fun picking out the uncredited appearances of several performers: Clara Blandick as Connolly's overworked secretary; former OUR GANGer Mickey Daniels as a messenger for Connolly; Ward Bond & Charles Lane as a couple of racing touts working for Dumbrille; Herman Bing as a most unfortunate waiter in a fancy restaurant; Irving Bacon as the owner of a sandwich stand; Charles Middleton as a veterinarian; elderly Claude Gillingwater as the ‘richest man in the world' whose impetuous purchase of $2 worth of tickets on Broadway Bill precipitates merry mayhem; and pretty Lucille Ball as a telephone operator.After filming began Capra discovered that Baxter, although he loved horses, was afraid of them. Some imagination on the part of the director was needed to realistically put Baxter & Bill into the same scenes.