Riding High (1950) watch online HD

I have fond memories of seeing Frank Capra's "Riding High" on the late show and when it came available on DVD I wanted to share it with my fourteen year old daughter. A girl of great taste, my daughter is already a Bing Crosby fan and "Riding High" is a marvelous way to introduce youngsters to great character actors. Frank Capra always used the best actors to tell his stories and this time out he reached back to his original filming of the story ("Broadway Bill") for a fabulous cast. Raymond Walburn, Margaret Hamilton, Clarence Muse are pros who always delight. What great fun to see Oliver Hardy. William Demarest cracked us up as "Happy". Irving Bacon as the lunch counter man, Percy Kilbride, Ward Bond, Dub Taylor, Gene Lockhart. A who's who of the people who made the golden age of movies truly golden. "Riding High" has heart, songs and laughs. Gather the kids and have a great time.

Frank Capra did not particularly like his film Broadway Bill. It's chief problem was that Warner Baxter did not like horses and it showed. He got to re-make it with a man who loved horses. Bing at the track was a natural fit.

One of the great subjects for Crosby jokes was sports. Bing's golf and his racehorses and after he bought a quarter interest in the Pittsburgh Pirates, baseball. For awhile Bing owned a percentage of DelMar race- track.

This story is sooooo right for Crosby, I only wish he'd made it with Capra back in 1935. Capra had Paramount buy the film from Columbia and then actually was able to hire just about the entire cast from Broadway Bill to repeat their scenes with Crosby and the other players who had since passed away. The only criticism I have is I wish he could have gotten Myrna Loy from MGM.

Good Van Heusen-Burke score. Sunshine Cake became one of Bing's million sellers, a great addition to his group of upbeat philosophical numbers. My favorite number however was his version of De Camptown Races, sung while walking Broadway Bill to the track for the big race, accompanied by a gang of kids.

This film is Capra casting at its best. My favorites are Raymond Walburn and William Demarest. Demarest is one of the few of the replacement cast since Lynne Overman had died the year before. Also watch for Oliver Hardy, he has a bit that is memorable.

Frank Capra's creativity must have been just about spent by the time he made this film. While it has a few charming moments, and many wonderful performers, Capra's outright recycling of not just the script but considerable footage from his first version of this story, Broadway Bill (1934), is downright shoddy. It is understandable that he would re-use footage from the climactic horse race, which is thrilling. But he uses entire dialogue scenes with minor actors, then brings back those actors and apparently expects us not to notice, for example, that Ward Bond is 14 years older! Unless you want to see one of the last appearances of Oliver Hardy, skip this one and watch Broadway Bill instead.

As a big Laurel and Hardy fan, I rented "Riding High" out of curiosity: Oliver Hardy makes a rare solo appearance here. Ollie is funny in his short cameo role, but his appearance is certainly not the only reason to see this film. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed this movie quite a bit.

Of course, I shouldn't have been too surprised. "Riding High" is directed by Frank Capra ("It's a Wonderful Life") and stars Bing Crosby. Briefly, Bing is a down-on-his-luck horse trainer trying to hit the big time with his one last chance: A horse named Broadway Bill. Yes, in many ways this is your typical sports underdog movie. There are, however, twists along the way. In fact, what happens in "the big race at the end" may very well take you by surprise.

A warning: This is the year 1950 and the "traditional" roles of men and women, not to mention blacks and whites, are clearly defined. If you can look beyond that, "Riding High" is a fun time.

A lovely remake of the director's own Broadway Bill, Riding High is full to the brim with comedy, action and romance. We don't get Myrna Loy this time (shame!), but Capra's handling is as adept as ever and he even allows Bing to sing a handful of trackside standards! Whilst the film cannot match the very best Capra/Riskin collaborations, it is nevertheless great fun, with Bing perfectly cast in the lead. My only complaint is in the over-abundance of stock footage from Broadway Bill (presumably due to financial constraints).

Sheer escapism, with a decent moral and lovely performances all round. Leave your cynicism at the door and you should have a ball!

First, let me say "nuts" to the cinema snobs who carp about Capra recycling footage from Broadway BILL in order to bring this picture in on budget. If that's what it took, so be it. In my opinion, RIDING HIGH is far superior to the original picture in many ways. First, the original script was followed closely but was peppered with several "toppers". Second, the comedy sequences - especially the racetrack swindle scene - are much funnier in RIDING HIGH. It was a genuine stroke of genius to give habitual track inhabitant Oliver Hardy the role of the poor sap who sinks it all on "Doughboy". Most importantly, Bing Crosby is, as Capra states in his autobio, right as rain for the role of Dan Brooks. Warner Baxter was decidedly out-of-place and his dour personality put a serious dent in the dramatic success of Broadway BILL. Sure, Colleen Gray is not Myrna Loy. But she is wonderfully natural in this picture and a wonderful mate for Bing. Also vastly improved in this version is the relationship between Dan and Whitey (Clarence Muse in both pictures). There is no real chemistry between Baxter and Muse (Baxter even gives him a malicious kick in the pants at one point) whereas Crosby and Muse exude genuine affection for one another. Another big plus is Percy Kilbride as the feed man. The scene at the track where he tries to get his bill paid is one of the most hysterical examples of frustration in a character I've ever seen. And please don't complain about the songs. Burke and Van Heusen wrote outstanding material for Crosby and these songs fit the characters and situations just fine. And it's nice to have "Sunshine Cake", except for a few bars, sung on-set and not pre-recorded. Lynne Overman may have a slight edge as a Damon Runyon type, but Bill Demarest as Happy gets much bigger laughs. All-in-all, this is one of my very favorite Capra pictures. Bravo to the great director for hitting on the idea of remaking it, all to the better.

...when he remade Broadway BILL (1934) as RIDING HIGH (1950). Recasting Bing Crosby as DAN BROOKS did not help a screenplay that was 'dated' in 34 let alone 50. This sad film has entire scenes lifted from the original with many of the supporting cast repeating their roles, unless they were dead. Though being older did not seem to matter to the Director. Nor that the Cars and Clothes in the background plates from 1934 did not match up too 1950s' standards. Not even 'der Bingel' singing can redeem this effort.

We rated both the original and the remake IMDb Four****Stars. Frank's touch was long gone and all that was left was CAPRA-CORN. That did not stop Mr. Capra though. After floundering around the 50's making some educational documentaries he wound up his career remaking LADY FOR A DAY (1933) as POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES (1961). Again a fine cast was let down on that IMDb Six******Star effort compared too the originals Eight********Stars. Sometimes it is better to quit while you were still ahead, right after STATE OF THE UNION (1948).

i had heard of Riding High but never saw it until TCM presented the film a few weeks ago. thoroughly entertaining. thoroughly capra, with a few songs thrown in. thoroughly bing. what a combo. some stock capra personnel such as clarence muse, bill demarest (his usual grouchy self),charles lane (when i last heard, he passed his 100th b'day a few years ago). douglas dumbrille, jimmy gleason and etc. etc. "sunshine cake", camptown races", "the horse told me" round out the story musically. colleen gray was nice as the younger sis who won bing in the end. the big race was exciting; had me rooting as if it were for real. you can tell the scenes borrowed from "broadway bill", the grandstand showed the gals in early 30's garb in a 1950 movie. no wonder capra made another pic with bing, "here comes the groom".

The cutest part of Riding High is seeing Charles Bickford adamantly oppose gambling and horse racing, when he played in Little Miss Marker fifteen years earlier. He's the father of Frances Gifford and Cathleen Gray, and expects everyone to walk the straight and narrow with him. France's fiancé Bing Crosby is involved in horse racing, and when he stands up to his future father-in-law, she breaks up with him. Her sister, who secretly had a crush on Bing the whole time, follows him to the races and tries to woo him for herself. In the meantime, Bing and his partners William Demarest and Raymond Walburn have a difficult time trying to ensure that their horse will win the big race. There are a few cute scenes where they plant false rumors about the wrong horse winning to disturb the odds, and their meddling always backfires.

Overall, Riding High is pretty lousy, and if it weren't for my love of Bing Crosby, I wouldn't have finished it. Those who love horse racing movies will probably be disappointed in it, since it shows very little of the actual races. Saratoga has more race footage than this one.

While Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy have moved on, much of the same cast of "Broadway Bill" (1934) is back, looking much the same in 1950 as they did 16 years before. Of course, most of them were character actors, and when you look 50 at the age of 30, chances are that at 50, they still looked 50.

Bing Crosby's easy charm makes this easy to take, and he's much more likable than the more rugged Baxter. Still more interested in professional horse racing than big business, he walks out on future father-in-law (Charles Bickford) and snooty fiancée Frances Gifford to join loyal horse trainer Clarence Muse at the track to turn Broadway Bill into a champ. Joined by Gifford's much easier going sister (Colleen Gray), he finds a new, more tolerable romance.

Much of the footage is from the original. In fact, it opens with inter-spliced footage of Clara Blandick from the original speaking with actors from the remake. Blandick's permanent wave looks odd among the more modern hairstyles. Such actors as Douglas Dumbrille and Charles Lane look the same in 1934 footage as they do in the newly filmed sequences, obviously called in by Capra so they could be seen with Crosby.

One scene with Raymond Walburn and Margaret Hamilton is identical to the one they filmed 16 years before, with one sight gag added to make it quite different. The sound quality is very different between the interspersed film with the new footage. That's a minor distraction, and for some reason, "Broadway Bill" was out of circulation for years. A major pre- release in the 1990's resulted in them being put out on VHS at the same time.

Practically every character actor from every Capra film put in an appearance, with such familiar faces as James Gleason, Irving Bacon, William Demarest, Harry Davenport, Lane, Dumbrille, Walburn and Hamilton among veterans of his films. Oliver Hardy has a very funny cameo.

This features some good novelty musical numbers with "The Horse Told Me" particularly funny. But where there's Capra, there is bound to be pathos, and this doesn't quite have the ending that people would suspect. That makes it poignant and ultimately bitter sweet yet totally memorable. Just don't watch the two films together.

I had long wanted to see this picture, manly because it's the last one of a certain rotund comedian who's usually known as part of a famous team and who I found as hilarious as usual. The picture itself, with Bing Crosby putting his usual charms to good use, is a lark especially with the rest of the supporting cast in tow. Leading lady Coleen Gray is fine as Crosby's main muse, Clarence Muse is divine as the trainer, William Demarest is his usual lovably grouchy self, among others in the fine cast which includes director Frank Capra's veterans from my favorite movie of his, It's a Wonderful Life: Charles Lane and Ward Bond. The songs are entertaining especially when Bing, Clarence, and Coleen sing that classic "Camptown Races". Nothing more to say except, Riding High gets a high recommendation from me.

Quite an impressive cast made this 1950 film worthwhile.

The major flaw of the film is the songs that are sung. They are absolutely awful and certainly don't showcase the talent of Bing Crosby. Whoever thought that you couldn't wait for a Crosby song to end? That's the case here.

That being said, the plot and general nature of the film make up for the poor music.

We immediately see the old story of a guy ready to marry the wrong sister

As Dan, Bing has a wonderful horse in Broadway Bill, as he works for the crusty patriarch (Charles Bickford) who totally dominates the lives of his daughters and timid sons-in-law. Bickford's transformation by the end of the film is a joy to watch as well as Coleen Gray's turn as the daughter who had the spirit to be with Bing all the way.

Douglas Dumbrille is up to his old tricks of making evil, but he joins the rest of the cast in paying homage to the fallen horse.

Look for Oliver Hardy without Stan Laurel in a one-scene stealer in the film. Margaret Hamilton is as ugly as ever, but is her usual comical self here. In fact, she actually plays a married lady, something surprising for the usual spinster-movie lady.