The Kentucky Derby

19221922
PassedPassed
1h

There is dirty work afoot in old Kentucky when a rival decides his horse will have a better chance of winning if the son of the owner isn't around, so he has him shanghaied onto a tramp frei... Read allThere is dirty work afoot in old Kentucky when a rival decides his horse will have a better chance of winning if the son of the owner isn't around, so he has him shanghaied onto a tramp freighter and gets the jockey in his debt through a crooked gambling game. Airplanes, ship-wre... Read allThere is dirty work afoot in old Kentucky when a rival decides his horse will have a better chance of winning if the son of the owner isn't around, so he has him shanghaied onto a tramp freighter and gets the jockey in his debt through a crooked gambling game. Airplanes, ship-wrecks, sea storms, kidnapping, frame-up and much skull-duggery prior to the race.

5.3/10

Director
- King Baggot
Writers
- Charles T. Dazey(play "The Suburban")
- George C. Hull(scenario)
Stars

Top credits

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2User reviews

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Gertrude Astor, Lionel Belmore, Kingsley Benedict, Harry Carter, Reginald Denny, Emmett King, Wilfred Lucas, Walter McGrail, and Lillian Rich in The Kentucky Derby (1922)

There is dirty work afoot in old Kentucky when a rival decides his horse will have a better chance of winning if the son of the owner isn't around, so he has him shanghaied onto a tramp freighter and gets the jockey in his debt through a crooked gambling game. Airplanes, ship-wrecks, sea storms, kidnapping, frame-up and much skull-duggery prior to the race. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

state name in title wealth ship wreck jockey airplane 46 more

Taglines
- NOW FOR THE BIG EVENT!
Genres
Certificate
- Passed
Parents guide
- Add content advisory

Trivia
A Jewel Production. Universal, unlike many of its competitors, never owned a proprietary theater chain. This business decision would eventually pay off handsomely for the studio after the 1949 Supreme Court anti-trust decision that threaten to cripple its peers. However, it required the studio to carefully market its feature product to independent owners. Carl Laemmle devised a 3-tiered brand system: Red Feather (low-budget programmers), Bluebird (mainstream releases) and Jewel (prestige productions). Jewel releases were produced in hopes of drawing higher roadshow ticket prices, a ploy that sometimes misfired. This branding system would fade away in late 1929.

Top review

Presentable programmer.

Preceding Denny's career as comic actor, this racing melodrama goes from plantations populated by Kentucky Colonels and compliant darkies through having our hero Shanghaied, sea going adventures and confronting the impersonator who is planning on fixing the big race. It moves along quite well but it's far fetched plot is not helped by imperfections of 1922 film making technique.

The shooting is lengthened by Churchill Downs locations which contribute to the jerky race climax. Denny emerges credibly and it's curious to see Lionel Belmore a decade before he became ubiquitous in horror movies.

Circulating copy appears to be missing small sections.

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