Racing Blood (1936) User Reviews (5)

Frankie buys "Trouble"!!

[kidboots · 5/10 · 13 February 2009]

This is another of Frankie's films where he is teamed with Kane Richmond and "Snowflake". In this film he was still playing "the kid brother" and always looked disgusted whenever romance was in the air.

Frankie Reynolds (Frankie Darro) borrows $4.85 from his sister Phyllis (an unattractive Gladys Blake) to buy a broken down horse that he thinks has potential to be a champion. He names it "Trouble" and cares for it and trains it until he feels it is worthy to race - now he needs $100 for the entrance fee. He manages to find enough friends and realises his dream of winning a big race. His brother, Smokey (Jimmie Eagles) is also a jockey, who refuses to throw the race for some criminals. They decide to try to put the squeeze on him during the race but surprisingly, his little brother Frankie wins on "Trouble".

After the race, one of the gangsters approaches Frankie with a cheque for $500 to deposit into his brother's account. After the race, Frankie is called to the steward and Smokey is accused of being a part of race fixing and is banned from the turf for life. Frankie is determined to find the "sour puss" guy who gave him the money and clear his brother's name.

"Trouble" is now getting publicity, as the new wonder horse, surpassing his twin "Dancing Boy". A plan is hatched by the gangsters to poison "Trouble" but he is accidentally put in "Dancing Boy's" stall and the wrong horse is poisoned. Never giving up the gangsters kidnap Frankie - the stage is set for a fight between Frankie and the gangsters (Darro must have been invaluable to his directors as he did his own stunts and excelled at acrobatics). He is accidentally shot but pleads with the police to be allowed to attend the races. He hijacks the ambulance and manages to win the race and give his brother a reason to live.

It is not his best film but it is okay.

Recommended.

It Runs in the Family

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 5 May 2011]

Aspiring teenage jockey Frankie Darro (as Frankie Reynolds) buys a crippled colt for $4.85 and nurses him back to health. "Racing Blood" has been in young Darro's family for generations, and he will eventually run his horse "Trouble" professionally. Guess you could call him the little colt that could. After six months, Darro cures "Trouble" with mud packs and begins training him to be in the Big Race. Eventually, Darro wins a race against his older brother James Eagles (as "Smokey") and his horse "Dancing Boy"...

The brothers are honest jockeys, but crooked Matthew Betz (as Tex O'Donnell) and his gang want the races "pulled" (meaning fixed) in order to rake in the dough. In a romantic subplot, Darro mentor Kane Richmond (as Clay Harrison) romances the jockeys' sister Gladys Burke (as Phyllis). As if to illustrate how routine everything seems, perpetually inebriated Arthur Houseman (as Legs) shows how his drunk act steals scenes, and superstitious Fred "Snowflake" Toones (as Sam) finds the name "Trouble" frightening.

**** Racing Blood (11/15/36) Victor Halperin ~ Frankie Darro, Kane Richmond, Arthur Houseman, Gladys Burke

A horse named Trouble causes anything but.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 12 November 2020]

This D grade programmer (from Conn Studios, a poverty row motion picture company that made Monogram seem like MGM) rises above its cheap Roots by casting Frankie Darro as the young hero, a jockey who along with brother James Eagles deals with organized criminals (led by Kane Richmond) at the track. Thanks to the mob, Eagles ends up in the hospital, and efforts to kill Darro's horse Trouble threatens to destroy his chances to win the big prize.

Sister Gladys Blake and Arthur Housman (a constantly drunk member of the syndicate) aid Darro in trying to prove the falsity is that the mob has created to get them out of the race. discworld a quickie has been cut apparently for television release, 7 minutes less than the rest of running time, and the print quality is mediocre although the sound is decent.

Fred 'Snowflake' Toones is the stereotypical black stable worker who has superstitions of the name Trouble but shows emotion when he believes that Trouble has been hurt. I mistook Toones for the similar Willie Best, but in spite of the dated racial overtones of the character that he plays, Toones manages to command attention in his few scenes.

Housman's character never seems to be sober which over does it a bit, but he does get a few amusing lines that he warbles successfully. Not bad considering its obvious lack of a budget, this has those few memorable aspects that I mention, but is another one of the many D pictures that will quickly be forgotten.

The show must go on, the big race must not be stopped

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 18 April 2019]

Poverty Row Conn Pictures put out this cheaply made independent race track film. It concerns two brothers and a sister, James Eagles, Frankie Darro and Gladys Blake all connected with the Sport of Kings. Blake is involved with Kane Richmond. Eagles is a jockey that gamblers frame because he wouldn't throw a race.

Meanwhile Darro develops a race horse with the prophetically name Trouble who looks like a winner. But like in the TV Fury series he will only let Darro ride him.

Those same gamblers now target both the horse and Darro. In the end Darro pulls off a rather stupid and potentially lethal stunt at the big race.

This one was shot on jump change with lots of racetrack footage to beef it up. Arthur Houseman as the perpetually soused gangster henchman is the highlight of the film.

"Are you as pretty as you look or am I drunk?"

[classicsoncall · 4/10 · 22 December 2011]

I have a sense there was a pretty good story in here somewhere, but what a mess in the execution. I hate to say that because I like Frankie Darro, but these Poverty Row efforts really left a lot to be desired in the story development department. Case in point with the five hundred dollars that Legs (Arthur Housman) gave to Frankie to put in his brother Smokey's (James Eagles) bank account. I get it about an implied bribe to throw the race, but why would Frankie go along with it? Why not just give Smokey the money and avoid the paper trail?

Now call me crazy, but how in the world does a jockey get to write a medical prescription? And how the heck did the pharmacist figure out that it was a warning message to send for help? How did all of that work? But the best was when Frankie broke free from the bad guys and grabbed the gun to make his getaway. He was punched in the face and knocked down by an invisible man!!! Did you see that? I rewound that sequence more than once and seriously folks, you can hear the smack but nobody was there to deliver the punch!!!

Well by this time, Frankie has already taken a bullet and he's about to steal an ambulance so he can make it to the track on time to go aboard Trouble in the feature race. Trouble's a one jockey horse, so if Frankie doesn't make it, the bad guys win. I guess when you plunked your money down back in the Thirties, none of this unbelievable stuff was supposed to matter. The good guys come out on top and that's that. I have to hand it to Frankie Darro though. He had one of the all time greatest return on investments when he bought Trouble in the first place and nursed him back to health. He certainly got a lot of mileage out of $4.85! I wonder if he ever paid back his sister?