Grandad of Races (1950) User Reviews (4)

And They're Off

[boblipton · 6/10 · 28 June 2011]

It's hard to tell, more than sixty years later, if the blotchiness of this Oscar-winning short subject is due to less than perfect, newsreel-style photography or poor preservation. I would guess it's the photography, because the colors are fine -- particularly the greens, which are usually the first to go. It would be nice if the industry would spend a few bucks on conserving stuff they thought worth honoring, but that seems unlikely.

Still, this short subject covering the Pallio, a race of Barbary horses over the rough streets of Siena -- it was originally run with oxen according to tradition -- is most noteworthy for the display that the flag bearers use in playing with the flags they carry. As for the soundtrack, Art Gilmore does a good job on the narration, but the crowds sound dubbed.

They say a chain is only as strong as its weakest link . . .

[cricket30 · 6/10 · 28 November 2015]

. . . and GRANDAD OF RACES clearly shows the weak link which allowed the Allied Forces to break up the Axis Chain on the way to winning World War Two in the mid-1900s. The Axis Chain was anchored at one end by Germany, with its fearsome Blitzkreig Panser Divisions, and at the other by Japan, with its horde of fanatical Samurai-Like soldiers and airmen willing to follow quaint Medieval Honor Codes in fighting to the Death with Suicide Attacks, when push came to shove. However, between these two stalwarts of Axis Atrocity was found the link of Italy and its Siennese "Flag Throwers." Pictured here shortly after the conclusion of History's Deadliest Conflict, one cannot help puzzling, "Hitler and Hirohito linked up with THIS?!" It's not unlike connecting two solid iron circles with a sausage oval mid-chain. Watching these "flag throwers" struggle to match the agility of an average American High School Pom-Pom Girl while sporting their humorous harlequin jester tights in which no self-respecting Nazi tank crewman or Japanese Kamikazi pilot would be caught dead begs the question of, "How did the Axis manage to hold on as long as it did?"

Most everyone's Oscar bracket gets busted . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 13 July 2015]

. . . by the various "shorts" categories. This is partly because almost no one sees them before the winners are announced. More importantly, the tiny handful of people who DO pick these winners know that they're operating in a virtual vacuum. Free from any meaningful oversight, they often seem to take a perverse pleasure in picking statuette winners by dart throw, bribery, Cronyism, or Opposite Day. Though I'm not sure at this late date which of these four selection methods put the Golden Boy Statue in the paws of the people behind one of the 1950 One-reel shorts "winner," GRANDAD OF RACES, I can make an educated guess. Maybe it was a one-off, along the lines of a selection honcho losing a bundle at the Santa Anita track the afternoon of the vote, and singling out GRANDAD's tribute to equine abuse in Siena, Italy, just for spite. If a fair field had been assembled for documentary shorts in 1950, it could have included at least one entry detailing the beginning of The Korean War. Surely a thoughtful package of shorts also would have encompassed a piece exploring the effect on the Canadian Psyche of that country being nuked TWICE by America (History's first "Broken Arrow" occurred near Vancouver on Feb. 13, followed by a B-50 incident Nov. 10). Speaking of nukes, why nothing about Alger Hiss being convicted of perjury, President Harry Truman Okaying the H-Bomb, or scientist Albert Einstein warning of Mutually Assured Destruction? On a lighter social note, Beetle Bailey and the Peanuts comic strips both made their newspaper debuts, along with the Volkswagen Microbus on the World's Lovers' Lanes and NOTORIOUS actress Ingrid Bergman's illegitimate baby (though there's no proof that the latter two developments were related to each other). Pope Pius XII discovered a shocking new incident that happened to the Virgin Mary 1,900 years earlier, South Africa adopted Apartheid, Israel adopted Jerusalem, and the current Dalai Lama was crowned. Darlington hosted NASCAR's initial 500-mile stock car race, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel opened, a B29 bomber killed and injured 85 people in a California neighborhood, and some thugs pulled off Boston's Great Brinks Robbery. If the Oscar voters were totally Hell-bent on bringing some exotic sporting event to the Public's Attention, they could have given us a short showing how the tiny nation of Uruguay finally got on the map by winning Soccer's World Cup. Instead, we get GRANDAD! Horsefeathers!

Decent Short

[Michael_Elliott · 9 November 2013]

Grandad of Races (1950)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Oscar-winning short takes a look at the annual horse race that takes place in Siena. The race is held in the Piazza del Campo and this documentary takes a look at the actual event as well as everything else that goes into making it so memorable. I must say that this here is a decent short and a fine way to kill 9-minutes but you have to scratch your head and wonder why it won an Oscar but then again, perhaps all the other nominations that year were worse. With that said, for the most part this remains entertaining even if it's certainly nothing special. Art Gilmore does the narration as we see the actual horse race, which looks incredibly dangerous and we're told why it's so dangerous. Considering it's in the streets of a small place you have to wonder how many people have been killed or injured over the years. The film also shows us the various flags that are laid out for the event and the beautiful colors certainly come to life with the Technicolor, which is without question the highlight. The film really isn't all that different than what you'd see in MGM's TravelTalks series so fans of that should enjoy this here.