What Would Movies Have Been Without Horses?

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 147, 17 March 1939, Page 14

What Would Movies Have Been Without Horses?

T OVE, pure and simple, has never made a whole picture; there always has to be a background. A picture entitled “Kentucky” obviously will concern itself with love and, just as obviously, the background will concern itself with horses.

Horses, as a matter of fact, have long been the motion pictures’ best friends. One of the first movies ever made was of a racehorse in action, and from that day to this, the horse has been the one player that has never gone out of fashion. One of the biggest pictures ever made was “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” What business would it have done as “The Four Pedestrians, etc?” Some of the most important and thrilling moments of “The Birth of a Nation” were those in which horsemen were the centre of interest. People probably do not remember the name of Valentino’s horse in “The Shiek,” but they do remember the beautiful white steed. Where would Tom Mix have been without Tony? The list of favours horses have done for the movies is a long one. They furnished the climax for the most expensive picture ever made, “Ben Hur” (the chariot race). They furnished th e motive power, to say nothing of the spectacular qualities, of “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” They have been the most conscientious and convincing performers in every western ever made. 'They have transformed the old cloak and sword melodrama of the stage into the movies’ more exciting cloak, sword and horse melodrama, as typified by “The Scarlet Pimpernel” and “The Three Musketeers.” That is what horses have done for the movies. “Kentucky” is designed as a romance involving Richard Greene, Loretta Young and Walter Brennan, against a background of Kentucky horse breeding, training and racing.

•qjP THE RIVER,” 20th CenturyFox comedy, features Preston Foster, Tony Martin, Phyllis Brooks, Slim Summerville, Arthur Treacher and Bill Robinson. Said to Iks a hilarious combination of music, comedy and football, the film is, in the opinion of Alfred Worker, the director, a refreshing exploration into a novel background for comedy.