Wine, Women and Horses

"Wine, Women and Horses" is one of the odder B-movies I've seen....not bad...just odd.

The film stars Barton MacLane as Jim Turner. And, in an unusual twist, he plays a very likable guy! He's a professional gambler and is most unusual because he generally DOES win and because he's such a swell fellow despite his circumstances. However, it's odd that he falls for a woman who is dead set against him doing ANY gambling...none whatsoever. But to hook her, he agrees not to gamble and get a normal job...which lasts for a while. However, as you'd expect, the lure of the race tracks and gambling soon turn Jim's head...and ruin the marriage. What's next? See the film.

This is a different sort of movie in that although Jim clearly is a gambling addict, he generally suffers very little...unless he ISN'T gambling. How this is all resolved with the wife, well that caught my by surprise!

Overall, the acting was good and the story kept my interest. It's certainly no classic but is fun and worth seeing.

By the way, the film is a product of its times. Black people are occasionally referred to with disparaging nicknames...which I won't repeat. The strange thing is that for the 1930s, Jim does treat black men well...and his character, you assume, wouldn't want to hurt anyone...despite using this slang.

"B" gambling drama with rare starring turn for character actor Barton MacLane. He plays a big shot gambler who meets a woman (Peggy Bates) and falls in love. The problem is she demands he quit gambling or she won't marry him. He tries it for awhile but it doesn't stick. So he gets back into his old ways and that includes old flame Valerie (Ann Sheridan).

Remake of Dark Hazard (1934). I'm not used to seeing MacLane playing a lead character. The closest I can think of is when he played the male lead opposite Glenda Farrell in the Torchy Blane movies. A little far-fetched that Sheridan would be so hung up on MacLane. He's definitely not a ladies man type. Short runtime helps but there's just not a lot of meat on the bone. Watchable and probably more interesting for classic film fans as a curiosity. Like the way MacLane tosses the 1930s slang around though.

More than any other studio Warner Brothers loved remaking their old films, especially after the Code went into place when they could recycle the plots and make more of a G rated version of the same film. That's what was done to Edward G. Robinson's Dark Hazard remade in this case to Wine, Women, and Horses. That last part was the change as the Robinson film centered around dog racing.

Barton MacLane steps into the lead as a unregenerate gambling man who likes all the things in the title, not necessarily in that order all the time. This man bets on everything from horses to horseshoes. After winning a match from Dick Purcell, but feeling sorry for him, Purcell takes him home to meet his sister Peggy Bates. The two hit it off and MacLane tries to reform, but it just isn't in his nature. Especially after MacLane's old girlfriend Ann Sheridan steps into the picture.

Wine, Women, and Horses is a decently made product from Warner Brothers B picture unit under Bryan Foy who cast his brother Charley in one of the supporting roles. MacLane who was usually a nasally voiced thug in films whether a bad guy or an occasional good guy is cast in one of the few sympathetic parts I ever saw him in back in the studio days. He does love Bates, but the gambling urge is too strong in him.

One reason this film is not shown that often is the many casual references in racist terminology to black players in the film. Not unfriendly mind you, but in casual conversation.

The racetrack atmosphere is authentic with newsreel footage mixed into the movie. The film is also one big commercial for the fairly new Santa Anita racetrack only open for a few seasons at that point. If you can stomach the casual racism than Wine, Women And Horses is not a bad film.