Crooked Walter McGrail takes advantage of his name to impose on Kentucky Colonel Emmett King, steal the cash in his safe (including $20,000 of King's and competing Kentucky Colonel Lionel Belmore's bet over which foal will win the Kentucky Derby in a few years), and blame poor nephew Reginald Denny, who is shanghaied by skipper Wilfred Lucas for the China Trade. Three years go by, the Derby is about to be run, King's jockey has been fixed by McGrail's partner, and Lucas' ship is about to sink somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Can Denny survive, learn the truth, get to Kentucky in less than a week, get an honest jockey to ride the horse, save the nearly bankrupt King with a Derby win, convince him of the truth, and rescue his wife, Lilian Rich, and their daughter?
It's not a comedy, which may surprise people who know Denny in this period as a light comic actor. The production is eked out with shots of colts in pastures, a total of three servants in Blackface, and the big race thoroughly edited into reaction clips. Despite being a major production for Universal, it's a rather minor picture.
Given my utter lack of interest in horse racing and Kentucky-fried colonels, I haven't much to say about its excellence, except that it shows very little of character or story of interest, except for those who are fascinated by horse racing.
It's not a comedy, which may surprise people who know Denny in this period as a light comic actor. The production is eked out with shots of colts in pastures, a total of three servants in Blackface, and the big race thoroughly edited into reaction clips. Despite being a major production for Universal, it's a rather minor picture.
Given my utter lack of interest in horse racing and Kentucky-fried colonels, I haven't much to say about its excellence, except that it shows very little of character or story of interest, except for those who are fascinated by horse racing.