This independent Canadian production has only one thing going for it: Toby Wing. She's the daughter of a hamburger stand owner who's mixed up in the rackets (don't eat the burgers! There's notes under the meat!!!). Toby's got a veritable idiot for a boyfriend (Kenne Duncan) who can't hold down a job as a racetrack reporter but wins a race horse in a crap game and more or less winds up living in the stables himself. There's one great scene where Toby and her boyfriend get their wires mixed up (thanks to a confused stereotypical black kid... the producer couldn't apparently get a better actor like 'Farina' Hoskins) and she has to fend off various advances by guys while standing at the wrong street corner (actually it looks more like a field with a street sign plastered in the middle of it). This is significant in that it was one of Toby's few true starring roles. She's an absolute knockout... it's a shame that this beautiful lady wasn't given more opportunities to really act. Aside from her, this is strictly a grade-Z curio that shows how far a Depression era Canadian dollar could be stretched when making a movie.
2 Reviews
One the worst features ever released!
JohnHowardReid26 March 2018
Warning: Spoilers
CAST: Toby Wing (Anne), Kenneth Duncan (Chic), Wheeler Oakman (Foster), Romeo Gaskins (Smokey), Elliot Lorraine (Mike), Eric Clavering, Ruppert Lucas, Richard Townrow, Edward Barrett, William McIntyre, George Young.
Director: SAM NEWFIELD. Original screenplay: Cyril B. DeLom, Keith Elda. Photography: Sam Leavitt. Film editor: Alex Meyers. Art director: Robert Hall. Dialogue director: Phil Brandon. Assistant director: Jack Chisholm. Sound engineer: Harry Bellock.
Not copyrighted 1935 by Booth Dominion Productions, Ltd. No New York opening. No recorded U.S. release date. U,K. release through M-G-M. 64 minutes.
NOTES: Produced in Canada on a budget of $25,000 Canadian, this one isn't even listed by Sam Newfield in his official filmography. Filmed on location at the Long Branch Racetrack, Toronto, Ontario. Canadian release title: The King's Plate.
COMMENT: What a disappointment! When our video procurement officer told me he had located a print of a lost movie starring Toby Wing, I was panting with enthusiasm. Well, not only are our cheeky Toby's charms completely hidden behind a nightmare assortment of dowdy dresses, but her voice has all the allure of dried paint being scraped with a nail brush from a tin cup. No wonder Busby Berkeley didn't let her open her mouth!
The rest of the players are equally lacking in charisma, the direction ruthlessly routine, the script over-laden with talk and production values no more than "C"- minus.
OTHER VIEWS: Here's one "lost" movie that deserved to stay in its well-justified obscurity. It features a routine plot, leadenly paced with absolutely no surprises or unexpected twists, limply acted by a fourth-rate collection of untalented players, and with precious little to commend it to movie fans in either technical credits or scenic qualities.
Director: SAM NEWFIELD. Original screenplay: Cyril B. DeLom, Keith Elda. Photography: Sam Leavitt. Film editor: Alex Meyers. Art director: Robert Hall. Dialogue director: Phil Brandon. Assistant director: Jack Chisholm. Sound engineer: Harry Bellock.
Not copyrighted 1935 by Booth Dominion Productions, Ltd. No New York opening. No recorded U.S. release date. U,K. release through M-G-M. 64 minutes.
NOTES: Produced in Canada on a budget of $25,000 Canadian, this one isn't even listed by Sam Newfield in his official filmography. Filmed on location at the Long Branch Racetrack, Toronto, Ontario. Canadian release title: The King's Plate.
COMMENT: What a disappointment! When our video procurement officer told me he had located a print of a lost movie starring Toby Wing, I was panting with enthusiasm. Well, not only are our cheeky Toby's charms completely hidden behind a nightmare assortment of dowdy dresses, but her voice has all the allure of dried paint being scraped with a nail brush from a tin cup. No wonder Busby Berkeley didn't let her open her mouth!
The rest of the players are equally lacking in charisma, the direction ruthlessly routine, the script over-laden with talk and production values no more than "C"- minus.
OTHER VIEWS: Here's one "lost" movie that deserved to stay in its well-justified obscurity. It features a routine plot, leadenly paced with absolutely no surprises or unexpected twists, limply acted by a fourth-rate collection of untalented players, and with precious little to commend it to movie fans in either technical credits or scenic qualities.
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