Riding High

Riding High


(aka Frank Capra's Riding High)

Paramount, 1950, B/W, 112 minutes, ***½

Released April, 1950



 Frank Capra teamed with stars Bing Crosby and Coleen Gray for Riding High, a lively remake of Capra's 1934 gem, Broadway Bill.



Der Bingle's fondness for the racetrack is evident throughout this story of a man who abandons the mansion for the stable. And the songs attest to the film's unbridled spirit. There's no need for an address, three square meals a day or luck when you can stay "Someplace on Anywhere Road," bake a "Sunshine Cake" or bet the nest egg on "What the Horse Told Me." Many of the 1934 stars reprise their roles here, and Oliver Hardy (minus sidekick Stan Laurel) has a memorable bit as a railbird desperate for a winner.


Produced and Directed by: Frank Capra

Assistant Director: Arthur Black

Screenplay by: Robert Riskin

Additional Dialogue by: Melville Shavelson and Jack Rose

Based on a story by Mark Hellinger ("Broadway Bill")

Vocal Arrangements: Joseph J. Lilley

Music Associate: Troy Sanders

Music Direction: Victor Young

New Songs: Lyrics by Johnny Burke, Music by James Van Heusen

Art Direction: Hans Dreier and Walter Tyler

Set Decoration: Emile Kuri

Costumes: Edith Head

Makeup Supervision: Wally Westmore

Sound Recording: Hugo Grenzbach and John Cope

Directors of Photography: George Barnes, Ernest Laszlo

Process Photography: Farciot Edouart

Edited by: William Hornbeck



Cast: Bing Crosby [Dan Brooks], Coleen Gray [Alice Higgins], Charles Bickford [J. L. Higgins], Frances Gifford [Margaret Higgins], William Demarest [Happy], Raymond Walburn [Prof. Pettigrew], James Gleason [Racing Secretary], Ward Bond [Lee], Clarence Muse [Whitey], Percy Kilbride [Pop Jones], Harry Davenport [Johnson], Margaret Hamilton [Edna], Paul Harvey [Whitehall], Douglass Dumbrille [Eddie Howard], Gene Lockhart [J. P. Chase], Marjorie Hoshelle [Mathilda Early], Rand Brooks [Henry Early], Willard Waterman [Arthur Winslow], Marjorie Lord [Mary Winslow], Irving Bacon [Hamburger Man], Joe Frisco [Himself]

Frankie Darro [Jockey Williams], Charles Lane [Erickson], Dub Taylor [Joe], Additional Cast: Max Baer [Bertie], Oliver Hardy [Horse Player]



Musical Program: [0:00] Camptown Races (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:07] (We've Got A) Sure Thing (excerpt sung by Bing Crosby); [0:21] Someplace on Anywhere Road (sung by Bing Crosby and Clarence Muse); [0:38] The Whiffenpoof Song (sung by Bing Crosby, Raymond Walburn, William Demarest and club patrons); [0:54] Sunshine Cake (sung by Bing Crosby, Clarence Muse and Coleen Gray - cute number!); [1:19] The Horse Told Me (sung by Bing Crosby and Ensemble); [1:31] Camptown Races (Bing Crosby, Clarence Muse, Coleen Gray and Chorus)