Amore e sport

Having worked for Yale Athletics for 25 years I can say without fear of contradiction that the football game shown was not being played at Harvard Stadium but rather Yale Bowl. Having seen countless games at both venues, this is a definite fact.

The Sport Parade (1932)

** (out of 4)

Boring sport film with a silly love story thrown in. Best friends Sandy (Joel McCrea) and Johnny (William Gargan) go through their college years as football stars at Darmouth but after their playing days they go in separate directions. Johnny gets a legit job at a newspaper while Sandy falls in with a crooked manager who tries to exploit what fame his name carries. Soon the friends are fighting over a girl (Marian Marsh) while Sandy gets into deeper trouble when he gets into wrestling. THE SPORT PARADE might have an attractive cast but this is certainly "C" movie material as the screenplay never gives us much to care about. The entire sports angle really isn't all that interesting because we're simply not given anything we haven't seen countless times before. This material was already boring by 1932 standards so it doesn't help that everything is just one cliché after another. The stock footage used for some of the sports certainly doesn't help and neither does the obvious body double during the wrestling scenes. Another major problem is that the love story is so rushed that it really does seem forced and it's hard to take it very serious. The performances are the one saving grace with McCrea doing a pretty good job in his role and I thought he was really effective during the scenes where his character realizes that he's being taken advantage of. Gargan is good as the best friend and Marsh makes good support as the love interest. We also get a nice performance by Walter Catlett as the agent and we even get Robert Benchley playing a radio announcer. THE SPORT PARADE really doesn't have much going for it so it'll only be of interest to fans of McCrea or those who never realizes that wrestling was staged.

This had to be schlocky, even for 1932. Two four letter athletes at Dartmouth graduate, and head down separate paths, one successful, one not. They meet again, wind up working at the same job, and fighting over the same chick. Are you snoring yet ? I am. The only reason to watch this one is to see early Joel McCrea, but he made better ones than this in his early career. Nuts to the "Sport Parade". This one probably didn't make the '32 "Hit Parade".

"The Sport Parade" is strictly a quick B-movie and since Joel McCrea was pretty new to the film industry, it's not surprising he made a few cheapo films.

When the story begins, Sandy Brown (McCrea) and Johnny Baker (William Gargan) are star athletes at Dartmoth. They are multi- sport heroes and their future looks grand. Johnny dreams of working for a newspaper and Sandy simply wants to get rich. What follows is a Horatio Alger-type story where Sandy eventually learns that his way is not the healthy way...and he repeatedly makes an idiot of himself until he eventually does the right thing.

Overall, a mildly interesting film...at best. About the only interesting things that stand out are seeing McCrea and seeing a lot of male skin, as it's a pre-code film and titillation was big back in the day.

We see a lot of Joel McCrea wearing very little in this entertaining movie. First as a football player in the showers, getting snapped with a towel by buddy William Gargan. McCrea has a very good build, though not that of a football player. He is a little unconvincing as a boxer, too, later on.

Marian Marsh is appealing as the female love interest.

Gargan and McCrea are Ivy league players. Gargan takes the high road but McCrea is lured by promises of fame and wealth. They stop being friends. Can you guess whether they make up again? Joel McCrea is one of my favorite actors in movie history and he does a fine job here. It's a different sort of role from any he played elsewhere and he does well by it.