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From 1934 to 1946, Frank Capra's movies are all well known and beloved...except this one. His golden age started the year before with It Happened One Night and would last through his second film after returning from his efforts to help document the Second World War, but this little horse racing comedic drama is all but forgotten. It's not at that high level of something like American Madness, but it's a perfectly fine little film about one man using his moxie to make his own way, something much more typically Capraesque than It Happened One Night, ironically enough.

The small town of Higginsville was established by the Higgins family, and the current patriarch J. L. (Walter Connolly) has four daughters. His eldest, Margaret (Helen Vinson) is married to Dan Brooks (Warner Baxter), a former owner of horses who came into town three years prior and charmed his way into her heart, but he's so caught up on making his own way through horses again, namely through his mount, the titular Broadway Bill, that he's ignoring the box factory J. L. put him in charge of, letting it falter, and getting into an argument that leads him to leave Higginsville with Bill and his helper Whitey (Clarence Muse), leaving behind Margaret's youngest sister, Alice (Myrna Loy) who had helped him with Bill's training.

The problem is that Dan wants to do this entirely on his own, so he does not bring any Higgins money with him, meaning he brings no money with him other than pocket change. With just that, he has to find a way to pay $550 in fees to get Bill into the big $25,000 race. He connects with an old friend, the Colonel (Raymond Walburn), just as penniless as himself, and they work to figure out how to con their way to the funds. It's a combination of amusing bits as the Colonel tries to trick people into the idea that he has secret knowledge then falling for it when the cry for it becomes loud enough (something very intelligently used since the same behavior affecting betting odds plays in the film's finale) along with serious efforts to keep Bill healthy especially in the face of an unexpected rainstorm. It's primarily a drama, but Capra would never do something single-mindedly dramatic, peppering in comedic bits through even his most serious films.

I suppose the one thing that is just too oddly built is the romance that develops between Dan and Alice. I mean, it's obvious from her introduction in a car with him at the beginning of the film that they have more in common than he has with his own wife, but we have to have this chaste little dance between them throughout the film, especially once she shows up near the track to hand over Bill's mascot, a rooster that he won't race without. It just feels like extra stuff that doesn't really feed into the central idea of Dan making his own way in the world. I suppose you could say that it does feed it because Dan had to marry Margaret to get into the family, Alice being too young when he showed up, except that's a trick of timing, not of Dan being forced into one marriage when he wanted another. Meh, I'm just saying that them being unmarried was enough. The fact that Dan is already married feels like an unnecessary barrier, though he needs to be married to be that head of the box factory. Eh, I'm putting too much thought into this. I don't think it quite works, but that's not to say that their interactions are bad. Loy and Baxter have good chemistry (even if he looks like he could be her father), and the attraction makes sense since she's young, pretty, and loves his horse, and he's got an independent streak that none of the men around her share.

Challenges are mounted and overcome, and we get our big race. It's an exciting bit of filmmaking that has quite an unexpected ending providing a surprisingly somber tone to the film's finale, though Capra would never let an audience go out on a sour note, providing one final bit of happiness and joy when J. L. learns his lesson about what's important (Capraesque spoiler: it's not acquiring wealth and new businesses).

Is it a great film? Not at all. The business around getting the money to enter the race feels over busy while the romance with Alice is needlessly complex. However, the central story of one man finding his own way in the world and inspiring those around him is pure Capra and works fairly well with a fun little stinger to let the audience out of the theater on. It's not quite "Nobody's perfect", but it's pretty good. Broadway Bill is all but forgotten, but it's emblematic of the kind of good fare that Capra had been learning to churn out with regularity for about a decade.

Dan Brooks is tired of his dull life as the manager of a paper box manufacturing company, given to by his father in law, J.L. Higgins, a man obsessed with acquiring as many businesses and properties as he can. The only thing Dan seems to enjoy is racing his horse, Broadway Bill. When Higgins forces Dan to choose between his work or the horse, Dan continues the movie by choosing the latter, which causes his wife, Margaret, to stay behind and be disowned by the family. Dan, along with his stablehand Whitey, plans to race Broadway Bill in the $25,000 sweepstakes (and show Higgins that he wasn't wasting his time working on Broadway Bill), but needs to come across $500 for the entry fee. Dan, Whitey, Margaret's sister Alice (who really has a crush on Dan) and one of Dan's old friend's from his racetrack days, Col. Pettigrew, come up with every trick they know to get the money, while still dealing with a gambling syndicate trying to clean up on a rival horse by driving up the odds, Broadway Bill suffering from a cold, and Dan locked up for failing to pay the stable & feed bill. Very good film, but lacks the magic Capra had with his other films (It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, etc.) Baxter is good as Dan, but just doesn't seem right for the hopeful characteristics needed. Loy is a delight as Alice/Princess, Connelly repeats the same role he played in It Happened One Night, & Muse, Walburn, & Overman lend fine support as Whitey, the Colonel, and Happy respectively. Good script, using nice humorous touches, and a touching ending. Rating, 8.

Once upon a time, horse racing was considered the sport of kings. In the first half of the 20th century, it was the most popular sport in America - believe it or not. Baseball may have been America's favorite pastime then, but more people followed the horses than any other sport.

Of course, well into the second half of the 20th century, horse racing had come to lose its moniker as a sport. And, the public's interests had then grown to include more organized and competitive sports such as football, soccer, basketball, tennis and golf. Horse racing in America has itself continued to decline in all aspects - the numbers of tracks, horse farms and animals, trainers and followers.

But, with that background, one can understand why a considerable number of movies were made about horse racing during Hollywood's Golden Era. The plots of many were built around the race track or the horses, while others had days at the races. Some were crime and mystery films, some were comedies and romances, others were dramas. "Broadway Bill" is a combination drama, comedy and romance.

Many of these dramas had similar plots. This is a fairly good story with a top cast of the period. Warner Baxter is Dan Brooks and Myrna Loy is Alice Higgins. Behind those leads are some top supporting actors of the day. Walter Connolly is J.L. Higgins, Alice's father. Raymond Walburn plays Col. Pettigrew and Douglas Dumbrille is Eddie Morgan.

Brooks is one of three men married to daughters of J.L., each of whom has been installed as president of one of the self-made millionaire's companies. All seem happy with their lot, and Dan did for a while because he loved his wife, Helen Vinton plays Margaret, who basks in the comfort of her hierarchically demanding father, J.L., played by Connolly. But, Dan's yen for race horses begins to sway his heart away from giving his all to the box company he has headed since marrying Helen.

Myrna Loy is the youngest, as yet unmarried of the Higgins daughters. While J.L. has one last company presidency to install on whomever Alice marries, she has her heart set more on Dan. There's no hanky panky going on here, but she shares Dan's enthusiasm for racing and his prize colt, Broadway Bill. Dan hopes to start racing his horse, and is aiming for the big derby. When he finally leaves his job and the family to put everything into racing his horse, wife Margaret doesn't go after him. Her thinking is that he will either come back to her or they are through. So, it's not hard to imagine how the film ends.

Columbia Pictures had been a Poverty Row studio in the 1920s, and was a second-tier studio by the early 1930s. But director and writer Frank Capra's work for Harry Cohn was gaining the studio wide recognition. After a 1933 Oscar nomination for "Lady for a Day," Cohn and Capra made "It Happened One Night" in February 1934. It would win the studio its first Academy Awards, and be the first movie to win the top four Oscars - for best picture, director, actor and actress. But after that, and before the next major story that Capra would work on ("Mr. Deeds Goes to Town"), he made "Broadway Bill" for Columbia.

A number of things about this production show that Columbia (and Capra, perhaps?) were still in that second tier of studios. The opening scene of "Broadway Bill" is an example. Dan Brooks is driving alongside a racing horse. It had to seem phony even way back then - it was a stage setting with a stationary car filmed with a video of a horse running behind - to the side of the car. The film shows some other deficiencies as well. Its scenes are choppy in places, and some seem to have poor direction or editing. And the screenplay itself is weak. There are some scenes when one waits for Baxter to say his next line, while he stands there tearing hay apart in his hands.

Capra himself didn't think too much of this film in later years. He wanted to remake it, which he did in 1950 as "Riding High." While the plot stayed the same, it was a musical comedy with Bing Crosby in the lead.

This isn't a rollicking comedy, but it is a somewhat interesting, if jumbled story. Those who enjoy old films may like this one. Others might find it too slow or boring. Here are some favorite lines.

Col. Pettigrew, played by Raymond Walburn, "Milked by my own chicanery."

Oscar 'Happy' McGuire, played by Lynne Overman, "First time I ever saw a guy sucked in by his own gag."

Col. Pettigrew, "Well, I guess I'm just a child of impulse."

My main reason for seeing 'Broadway Bill', what the film is called in my country, was Frank Capra, who was responsible for many great films ('It's a Wonderful Life' is an all-time favourite for instance and 'It Happened One Night' and 'Mr Smith Goes to Washington' are also classics). He was one of the kings when it came to the feel good, sentimental films and his style was easy to recognise. The cast is also a talented one, the most familiar name to me being Myrna Loy.

'Broadway Bill', 'Strictly Confidential' is another title the film is known under, is not one of Capra's best and falls short of being a classic. Did find myself thoroughly enjoying it with that being said, with there being a lot to admire, and it is easy to see why Capra's films connect with many from seeing 'Broadway Bill'. Even if other films of his do that even better. Not one of my favourite films centered around horse racing, but more than worthy all the same.

There is very little wrong here with 'Broadway Bill'. The very ending is a bit on the too neat side, though admittedly very postively uplifting in the lead up to it.

It was not easy at first to like Dan and took a while to warm to him, with the character having a lot to him to make one hate him outright. Luckily, this didn't stay for the whole film.

Conversely, 'Broadway Bill' is well made visually. Especially in some very beautifully framed shots and some quite thrilling editing in the climax. Capra takes things seriously while not being too heavy, and he avoids making the film get corny or sickly sweet while maintaining the feel good factor present in many of his films. There is a nice whimsy in the scoring, while the script brings a smile to the face with some charming humour and a big heart.

Found the story, while not always surprising, very heart-warming and easy to be uplifted by. Also got a good deal of emotion out of it, especially in the beautifully staged climax. A climax that was exciting and tear-inducing where one really roots for the right outcome. While it took me time to warm to Dan, Warner Baxter infuses a lot of enthusiasm and energetic charisma when he gets into the role. Loy is alluring and very charming and amusing Clarence Muse and particularly the joy that is Raymond Walburn are great fun. Broadway Bill himself is adorable and easy to root for.

Summing up, very well done. 8/10

Warner baxter and the amazing myrna loy. The picture quality is pretty washed out in some parts, but this film is so old, i don't see a restoration anytime soon! When dan leaves the family business, he puts everything on his horse broadway bill. But the horse is so nervous, he won't stay in the chute. Margaret is dan's wife, but her sister alice seems to care about him more. Trials and tribulations. Can they ever get the horse ready to race? Will they ever get out of debt? It's pretty good. Some familiar character actors here also. Funny guy walter connolly, douglas dumbrille. Also frank darro and charles lane. Many of these actors were in the remake "riding high" in 1950. And of course, margaret hamilton, five years before wizard of oz! Myrna loy was pretty busy this year.. this film came out the same year as manhattan melodrama and the first "thin man"! Directed by frank capra. Capra, loy, and baxter had all started in the silent films.