The Kentucky Derby

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Reginald Denny in The Kentucky Derby (1922)

Dirty work is afoot in old Kentucky when a rival decides that his horse will have a better chance of winning if the son of the owner isn't around, so he has him shanghaied onto a tramp freig... Read allDirty work is afoot in old Kentucky when a rival decides that his horse will have a better chance of winning if the son of the owner isn't around, so he has him shanghaied onto a tramp freighter and gets the jockey in his debt through a crooked gambling game. Airplanes, ship-wrec... Read allDirty work is afoot in old Kentucky when a rival decides that his horse will have a better chance of winning if the son of the owner isn't around, so he has him shanghaied onto a tramp freighter and gets the jockey in his debt through a crooked gambling game. Airplanes, ship-wrecks, sea storms, kidnapping, frame-up and much skullduggery prior to the race.

Director
- King Baggot
Writers
- Charles T. Dazey
- George C. Hull
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.6/10

YOUR RATING

Director
- King Baggot
Writers
- Charles T. Dazey
- George C. Hull
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

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Trivia
A Jewel Production. Universal, unlike many of its competitors, never owned a proprietary theater chain. This business decision would eventually pay off handsomely for the studio after the 1949 Supreme Court anti-trust decision that threaten to cripple its peers. However, it required the studio to carefully market its feature product to independent owners. Carl Laemmle devised a 3-tiered brand system: Red Feather (low-budget programmers), Bluebird (mainstream releases) and Jewel (prestige productions). Jewel releases were produced in hopes of drawing higher roadshow ticket prices, a ploy that sometimes misfired. This branding system would fade away in late 1929.

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Review

Featured review

5/10

This Probably Did Well In The Whites-Only Theaters In Kentucky

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.