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Best Man Wins

  • 1948
  • 1h 18m
IMDb RATING
5.7/10
71
YOUR RATING
Edgar Buchanan, Gary Gray, Anna Lee, and Robert Shayne in Best Man Wins (1948)
Drama

Jim Smiley has a frog that can jump further than anyone else's frog, and Jim becomes obsessed with entering the frog in all of the local jumping-frog contests, not realizing that his obsessi... Read allJim Smiley has a frog that can jump further than anyone else's frog, and Jim becomes obsessed with entering the frog in all of the local jumping-frog contests, not realizing that his obsession is about to cost him his marriage.Jim Smiley has a frog that can jump further than anyone else's frog, and Jim becomes obsessed with entering the frog in all of the local jumping-frog contests, not realizing that his obsession is about to cost him his marriage.

  • Director
    • John Sturges
  • Writers
    • Edward Huebsch
    • Mark Twain
  • Stars
    • Edgar Buchanan
    • Anna Lee
    • Robert Shayne
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.7/10
    71
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • John Sturges
    • Writers
      • Edward Huebsch
      • Mark Twain
    • Stars
      • Edgar Buchanan
      • Anna Lee
      • Robert Shayne
    • 2User reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos8

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    Top cast35

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    Edgar Buchanan
    Edgar Buchanan
    • Jim Smiley
    Anna Lee
    Anna Lee
    • Nancy Smiley
    Robert Shayne
    Robert Shayne
    • Judge Leonidas K. Carter
    Gary Gray
    Gary Gray
    • Bob Smiley
    Hobart Cavanaugh
    Hobart Cavanaugh
    • Amos
    Stanley Andrews
    Stanley Andrews
    • Sheriff Dingle
    George Lynn
    George Lynn
    • Mr. Crow
    Billy Sheffield
    • Monty Carter
    • (as Bill Sheffield)
    Marietta Canty
    Marietta Canty
    • Hester
    Paul E. Burns
    Paul E. Burns
    • Bartender
    George Chesebro
    George Chesebro
    • Creditor
    • (uncredited)
    Robert B. Churchill
    • Stranger
    • (uncredited)
    Chester Clute
    Chester Clute
    • Villager
    • (uncredited)
    Tom Coffey
    • Minor Role
    • (uncredited)
    Earle S. Dewey
    • Racetrack Judge
    • (uncredited)
    Jerry Franks Jr.
    • Bookmaker
    • (uncredited)
    Jack Gargan
    • Stranger
    • (uncredited)
    Rodney Hildebrand
    • Dog Handler
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • John Sturges
    • Writers
      • Edward Huebsch
      • Mark Twain
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews2

    5.771
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    Featured reviews

    4arkent

    How many people still alive have seen this film?

    So far as I know, this film has never been released on video. And it may never have been shown on television. In fact, it's possible that I own the only surviving copy of the film! I bought a nice clean 16mm print of it on eBay last year and later had to buy a sound projector in order to watch it. However, even now, I have only seen the first reel (because it took me and a friend so long to get the projector running properly the night we tried to watch the film that we didn't have the energy to sit all the way through it.)

    Made in the late '40s, the film is a loose (very loose) adaptation of Mark Twain's jumping frog story. Its main character, Jim Smiley (played by Edgar Buchanan) is a ne'er-do-well obsessed with betting on his champion jumping frog who must change his ways in order to avoid losing his wife. Not much more to say about the film

    I regard this film as being strictly for Mark Twain aficianados. And if you happen to be one of them folk, try to get yourself to the State of Mark Twain Studies conference in Elmira, N.Y., on August 16-18, 2001.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Mark Twain's daughter, Clara Clemens Samoussoud, sued Columbia Pictures for $300,000, objecting to the "corny love story" that had "deformed and mutilated" her father's favorite story.

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 6, 1948 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Cel mai bun câştigă
    • Production company
      • Columbia Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 18 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

    Contribute to this page

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    Edgar Buchanan, Gary Gray, Anna Lee, and Robert Shayne in Best Man Wins (1948)
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