User Reviews

The presence of three newcomers in this 1944 homie drama makes this historically important as well as visually appealing, considering the gorgeous landscape of the Indiana country utilized to unwrap a gorgeous view of a way life used to be. The three newcomers are Lon McAllister, Jeanne Crain and June Haver, all talented and filled with potential. They are joined by veteran actors Walter Brennan and Charlotte Greenwood in a touching story of a troubled young man's arrival in Indiana, being taken in by aunt and uncle Greenwood and Brennan, and turning his life around thanks to his involvement and the local horse racing track.

One of the interesting elements of this film is showing McAllister becoming very close friends with two black characters, the young Willie Best and the older Sam McDaniel who work at the horse racing track. McAllister, unspoiled by society, treats them as equals and while it is never pointed out, Best becomes his closest friend with McDaniel pretty much playing his mentor. Tomboyish Crain and glamorous Haver provide chip healing feminine elements of the story with Crain obviously secretly jealous of the upper-class Haver.

The gorgeous Technicolor filming makes this easy on the eye, especially with the seasons changing and the various leaf colors same throughout the film. on extended Christmas sequence in the movie makes for perfect holiday viewing as well. The most impressive story elements is the close relationship that McAllister gains with Aunt Greenwood who has stuck by embittered alcoholic Brennan through his disappointments over losing his horses in the past, but when McAllister inspires Brennan to get back into the sport, it becomes very touching. this is crowd-pleasing for sure, and it truly does stand the test of time.

The blonde bombshell is June Haver, who soon would be groomed as the potential successor to Betty Grable as Fox's leading blonde musical romance actress. The tomboy is Jeanne Crain, soon to become one of Fox's most popular actress: often billed as the ideal girl-next-door. She would sometimes be cast in musicals, even though she apparently lacked musical talent, thus her singing would always be dubbed. It was very unusual for 2 future stars to be cofeatured in their first significant film role.

This film mostly takes place on 2 adjacent Indiana farms that breed horses for local harness racing, along with the nearby racetrack. Sparke(Lon McCallister), a late teen, is newly arrived on his aunt(Charlotte Greenwood, as Peggy Bolt) and uncle's(Walter Brennan, as Thunder Bolt) farm. He soon takes an interest in the race track and horses. He becomes friendly with the late teen tomboy horse enthusiast Char(Jeanne), who can competently drive a harness horse. He also becomes friendly with her neighbor Cri Cri(June). ( A variety of strange names are evident in this film!). Cri Cri has been going to school elsewhere, but is now home on summer vacation. In contrast to Char, she doesn't seem interested in learning to drive harness race horses. She has an outsider boyfriend : Gordon, and, unlike Char, doesn't show a spark of romantic interest in Sparke, until later, after Sparke wins a few races, being taught the intricacies of how to win by Thunder. Then, we no longer see her with Gordon. She comes on to Sparke, encouraging him to kiss her. And, boy, does he kiss her!, so that she has to move back to avoid being squashed! Char sees this and is jealous, as she thought of Sparke as sort of her boyfriend. Char goes to a dance with another boy. Sparke sees this, and confronts her. She acts haughty. Nonetheless, Sparke is impressed by her sophisticated look. He apologizes to her, and tells her he wants to be her boyfriend. By the end of the film, Sparke is proposing that they start a horse farm together. I might mention that, long before this, these 2 swam in the farm pond. When they got out, they tickled each other, and crawled over each other, like they were getting ready to make love. I'm surprised the censor people let this through.

Meanwhile, Thunder and Cri Cri's father had a big fight years ago and , as a result, Chi Chi's father took nearly all of Thunder's horses, except for a mare. Sparke and Char scheme to raise enough money to induce Cri Cri's father to register a foal born of Thunder's mare and his stallion. At first, Thunder is very mad at Sparke, and beats him up. But, after a little while, he reconsiders, and praises the boy. This, also induces him to resume interest in harness racing. Eventually, Sparke races this foal, called Maud. Eventually, it's noticed that Maud's eyes are showing symptoms of a condition that eventually results in blindness. She sometimes bumps into things. But, they decide to race her one more time, even with also an injured leg they taped up. Amazingly, she wins. I think I heard that they were then planning to euthanize her. From what I've read, probably, Maud developed Equine Recurrent Uveitus, or Moon Sickness : the most common cause of horse blindness. It's cause is uncertain. Sometimes, its progression can be slowed or prevented, but, often, not.

As in this film, Jeanne Crain was the shy girl, in contrast to a brassy beauty, in her upcoming films "Leave Her to Heaven" and "Margie". But, in the end, she won her love's heart. Also, in the next year's "State Fair", although she wasn't in romantic competition with her, she appeared relatively mousy in comparison with the brassy, gorgeous, Vivian Blaine: her brother's temporary infatuation. Yet, audiences continued to root for her.

I was amazed to learn that Marilyn Monroe was born 9 days before June Haver. Yet, June was a lead actress by 1944, whereas Marilyn didn't achieve her first film leading lady role until 1953! Of course, her career took off like a rocket, after that. 1953 was also a turning point in June's film career, as her last film was released that year, ending speculation that she might replace aging Betty Grable. She acted less sexy than Betty or Marilyn, and thus was not as popular. She decided to end her career and become a nun(She was a Catholic). Apparently, she felt her romantic relationships were jinxed, hence better to forget about men. Her earlier marriage was essentially over before it began. Then, her betrothed died before they could marry. She wasn't impressed with the Hollywood men she dated. Fortunately, veteran actor Fred McMurray, 18 years her senior, eventually came to her rescue, and they apparently lived happily ever after.

You can see this, free, at YouTube. Surprisingly, its in color. Nearly all of June's films were in color.

..."When I think about the Moonlight on the Wabash, I'll think about my Indiana home." Remember Jane Froman singing that beautiful song? Well, you can just forget about the tune in this 1944 film. That being said, the musical score playing this song is about the best thing this dud of a film has to offer.

Lon McAllister plays the troubled youth who comes to live with his Uncle and Aunt Bolt, played by Walter Brennan and Charlotte Greenwood. Greenwood has one very effective scene in the film when she describes to her nephew why Uncle Bolt is the way he is. It's all about the usual gripe and grudge he has against his former partner, played by Charles Dingle. Remember him 3 years before as Bette Davis's suspicious brother in "The Little Foxes?" Dingle is reduced to having little to do here.

The plot in the film is weak and the script is even weaker. Jeanne Crain, in her supposed first mature film, comes off as if she is ready to join Mickey and Judy to create a show in the barn.

The film deals with horse racing, something which was close to Walter Brennan's heart when he starred in his supporting Oscar winning performance 6 years before in "Kentucky."

The disappointing end with the horse matches the film-one big disappointment. See June Haver, Mrs. Fred MacMurray, as the girl with designs on McCallister as well.

My take on this movie. 1944 had another horse movie, being National Velvet. We were in the middle of World War II, and I suppose this was another Americana type movie to take people's mind off the big conflict. Jeanne Crain would be seen the next year in another agri-country movie, State Fair. June Haver I had seen in Look for the Silver Lining, being a charming person and not the imp as in this movie. Walter Brennan I enjoyed seeing as a main character, not anyone's sidekick. Tuppy and Mo were just superb. Charlotte Greenwood I would see in Oklahoma, dancing at the train station, and also doing her famous high kicks in a 1930s movie with Eddie Cantor. I enjoyed seeing Ward Bond in a non-Western movie. He was a nice, decent man, as the trainer and also as father of Jeanne Crain. The race track looked like Washington County Fairgrounds, Ohio (a little). I wonder why the actor who played Sparke was not in the military service? I notice he had no mother, and neither did the two girls. Hope he ended up finishing his education. Nothing like an uneducated boob who thinks he knows everything. Maybe he later really got that second belting from his uncle. I'm sure that Cri Cri tried some more of her man-handling on him later, but the movie ended. This was an enjoyable piece of Americana. It was during WWII wartime, and I saw nothing about wartime shortages, gasoline and food rationing, Rosie-riveters working in the factories, but hey, this is a fantasy meant for people to feel good. 10/10