I have a sense there was a pretty good story in here somewhere, but what a mess in the execution. I hate to say that because I like Frankie Darro, but these Poverty Row efforts really left a lot to be desired in the story development department. Case in point with the five hundred dollars that Legs (Arthur Housman) gave to Frankie to put in his brother Smokey's (James Eagles) bank account. I get it about an implied bribe to throw the race, but why would Frankie go along with it? Why not just give Smokey the money and avoid the paper trail?
Now call me crazy, but how in the world does a jockey get to write a medical prescription? And how the heck did the pharmacist figure out that it was a warning message to send for help? How did all of that work? But the best was when Frankie broke free from the bad guys and grabbed the gun to make his getaway. He was punched in the face and knocked down by an invisible man!!! Did you see that? I rewound that sequence more than once and seriously folks, you can hear the smack but nobody was there to deliver the punch!!!
Well by this time, Frankie has already taken a bullet and he's about to steal an ambulance so he can make it to the track on time to go aboard Trouble in the feature race. Trouble's a one jockey horse, so if Frankie doesn't make it, the bad guys win. I guess when you plunked your money down back in the Thirties, none of this unbelievable stuff was supposed to matter. The good guys come out on top and that's that. I have to hand it to Frankie Darro though. He had one of the all time greatest return on investments when he bought Trouble in the first place and nursed him back to health. He certainly got a lot of mileage out of $4.85! I wonder if he ever paid back his sister?
Now call me crazy, but how in the world does a jockey get to write a medical prescription? And how the heck did the pharmacist figure out that it was a warning message to send for help? How did all of that work? But the best was when Frankie broke free from the bad guys and grabbed the gun to make his getaway. He was punched in the face and knocked down by an invisible man!!! Did you see that? I rewound that sequence more than once and seriously folks, you can hear the smack but nobody was there to deliver the punch!!!
Well by this time, Frankie has already taken a bullet and he's about to steal an ambulance so he can make it to the track on time to go aboard Trouble in the feature race. Trouble's a one jockey horse, so if Frankie doesn't make it, the bad guys win. I guess when you plunked your money down back in the Thirties, none of this unbelievable stuff was supposed to matter. The good guys come out on top and that's that. I have to hand it to Frankie Darro though. He had one of the all time greatest return on investments when he bought Trouble in the first place and nursed him back to health. He certainly got a lot of mileage out of $4.85! I wonder if he ever paid back his sister?