In the 1930s-40s, Pete Smith narrated something like 39237523 shorts for MGM--many of which were about sports. In this installment, it's about racing cars. Smith makes a lot of funny quips--or at least they were quips! None of it's all that funny, but at least it is interesting from a historical point of view as you get to see what an Indy car looked like circa 1933--as well as one of the Indy champs. Viewers today will probably be a bit surprised how primitive and dangerous it all looks--with open cockpits and little in the way of safety equipment. In one case, you get to see a guy tossed out at high speed! In addition to all the mayhem, the racing champ of the 1910s, Barney Oldfield, makes an appearance. Despite Smith's lame narration, the film is pretty exciting to watch today.
2 Reviews
Pete Smith narrates sports documentary...
Doylenf13 March 2011
There's not much you can say about this Pete Smith Specialty from 1933 except that the antiquated racing cars are a far cry from what viewers of the sport expect to see today.
Photography is dark and grainy, which doesn't help matters at the racetrack, but the theme is simply to show how daring these guys are when it comes to speed--and how fast a tire can be changed when one goes out of gear. There are a few crashes too, one of them quite spectacular, but the narration just goes on ignoring things when the crashes occur no matter how seriously hurt a driver might be.
It's done in dry documentary style and not as polished as the later Pete Smith specialties would be. I couldn't work up much enthusiasm for it.
Photography is dark and grainy, which doesn't help matters at the racetrack, but the theme is simply to show how daring these guys are when it comes to speed--and how fast a tire can be changed when one goes out of gear. There are a few crashes too, one of them quite spectacular, but the narration just goes on ignoring things when the crashes occur no matter how seriously hurt a driver might be.
It's done in dry documentary style and not as polished as the later Pete Smith specialties would be. I couldn't work up much enthusiasm for it.
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