Black Gold (1947 film)

Last updated
Black Gold
Black Gold 1947 poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Phil Karlson
Written by Agnes Christine Johnston, Caryl Coleman
Produced by Jeffrey Bernerd
Starring Anthony Quinn
Katherine DeMille
Raymond Hatton
Cinematography Harry Neumann
Edited by Roy V. Livingston
Music by Edward J. Kay
Production
company
Distributed byAllied Artists
Release date
  • September 16, 1947 (1947-09-16)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Black Gold is a 1947 American drama western film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Anthony Quinn, Katherine DeMille and Raymond Hatton. [1] It was the first Monogram Pictures film released under the Allied Artists banner and had the highest budget in Monogram's history at the time. [2] It was also the first leading role for Anthony Quinn. [3]

Contents

Plot

Charley, an Indian, finds a Chinese boy, Davey, and adopts him. Charley has a mare, Black Hope, with whom he wishes to win the Kentucky Derby, so he trains Davey as a jockey.

Cast

Production

The film was loosely based on the true story of the horse Black Gold, who won the 1924 Kentucky Derby. [3]

Karlson later said: "I made such a strong statement that the Indian nations all picked it up. They realized what we were saying in there. The average guy that would go see a motion picture in those days went to see entertainment. We weren't making statements, we were making cops 'n' robbers and good guys and bad guys. But to look at something and see the truth, for a change, was something that was unusual in those days." [2]

Karlson also said that the film took a year to make because "I wanted the seasons. I went to Churchill Downs for the Derby and had to do the races here, and I had to get some desert scenes... a lot of time lapses in the picture." [2] He directed four other films while making Black Gold. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Quinn</span> American actor (1915–2001)

Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca, better known by his stage name Anthony Quinn, was an American actor. Born in Mexico to a Mexican mother and a first-generation Irish-Mexican father, he was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental virility" in numerous critically acclaimed films both in Hollywood and abroad. His notable films include La Strada (1954), The Guns of Navarone (1961), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Guns for San Sebastian (1968), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), The Message (1976), Lion of the Desert (1980), Jungle Fever (1991) and Seven Servants (1996). He also had an Oscar-nominated title role in Zorba the Greek (1964).

Edward Small was an American film producer from the late 1920s through 1970, who was enormously prolific over a 50-year career. He is best known for the movies The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), The Corsican Brothers (1941), Brewster's Millions (1945), Raw Deal (1948), Black Magic (1949), Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and Solomon and Sheba (1959).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Karlson</span> American film director

Phil Karlson was an American film director. Later noted as a film noir specialist, Karlson directed 99 River Street, Kansas City Confidential and Hell's Island, all with actor John Payne, in the early 1950s.

<i>Union Pacific</i> (film) 1939 film by Cecil B. DeMille

Union Pacific is a 1939 American Western drama directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea and Robert Preston. Based on the 1936 novel Trouble Shooter by Western fiction author Ernest Haycox, the film is about the building of the eponymous railroad across the American West. Haycox based his novel upon the experiences of civil engineer Charles H. Sharman, who worked on the railroad from its start in Omaha, Nebraska in 1866 until the golden spike ceremony on May 10, 1869 to commemorate the joining of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory. The film recreates the event using the same 1869 golden spike, on loan from Stanford University.

<i>Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street</i> (2007 film) 2007 film by Tim Burton

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 2007 musical slasher film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by John Logan, based on the stage musical of the same name by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, which in turn is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The film retells the melodramatic Victorian tale of Sweeney Todd, an English barber and serial killer who, while seeking revenge on Judge Turpin who wrongfully convicted and exiled him to steal his wife, murders his customers and, with the help of his accomplice, Mrs. Lovett, processes their corpses into meat pies.

<i>Unconquered</i> (1947 film) 1947 film by Cecil B. DeMille

Unconquered is a 1947 American historical epic adventure film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gary Cooper and Paulette Goddard. The supporting cast features Boris Karloff, Cecil Kellaway, Ward Bond, Howard da Silva, Katherine DeMille, C. Aubrey Smith and Mike Mazurki. Released by Paramount Pictures, the film depicts the violent struggles between American colonists and Native Americans on the western frontier in the mid-18th century during the 1763 Pontiac's Rebellion, primarily around Fort Pitt. The film is characterized by DeMille's lavish style, including colourful costumes and sets, thousands of extras, violence, and sensationalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine DeMille</span> American actress (1911–1995)

Katherine Lester DeMille was a Canadian-born American actress who played 25 credited film roles from the mid-1930s to the late 1940s.

<i>The Secret Ways</i> 1961 film by Richard Widmark, Phil Karlson

The Secret Ways is a 1961 American neo noir mystery thriller film based on Alistair MacLean's 1959 novel The Last Frontier. It was directed by Phil Karlson and stars Richard Widmark.

<i>Hell to Eternity</i> 1960 film by Phil Karlson

Hell to Eternity is a 1960 American World War II film starring Jeffrey Hunter, David Janssen, Vic Damone and Patricia Owens, directed by Phil Karlson. This film biopic is about the true experiences of Marine hero Pfc. Guy Gabaldon, a Los Angeles Hispanic boy raised in the 1930s by a Japanese American foster family, and his heroic actions during the Battle of Saipan. Sessue Hayakawa played the role of Japanese commander at Saipan.

<i>Joan the Woman</i> 1916 film

Joan the Woman is a 1916 American epic silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Geraldine Farrar as Joan of Arc. The film premiered on Christmas Day in 1916. This was DeMille's first historical drama. The screenplay is based on Friedrich Schiller's 1801 play Die Jungfrau von Orleans. This film was considered to be the "first cinematic spectacle about Joan of Arc."

<i>The Little American</i> 1917 film

The Little American is a 1917 American silent romantic war drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The film stars Mary Pickford as an American woman who is in love with both a German soldier and a French soldier during World War I. A print of the film is housed at the UCLA Film and Television Archive and has been released on DVD.

<i>Nan of Music Mountain</i> 1917 film

Nan of Music Mountain is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by George Melford and Cecil B. DeMille. The film is based on Frank H. Spearman's novel of the same name and stars Wallace Reid and Anna Little.

<i>Dont Change Your Husband</i> 1919 film

Don't Change Your Husband is a 1919 American silent comedy film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gloria Swanson. The film was the third of six "marriage films" directed by DeMille and the first DeMille film starring Gloria Swanson. A print of the film is stored at the George Eastman House. The film was released on DVD by Image Entertainment with The Golden Chance. A Chinese silent film, Don't Change Your Husband (1929), used the same English title, and a similar plot arc.

A Successful Failure is a 1934 American film directed by Arthur Lubin. It was Lubin's first film as director.

<i>G. I. Honeymoon</i> 1945 film by Phil Karlson

G.I. Honeymoon is a 1945 film directed by Phil Karlson. It stars Gale Storm and Peter Cookson. Both play a couple who encounter problems as the husband wants to leave the army, but can't. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1946 for its music.

<i>Gunmans Walk</i> 1958 film by Phil Karlson

Gunman's Walk is a 1958 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Van Heflin and Tab Hunter.

A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine is an American 1944 musical comedy film directed by Phil Karlson for low-budget Monogram Pictures.

<i>The Happytime Murders</i> 2018 film by Brian Henson

The Happytime Murders is a 2018 American adult puppet buddy cop crime comedy film directed by Brian Henson and written by Todd Berger from a story by Berger and Dee Austin Robertson. The film stars Melissa McCarthy, Bill Barretta, Joel McHale, Maya Rudolph, Leslie David Baker, and Elizabeth Banks. Set in a world where humans and living puppets co-exist, the film follows a puppet private investigator and a human police detective who must solve a murder spree of retired sitcom stars.

Down Memory Lane is a 1949 Hollywood compilation film of silent and sound comedies from the library of pioneer producer Mack Sennett. Phil Karlson directed the film, with Steve Allen writing the screenplay and appearing on screen as himself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Always Dreaming</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Always Dreaming is a retired American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2017 Kentucky Derby and Florida Derby. He had four wins from eleven starts, and earnings of $2,415,860.

References

  1. Dixon, Wheeler Winston (June 2017). "Phil Karlson: The Forgotten Master of Film Noir". Senses of Cinema.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Todd McCarthy and Richard Thompson. “Phil Karlson: Interview, November 19, 1973” Kings of the Bs; Working Within the Hollywood System, eds. Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1975), pp. 327-345. Rpt. Cine Resort, Oct. 7 2014
  3. 1 2 "Black Gold". Turner Classic Movies.