Take a Chance | |
---|---|
Directed by | Sinclair Hill |
Written by | |
Based on | Take a Chance by Walter C. Hackett |
Produced by | Harcourt Templeman |
Starring | |
Cinematography | John W. Boyle |
Edited by | Michael Hankinson |
Music by | John Reynders |
Production company | Grosvenor Films |
Distributed by | Associated British Film Distributors |
Release date |
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Running time | 73 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Take a Chance is a 1937 British comedy sports film directed by Sinclair Hill and starring Claude Hulbert, Binnie Hale, and Henry Kendall. It depicts farcical events in the horse racing world. [1] [2] [3]
The cynical Richard Carfax develops a relationship with Cicely Burton, the wife of a race horse owner, in order to get inside information on a horse named 'Take a Chance' which is considered to be the favorite in an upcoming race. Her suspicious husband hires Alastair Pallivant, an incompetent tipster and part-time detective, to tail her and swears that he will scratch the horse from the race if he uncovers evidence about Carfax and his wife. Having his own private arrangement with a betting gang, Pallivant does everything he can to prevent the favourite from running. However, he encounters the equally determined Wilhelmina Ryde, a garage owner who stands to win heavily if the favorite rides to victory.
The film was based on a play by Walter C. Hackett. It was made at Ealing Studios by the independent production company Grosvenor Films. [4] [5]
Seabiscuit was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse special at Pimlico and was voted American Horse of the Year for 1938.
War Admiral was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the fourth winner of the American Triple Crown. He was also the 1937 Horse of the Year and well known as the rival of Seabiscuit in the "Match Race of the Century" in 1938. War Admiral won 21 of his 26 starts with earnings of $273,240 and was the leading sire in North America for 1945. He was also an outstanding broodmare sire whose influence is still felt today in descendants such as Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify.
Dame Esmerelda Cicely Courtneidge was an Australian-born British actress, comedian and singer. The daughter of the producer and playwright Robert Courtneidge, she was appearing in his productions in the West End by the age of 16, and was quickly promoted from minor to major roles in his Edwardian musical comedies.
John Norman Hulbert was a British actor, director, screenwriter and singer, specializing primarily in comedy productions, and often working alongside his wife (Dame) Cicely Courtneidge.
Claude Noel Hulbert was a mid-20th century English stage, radio and cinema comic actor.
Charles Robert William Howes was a British entertainer who was a leading musical comedy performer in London's West End theatres in the 1930s and 1940s.
Beatrice "Binnie" Mary Hale-Monro was an English actress, singer and dancer. She was one of the most successful musical theatre stars in London in the 1920s and 1930s, able to sing leading roles in operetta as well as musicals, and she was popular as a principal boy in pantomime. Her best-remembered roles were in the musicals No, No, Nanette (1925) and Mr. Cinders (1929), in which she sang "Spread a Little Happiness".
Basil Dearden was an English film director.
Keep Fit is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring George Formby, Kay Walsh and Guy Middleton. Formby was at his British top box-office peak when this comedy was made.
Trouble Brewing is a 1939 British comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring George Formby, Googie Withers and Gus McNaughton. It was made by Associated Talking Pictures, and includes the songs "Fanlight Fanny" and "Hitting the Highspots Now". The film is based on a novel by Joan Butler, and the sets were designed by art director Wilfred Shingleton.
Down Argentine Way is a 1940 American musical film made in Technicolor by Twentieth Century Fox. It made a star of Betty Grable in her first leading role for the studio although she had already appeared in 31 films, and it introduced American audiences to Carmen Miranda. It also starred Don Ameche, The Nicholas Brothers, Charlotte Greenwood, and J. Carrol Naish.
Fiddlers Three is a 1944 British black-and-white musical comedy. It includes a number of musical sections, mainly focussing on replacing the word "home" with "Rome". The film was produced by Michael Balcon and directed by Harry Watt. The cast included Tommy Trinder, Sonnie Hale, Frances Day, Francis L. Sullivan, Diana Decker and Elisabeth Welch. Making their film debuts were James Robertson Justice, and Kay Kendall near the bottom of the cast list, as the "Girl Who Asks About Her Future At Orgy". The film follows the adventures of two sailors and a Wren who are struck by lightning and transported back to Ancient Rome, where they are accepted as seers.
William Percy Lipscomb was a British-born Hollywood playwright, screenwriter, producer and director. He died in London in 1958, aged 71.
The Rainbow Jacket is a 1954 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden, and featuring Robert Morley, Kay Walsh, Bill Owen, Honor Blackman and Sid James. It was made at Ealing Studios produced by Michael Balcon and Michael Relph and shot in Technicolor. The film's sets were designed by the art director Thomas N. Morahan. Location shooting took place in London and at a variety of racecourse towns including Newmarket and Epsom. The film was released by General Film Distributors as a part of a long-term arrangement with Ealing.
Sailors Three is a 1940 British war comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Tommy Trinder, Claude Hulbert and Carla Lehmann. This was cockney music hall comedian Trinder's debut for Ealing, the studio with which he was to become most closely associated. It concerns three British sailors who accidentally find themselves aboard a German ship during the Second World War.
Breezing Home is a 1937 American drama film directed by Milton Carruth and starring Binnie Barnes, William Gargan, and Wendy Barrie. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Gwendoline "Gwen" Farrar was an English duettist, cellist, singer, actress and comedian.
Take a Chance is a comedy play by the British-American writer Walter C. Hackett, with a plot revolving around gambling on a horseracing.