Three Men on a Horse

It's very tame and dated, but there are still more than a few chuckles in this comedy concerning a young man (McHugh) who is having marital and work troubles and ties up with gangsters when they find he has the ability to predict winners at the horse racing track. LeRoy directs at a tight, fast paced clip. McHugh was arguably one of the funniest guys in Hollywood for many decades.

Old black and white film pros Frank McHugh, Joan Blondell, and Guy Kibbee get together for a caper. we learn two things right at the start of the film: Erwin is GREAT at picking winners in the races. and erwin's brother in law is a pain, who yells and keeps interfering in Erwin and Audrey's marriage. when Charlie (Allen Jenkins) finds out that Erwin can pick winners, they kidnap Erwin and try to keep him locked up. Blondell is the good-hearted moll for the bad guys, and tries to help Erwin. it's silly and campy, and moves right along. Keep an eye out for Charles Lane.. he's the man who picks up the cleaning. for a while, he held the record for the most roles in films. Eddie Anderson (Rochesterrrr !) is in here as the elevator guy. the annoying brother-in-law (Paul Harvey) had worked with Bogart on FIVE films. it's pretty good, but the fake brooklyn accents get annoying after a while. funny scene where the elevator guy is in the room rooting for the winner with the rest of them. directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Gypsy, Wizard of Oz.

In the 1930's Warner Bros. had a group of supporting players that they largely cast in the manic comedies that they did so well in those days. Three of those players - Frank McHugh, Guy Kibbee, and Joan Blondell - all show up in this often forgotten little film. What is so odd here is Joan Blondell, after several starring roles, is playing in support of Frank McHugh. McHugh had been an excellent supporting player in all kinds of Warner Bros. pictures for several years - an eccentric choreographer in Busby Berkeley's "Footlight Parade", a kind-hearted neer-do-well in the melodrama "Lily Turner", etc. However, here McHugh is the center of attention, and he handles it well.

Here Warners has managed to combine comedy with crime after the production code was in full effect with no danger of violating the code yet with great comic effect. McHugh plays a mild-mannered man who writes greeting card slogans and lives in a house on a street where every house looks the same. One morning, after a fight with his brother-in-law, he stops in at a bar rather than going to work. There he makes the acquaintance of three hoods who are trying to pick a winning horse without much success. The key to this new friendship is that McHugh has a gift for picking the winning horse in every race every day as long as he doesn't bet himself.

If you ever run across this film I strongly recommend it for an amusing way to spend eighty or so minutes.

Henpecked at home and work, Frank McHugh has a hobby of working out which horse is going to win a race. He never bets. But when he falls into the hands of Sam Levene and his crew, he offers them a sure thing.

It's based on a successful George Abbott play, with Levene (in his screen debut) and Teddy Hart repeating their stage roles. Director Mervyn Leroy barely opens it up for the movies, but stocks the ast with some prize players: Joan Blondell tawkin' outta the side of her mout', Edgar Kennedy as a bartender who gets in on the action, Guy Kibbee as McHugh's boss, Paul Harvey as his overbearing brother-in-law, along with Eddie Anderson and Harry Davenport in smaller roles. If you're looking for the stage play, this isn't a bad version, but on the screen, it comes off as too stagey, and McHugh's wimp isn't much fun as the center of the storm.

A meek & mild fellow, with the uncanny knack of picking winning race horses, is taken in charge by a trio of racketeering gamblers.

Fast-moving & fun, THREE MEN ON A HORSE is another example of the comedy crime picture that Warner Bros. was so expert at producing in the 1930's. Casts & plots could be shuffled endlessly, with very predictable results. While this assembly line approach created few classics, audience enjoyment could usually be assured.

Frank McHugh & Joan Blondell are both well cast in the lead roles, especially Brooklyn-accented Blondell with her unsophisticated charm & pert blonde looks. Interesting thing about the screenplay is that there is absolutely no romantic development between McHugh & Blondell. He remains true to his dimwitted spouse Carol Hughes, while Blondell carries the torch for her bad guy boyfriend Sam Levene.

The rest of the cast is excellent. Guy Kibbee appears as McHugh's bad-tempered blustery boss. Plain talking Allen Jenkins & excitable little Teddy Hart play Levene's gang members. Slow-burning Edgar Kennedy has a good role as the bartender who wants to use McHugh's talents to finance his early retirement. Obnoxious Paul Harvey does very well as McHugh's bullying brother-in-law.

In smaller roles, Eddie ‘Rochester' Anderson scores as a gambling elevator operator; Harry Davenport has one tiny scene as an employee in a greeting card publishing house; and Eily Malyon plays a stern maternity ward nurse. Movie mavens will recognize an unbilled Charles Lane playing a laconic laundry man.