Watch Saratoga For Free

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

hyped garbage

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Ordinary comedy would have been a cinematic footnote and a stop gap for Gable and Harlow before their next scheduled pairing on loan to Fox for the much more worthwhile In Old Chicago if not for Jean's sudden death. Instead it ended up becoming the second most profitable film of 1937 and a notorious cash grab for Metro. Not really a bad film but hardly the best film on any of the actors resumes. Other than the ghoulish, rather easy, game of spotting the scenes filmed after Jean's passing with a stand-in the film is packed with great character actors and actresses doing good work. Of particular note is Una Merkel, sassy and smart as an old crony of Gable's. Jean's part is one that's far away from her more famous early persona as a brassy good time girl but in line with the more refined lady-like roles Mayer was moving her towards after Irving Thalberg's death and which she had been transitioning to nicely. Considering the fact that it's an incomplete performance she is fine in her role, she looks weary and a bit bloated throughout not surprisingly since unbeknownst to all her kidneys were failing. Her death actually caused great upheaval in many films that were in development at the time changing the course of many careers. She and Gable were to head over to Fox for In Old Chicago which proved a boon to Alice Faye and Tyrone Power. For their services Shirley Temple was to be loaned to MGM for the Wizard of Oz, when that fell through of course Judy Garland was cast pulling her out and Ann Rutherford in to the small part of Carreen in GWTW. Also among many other planned projects Maisie, originally planned as an A production but moved to the B unit after the loss of Jean, was allocated to Ann Sothern so successfully that it started her on a series that ran, between other films, almost ten years.

With the really A-List cast, you want this movie to be better than it is. Yet is it better than you expect. Why is that? The cast as there is no doubt here about Gable in this one.Based on a play, this movie sold a lot of tickets in New York when it was released because of the time and generation it was released in, plus New York was the biggest market then. For the greatest generation, Horse Racing and Saratoga were magic. Every August, the old tradition still goes on today. But then, Saratoga was a pilgrimage every August for folks who loved racing.The old track there and the August meetings were a magic atmosphere. Ironically, Hollywood already had the tradition of filming in other places and creating their own world. Most of this film was not done in Saratoga. What was being sold was the most magical track to racing fans then, and this cast.Even though Harlow died during filming, having Clark Gable as a nice bookie at the old Saratoga Raceway sold a lot of tickets in the 1930's. Harlow's untimely death added to the box office too, sadly.

Saratoga (1937) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A bookie (Clark Gable) takes a horse ranch from a friend who eventually dies but the man's daughter (Jean Harlow) does what she can to get it back. The troubled history of this film is certainly a lot more interesting than the actual film. Harlow died before the film was completed and apparently MGM was just going to put the film on the shelf but fans wanted it released so the unfinished scenes were eventually shot with a double who most of the time has her back to the camera. The scenes with the double come off pretty badly and they're rather obvious especially with the voice double. It's also rather eerie that there's a running joke in the film about Harlow being sick. As for the actual film, it's pretty disappointing due to the wonderful cast yet it still manages to be slightly entertaining. Both Gable and Harlow are good in their roles but neither do the best work of their career. The film really belongs to Lionel Barrymore who plays Harlow's uncle. He gives a wonderful comic performance and gives the film all of its laughs. Frank Morgan, Walter Pidgeon and George Zucco round out the cast.

Reason why this movie in a way is perhaps a bit of a must see is because this movie features Jean Harlow in her last role before her death. She collapsed on the set and died not much later in the hospital at the age of 26. She must have been quite ill during the entire production of this movie. Is this perhaps also a reason why her character becomes ill in the movie? Because there is no real obvious other reason I can think of as of why they put that in the movie, it had little use or value to the movie its story or her character.But I surely wish that her last movie would had been a different and more worthy one. This comedy offers little entertainment and perhaps even is a bit boring at times because of the formulaic story. As a comedy it simply ain't funny enough and as a drama it ain't powerful enough. So it's a bit of a 'pointless' movie to watch. It's an extremely average romantic movie were oh so many movies like this one had been made of already.Still the atmosphere is quite good. The movie has a kind of an almost childish innocence that lot of movies made for WW II had. During and after WW II, movie's became more serious and perhaps also more meaningful. It's obvious that this movie was made just to bring shear joy and entertainment to the people in the cinema. The whole singing in the train sequence's is perhaps the best example of the movie its innocence.Clark Gable is quite good in his role but the line's he has to deliver are simply at times just plain annoying. Also the fact that Lionel Barrymore was in this movie didn't do much good for me. As an actor I can't really stand Lionel Barrymore, he so often irritates me.Most certainly not recommendable, unless you're interested in seeing Jean Harlow in her last role.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/