The blonde bombshell is June Haver, who soon would be groomed as the potential successor to Betty Grable as Fox's leading blonde musical romance actress. The tomboy is Jeanne Crain, soon to become one of Fox's most popular actress: often billed as the ideal girl-next-door. She would sometimes be cast in musicals, even though she apparently lacked musical talent, thus her singing would always be dubbed. It was very unusual for 2 future stars to be cofeatured in their first significant film role.
This film mostly takes place on 2 adjacent Indiana farms that breed horses for local harness racing, along with the nearby racetrack. Sparke(Lon McCallister), a late teen, is newly arrived on his aunt(Charlotte Greenwood, as Peggy Bolt) and uncle's(Walter Brennan, as Thunder Bolt) farm. He soon takes an interest in the race track and horses. He becomes friendly with the late teen tomboy horse enthusiast Char(Jeanne), who can competently drive a harness horse. He also becomes friendly with her neighbor Cri Cri(June). ( A variety of strange names are evident in this film!). Cri Cri has been going to school elsewhere, but is now home on summer vacation. In contrast to Char, she doesn't seem interested in learning to drive harness race horses. She has an outsider boyfriend : Gordon, and, unlike Char, doesn't show a spark of romantic interest in Sparke, until later, after Sparke wins a few races, being taught the intricacies of how to win by Thunder. Then, we no longer see her with Gordon. She comes on to Sparke, encouraging him to kiss her. And, boy, does he kiss her!, so that she has to move back to avoid being squashed! Char sees this and is jealous, as she thought of Sparke as sort of her boyfriend. Char goes to a dance with another boy. Sparke sees this, and confronts her. She acts haughty. Nonetheless, Sparke is impressed by her sophisticated look. He apologizes to her, and tells her he wants to be her boyfriend. By the end of the film, Sparke is proposing that they start a horse farm together. I might mention that, long before this, these 2 swam in the farm pond. When they got out, they tickled each other, and crawled over each other, like they were getting ready to make love. I'm surprised the censor people let this through.
Meanwhile, Thunder and Cri Cri's father had a big fight years ago and , as a result, Chi Chi's father took nearly all of Thunder's horses, except for a mare. Sparke and Char scheme to raise enough money to induce Cri Cri's father to register a foal born of Thunder's mare and his stallion. At first, Thunder is very mad at Sparke, and beats him up. But, after a little while, he reconsiders, and praises the boy. This, also induces him to resume interest in harness racing. Eventually, Sparke races this foal, called Maud. Eventually, it's noticed that Maud's eyes are showing symptoms of a condition that eventually results in blindness. She sometimes bumps into things. But, they decide to race her one more time, even with also an injured leg they taped up. Amazingly, she wins. I think I heard that they were then planning to euthanize her. From what I've read, probably, Maud developed Equine Recurrent Uveitus, or Moon Sickness : the most common cause of horse blindness. It's cause is uncertain. Sometimes, its progression can be slowed or prevented, but, often, not.
As in this film, Jeanne Crain was the shy girl, in contrast to a brassy beauty, in her upcoming films "Leave Her to Heaven" and "Margie". But, in the end, she won her love's heart. Also, in the next year's "State Fair", although she wasn't in romantic competition with her, she appeared relatively mousy in comparison with the brassy, gorgeous, Vivian Blaine: her brother's temporary infatuation. Yet, audiences continued to root for her.
I was amazed to learn that Marilyn Monroe was born 9 days before June Haver. Yet, June was a lead actress by 1944, whereas Marilyn didn't achieve her first film leading lady role until 1953! Of course, her career took off like a rocket, after that. 1953 was also a turning point in June's film career, as her last film was released that year, ending speculation that she might replace aging Betty Grable. She acted less sexy than Betty or Marilyn, and thus was not as popular. She decided to end her career and become a nun(She was a Catholic). Apparently, she felt her romantic relationships were jinxed, hence better to forget about men. Her earlier marriage was essentially over before it began. Then, her betrothed died before they could marry. She wasn't impressed with the Hollywood men she dated. Fortunately, veteran actor Fred McMurray, 18 years her senior, eventually came to her rescue, and they apparently lived happily ever after.
You can see this, free, at YouTube. Surprisingly, its in color. Nearly all of June's films were in color.
This film mostly takes place on 2 adjacent Indiana farms that breed horses for local harness racing, along with the nearby racetrack. Sparke(Lon McCallister), a late teen, is newly arrived on his aunt(Charlotte Greenwood, as Peggy Bolt) and uncle's(Walter Brennan, as Thunder Bolt) farm. He soon takes an interest in the race track and horses. He becomes friendly with the late teen tomboy horse enthusiast Char(Jeanne), who can competently drive a harness horse. He also becomes friendly with her neighbor Cri Cri(June). ( A variety of strange names are evident in this film!). Cri Cri has been going to school elsewhere, but is now home on summer vacation. In contrast to Char, she doesn't seem interested in learning to drive harness race horses. She has an outsider boyfriend : Gordon, and, unlike Char, doesn't show a spark of romantic interest in Sparke, until later, after Sparke wins a few races, being taught the intricacies of how to win by Thunder. Then, we no longer see her with Gordon. She comes on to Sparke, encouraging him to kiss her. And, boy, does he kiss her!, so that she has to move back to avoid being squashed! Char sees this and is jealous, as she thought of Sparke as sort of her boyfriend. Char goes to a dance with another boy. Sparke sees this, and confronts her. She acts haughty. Nonetheless, Sparke is impressed by her sophisticated look. He apologizes to her, and tells her he wants to be her boyfriend. By the end of the film, Sparke is proposing that they start a horse farm together. I might mention that, long before this, these 2 swam in the farm pond. When they got out, they tickled each other, and crawled over each other, like they were getting ready to make love. I'm surprised the censor people let this through.
Meanwhile, Thunder and Cri Cri's father had a big fight years ago and , as a result, Chi Chi's father took nearly all of Thunder's horses, except for a mare. Sparke and Char scheme to raise enough money to induce Cri Cri's father to register a foal born of Thunder's mare and his stallion. At first, Thunder is very mad at Sparke, and beats him up. But, after a little while, he reconsiders, and praises the boy. This, also induces him to resume interest in harness racing. Eventually, Sparke races this foal, called Maud. Eventually, it's noticed that Maud's eyes are showing symptoms of a condition that eventually results in blindness. She sometimes bumps into things. But, they decide to race her one more time, even with also an injured leg they taped up. Amazingly, she wins. I think I heard that they were then planning to euthanize her. From what I've read, probably, Maud developed Equine Recurrent Uveitus, or Moon Sickness : the most common cause of horse blindness. It's cause is uncertain. Sometimes, its progression can be slowed or prevented, but, often, not.
As in this film, Jeanne Crain was the shy girl, in contrast to a brassy beauty, in her upcoming films "Leave Her to Heaven" and "Margie". But, in the end, she won her love's heart. Also, in the next year's "State Fair", although she wasn't in romantic competition with her, she appeared relatively mousy in comparison with the brassy, gorgeous, Vivian Blaine: her brother's temporary infatuation. Yet, audiences continued to root for her.
I was amazed to learn that Marilyn Monroe was born 9 days before June Haver. Yet, June was a lead actress by 1944, whereas Marilyn didn't achieve her first film leading lady role until 1953! Of course, her career took off like a rocket, after that. 1953 was also a turning point in June's film career, as her last film was released that year, ending speculation that she might replace aging Betty Grable. She acted less sexy than Betty or Marilyn, and thus was not as popular. She decided to end her career and become a nun(She was a Catholic). Apparently, she felt her romantic relationships were jinxed, hence better to forget about men. Her earlier marriage was essentially over before it began. Then, her betrothed died before they could marry. She wasn't impressed with the Hollywood men she dated. Fortunately, veteran actor Fred McMurray, 18 years her senior, eventually came to her rescue, and they apparently lived happily ever after.
You can see this, free, at YouTube. Surprisingly, its in color. Nearly all of June's films were in color.