Warner Brothers, when run by Darryl Zanuck adopted a production line approach to movie making. The purpose of the studio was to simply provide something to play in their 350 theatres. Many of those features therefore looked very similar - they used the same teams, the same actors and the writers, they made 55 films in 1932 and Guy Kibbee was in 17 of them.
Such an approach resulted in a few classics, a few duds but mainly a lot of mediocre movies. THE DARK HORSE is one of those mediocre offerings but despite of this it's still just about entertaining. There's a warm, cosy familiarity of these old WB films; when you've seen a few, you feel you know these actors and want to see what 'your friends' have been up to. THE DARK HORSE is hardly memorable, nobody would ever call this a good film but WB films from this era are strangely addictive and this, being a typical Warner Brothers will certainly give you your 'fix.'
Warren William as usual, plays Warren William and as always, he is excellent doing what he does. Bette Davis isn't especially convincing in this, you get the impression that Warners just put her in this unimportant little feature to give her some experience. Watching her in this, one can understand why she hated her early works, maybe it wasn't the films which were bad, maybe she just wasn't that good yet.
Guy Kibbee is usually a lovely addition to any motion picture but in this, his character is too stupid to take seriously. Zanuck's theme of his satire is to show how spin, corruption and shady deals can result in a complete idiot being elected to high office but it's hard to believe that anyone this unbelievably ridiculous could become a senior politician. The comedy is very childish and doesn't fit into what could have been a sophisticated political satire.
Such an approach resulted in a few classics, a few duds but mainly a lot of mediocre movies. THE DARK HORSE is one of those mediocre offerings but despite of this it's still just about entertaining. There's a warm, cosy familiarity of these old WB films; when you've seen a few, you feel you know these actors and want to see what 'your friends' have been up to. THE DARK HORSE is hardly memorable, nobody would ever call this a good film but WB films from this era are strangely addictive and this, being a typical Warner Brothers will certainly give you your 'fix.'
Warren William as usual, plays Warren William and as always, he is excellent doing what he does. Bette Davis isn't especially convincing in this, you get the impression that Warners just put her in this unimportant little feature to give her some experience. Watching her in this, one can understand why she hated her early works, maybe it wasn't the films which were bad, maybe she just wasn't that good yet.
Guy Kibbee is usually a lovely addition to any motion picture but in this, his character is too stupid to take seriously. Zanuck's theme of his satire is to show how spin, corruption and shady deals can result in a complete idiot being elected to high office but it's hard to believe that anyone this unbelievably ridiculous could become a senior politician. The comedy is very childish and doesn't fit into what could have been a sophisticated political satire.