Riding High

RIDING HIGH is Frank Capra's remake of his own 1934 film Broadway Bill (AKA Strictly Confidential), in which romance and comedy play out against the backdrop of thoroughbred horse racing. Real-life racing enthusiast Bing Crosby takes over Warner Baxter's starring role from the earlier film (Baxter was admittedly skittish about horses) and lends greater emotional resonance--as well as a few musical sequences--to the lighthearted story of a wealthy businessman who abandons his privileged lifestyle in favor of racing horses. While Coleen Gray replaces Myrna Loy as co-star, most of the original cast members reprise their supporting roles--including Clarence Muse, Raymond Walburn, Margaret Hamilton, and Douglass Dumbrille--and Oliver Hardy appears without Stan Laurel in a memorable cameo.