Ahead of the new episode of the "House of Hammer" podcast, I watched the 1936 movie "Sporting Love" on Youtube. This is the first time I've watched the movie ahead of the podcast, and not the other way round as I thought it might be interesting not to have my opinion coloured by the hosts, prior to seeing it.
Two brothers, Percy (Stanley Lupino) and Peter Brace (Laddie Cliff) are desperate to avoid their creditors in order to stay in the Horse Racing business. If they can keep their main creditor at bay until the day of the Epsom Derby, they might be able to make enough to pay off everyone - but their schemes and lies are all coming home to roost and they boys have to pretend to be married to convince their rich aunt (Clarissa Selwynne) to give them some money.
The version available on Youtube that I watched was a 46-minute cut, some twenty minutes less than the original release. Without knowing exactly where those cuts came it's difficult to judge the impact of them, but from a plot point of view, I felt I understood what was happening. The editing is occasionally a little choppy, but the film does employ a wide range of transitional techniques and actually uses the cutting for some jokes at the start of Epsom day.
I can't say I've ever heard of Stanley Lupino, but his double act with Cliff here reminded me a little of Abbot and Costello, although with neither acting as the straight man. I found some of the lines of dialogue and the witticisms have held up pretty well, and I chuckled to myself a couple of times. There was also some physical slapstick style comedy, which is less my taste, but still was well done. The dance scenes I could have done without and the more serious of the two songs could have gone for me too, but as a farce it was lightweight and fun and I rather enjoyed it.
