''Two Thoroughbreds'' is a 1939 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Jack Hively Jack Hively (September 5, 1910 – December 19, 1995) was an American film editor and film and television director whose career lasted from the 1930s through the 1980s. His father and his brother were also film editors. He began as a film editor ...

, written by

Joseph Fields Joseph Albert Fields (February 21, 1895 – March 4, 1966)According to the State of California. ''California Death Index, 1940–1997''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, Californiaancestry.com/ ...

and Jerome Cady, and starring

Jimmy Lydon James Joseph Lydon (May 30, 1923 – March 9, 2022) was an American actor and television producer whose career in the entertainment industry began as a teenager during the 1930s. Early life Lydon was born in Harrington Park, New Jersey on May 3 ...

Joan Leslie Joan Leslie (born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel; January 26, 1925 – October 12, 2015) was an American actress and vaudevillian, who during the Hollywood Golden Age, appeared in such films as '' High Sierra'' (1941), ''Sergeant York'' (1941) ...

Arthur Hohl Arthur Hohl (May 21, 1889 – March 10, 1964) was an American stage and motion-picture character actor. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and began appearing in films in the early 1920s. He played a great number of villainous or mildly la ...

, J.M. Kerrigan,

Marjorie Main Mary Tomlinson (February 24, 1890 – April 10, 1975), professionally known as Marjorie Main, was an American character actress and singer of the Classical Hollywood period, best known as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s and 1 ...

, Selmer Jackson and

Spencer Charters Spencer Charters (March 25, 1875 – January 25, 1943) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 220 films between 1920 and 1943, mostly in small supporting roles. Biography Charters was born in Duncannon, Pennsylvania. Until ...

. It was released on December 8, 1939, by RKO Pictures.

Plot

When thieves steal Larkspur, a prize thoroughbred brood mare, from the Conway ranch, her foal runs after her and is found by David Carey, an orphan who lives with his heartless aunt Hildegarde and uncle Thad. The lonely David befriends the colt, whom he names Sunset, and convinces his brutal uncle to let him keep the animal, arguing that they can reap a reward from selling the horse. While visiting the Conway ranch in search of advice about raising his horse, David is befriended by Jack Lenihan, the stablemaster, who offers the boy a job in exchange for special food for his colt. When Bill Conway and his daughter Wendy return to the ranch from the East, David realizes that Sunset is their missing foal. As David struggles with his conscience over returning the colt, his cruel uncle harnesses Sunset to a plow and beats the animal. To save the horse, Wendy offers to buy him and then realizes that he is Larkspur's missing colt. Wendy offers David a job as stableboy on the ranch, but David refuses out of guilt and decides to run away. He bids Sunset farewell, but the horse gallops after him and breaks a leg while trying to jump a fence. David begs the Conways to spare the injured horse and, to save Sunset's life, confesses that the animal is their missing horse. Touched by David's confession, Conway convinces the skeptical vet, Dr. Purdy, to use an experimental cast on the horse's broken leg, and after a shaky start, Sunset makes a miraculous recovery.

Cast

References

External links

* 1939 films 1939 drama films American drama films American black-and-white films Films scored by Roy Webb Films about horses RKO Pictures films Films produced by Cliff Reid Films directed by Jack Hively 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{1930s-drama-film-stub