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Riding to Win

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Riding to Win/Bound to Win
Directed byEric Harrison[1]
Written byEric Harrison
Produced byEric Harrison
StarringSquizzy Taylor
Ida Pender
Production
company
Eric Harrison Photoplays
Release dates
  • 29 October 1923 (1923-10-29) (Sydney)[2][3]
  • 3 March 1925 (1925-03-03) (Brisbane)[4]
Running time
4,500 feet (under an hour)[5][1]
CountryAustralia
LanguagesSilent film
English intertitles

Riding to Win is an Australian comedy drama silent film starring Australian gangster Squizzy Taylor and his girlfriend Ida Pender. Made in 1922 it was banned by the Victorian censor but obtained release in Sydney and Brisbane under the title Bound to Win.[6][7]

It is considered a lost film.

Plot

[edit]

A heroic jockey (Taylor) saves his girlfriend (Pender), the daughter of a horse trainer, from a criminal gang determined to stop him from riding the race favourite to win in the Eclipse Steeplechase.[1]

Cast

[edit]
  • Squizzy Taylor

Production

[edit]

At the peak of Squizzy Taylor's fame, he was contacted by producer-director Eric Harrison who convinced Taylor and his then-girlfriend Pender to star in a sporting comedy drama which would exploit Taylor's experience as a jockey. Shooting took place in 1922 in Melbourne, with scenes shot at Caulfield and Moonee Valley. The working title was In Emergency Colours.[5]

Harrison had worked for JC Williamson.[8]

Taylor announced he had signed with American companies.[9]

Reception

[edit]

The film was banned from public screening by Victorian censor on the basis it was "representing two persons who figured recently in Criminal Court proceedings".[10] Everyones reported in 1922 that:

When Eric Harrison decided to exploit .Melbourne's elusive member of the underworld—“Squizzy” Taylor—the wiseheads declared that he would never be able to go through with it. Heeding not the words of wisdom, Eric took a chance with “in Emergency Colors” and had almost finished when the word came through that the Legislature had decided to forbid the screening of the film.In all probability the used celluloid will immediately be relegated to the scrap heap, which, after all, is said and done, seems to be a most appropriate place for it.[11]

In April 1923 the censor insisted it be cut to 2,300 feet.[12]

Eventually Harrison obtained a release for the movie in under the title of Bound to Win in Sydney in 1923[3] and Brisbane in 1925. It is not known how well the film performed financially although a contemporary newspaper report claimed "large numbers of people visited" the Majestic Theatre to see the Brisbane premiere.[4]

Taylor died in a gunfight in 1927.[13]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Advertising", Everyones., Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 11 October 1922, nla.obj-560719634, retrieved 27 August 2024 – via Trove
  2. ^ "Advertising". The Evening News. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 29 October 1923. p. 10. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Advertising". The Arrow. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 2 November 1923. p. 2. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  4. ^ a b "MAJESTIC". The Brisbane Courier. National Library of Australia. 4 March 1925. p. 19. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  5. ^ a b Tenille Hands, "Squizzy Taylor, the reel-life gang-star", National Film and Sound Archive accessed 5 September 2013
  6. ^ Chris McConville, 'Taylor, Joseph Leslie (Squizzy) (1888–1927)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University accessed 5 September 2013
  7. ^ "Movie Actors' Union Proposed.", Everyones., Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 1 November 1922, nla.obj-560831777, retrieved 27 August 2024 – via Trove
  8. ^ ""In Emergency Colors."", Everyones., Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 11 October 1922, nla.obj-560720044, retrieved 27 August 2024 – via Trove
  9. ^ "Will the Authorities Stand For This?", Everyones., Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 27 September 1922, nla.obj-560696179, retrieved 27 August 2024 – via Trove
  10. ^ "A PROHIBITED PICTURE". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 3 November 1922. p. 14. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  11. ^ ""Squizzy Taylor Film Barred.", Everyones., Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 25 October 1922, nla.obj-560851623, retrieved 27 August 2024 – via Trove
  12. ^ ""Squizzy" Taylor Fi[?]", Everyones, Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 4 April 1923, nla.obj-561903434, retrieved 27 August 2024 – via Trove
  13. ^ "How "Squizzy" Taylor". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 3 December 1949. p. 28 Supplement: The Argus Week-End Magazine. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
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