Although far from the real story of the Kentucky Derby winner Black Gold, this very first film released under the banner of Allied Artists the newly reconstituted Monogram Pictures was an important one for its star Anthony Quinn. It was the very first time that Quinn got top billing in any film. It was also a family project as it starred Quinn's first wife as well Katharine DeMille. They play an Indian couple on a reservation, he an illiterate happy go lucky cuss who has an itch to wander and she a reservation educated person. The two complement each other beautifully on screen.

And he happens to own a thoroughbred mare who through a combination of circumstances gets mated to a champion stallion. The mare dies, but the result is a colt named Black Gold. The Quinn's adopted Chinese immigrant son Ducky Louie becomes his jockey.

Black Gold's story, the real one, was given us by another reviewer and maybe that film should be made by a bigger studio and maybe it will some day. As for this one for a Monogram Picture it had for them probably a big budget. They even splurged for color. But the Quinns and Ducky Louie really put this film over as fine family entertainment. And I'm a sucker for a good racetrack story every time.

Is it a crime for classic movies, or any movie, to use sentiment and sweetness to tell its story? I frankly wish there were more in this slowly decaying world of ours. Cynicism is a slow killer, so when I see a story like this, it gives me a sigh of relief that I haven't quite fallen over to the dark side. I wish more films had the courage to show those nationalities in a kinder light, and unfortunately, the natives who were here before the European arrivals turned nature upside down and forgot about the beauty of the world outside its modernization.

Anthony Quinn is a very spiritual man, away from home when he meets orphaned Chinese teen Dickie Louie. Embittered over the white man's murder of his father, Louie can't even bear to eat until Quinn tells him his own dealings with the white man. Quinn has learned that peace only comes from forgiveness, and he also knows that for every evil white man are ten good ones.

Happily married to the gorgeous Katherine DeMille (Quinn's real life wife at the time),Quinn brings Louie home, and makes him their ward. Sadly, Louie finds nothing but prejudice, ridiculed for being Chinese as he attempts to start school, and instead skips. Teacher Elyse Knox shows up and promises that things will be different. Unfortunately, the script overlooks Louie returning to school, basically giving the assumption that Knox worked on educating Louie's harasser, played by Darryl Hickman.

The remainder of the film shows how Quinn and DeMille adopt Louie and how Quinn influences him in his love of horses. Quinn strikes it rich with oil found on his property but a chance in his financial situation isn't a cause for celebration. The white men who earlier treated him as second class come around, and it is obvious that it isn't his character which impresses them but his sudden bankroll. Tragedy strikes the family, and it is up to Louie to show that dignity and grace come from rising above the odds and that the so-called "little man" can be just as worthy as the so-called big men.

Outstanding performances by Quinn, De Mille and especially Louie make this a wonderful sleeper, a rare "A" picture from the studio formerly known as Monogram. The Cinecolor process really stands out here, having been tested in such films as " The Enchanted Forest" and a version of "Black Beauty". Treat your family to a real reminder of what life really can be like with God's world as your backyard, and life's many other problems fall into perspective.

If you pretend that this movie has nothing to do with the real 1924 Kentucky Derby winner Black Gold or his Cherokee connections, you probably won't hate it. Black Gold was a real horse, owned by Rosa Hoots (Rosa being a Cherokee from the Oklahoma reservations). Her husband Al's dream was to breed his mare to one of the finest stallions in Kentucky, but he died before achieving it. His wife, who became wealthy as part of her share in the Cherokee's oil wealth, honored his wishes and the resultant foal was named Black Gold after the oil. Black Gold was most famous for winning the fiftieth anniversary of the Kentucky Derby. His jockey was not a Chinese immigrant but an American-born Irish rider named J.D. Mooney. His trainer was a man named Webb. After Black Gold proved a failure at stud he was brought back to racing at age six, where he broke down and had to be euthanized. Webb swore he ran the horse in good faith, thinking he was not so injured he would hurt himself. The truth of this is open to debate. The film's portrayal was considered so negative by the real connections they initially refused to speak to author Marguerite Henry when she was researching her 1957 book. The book wound up the inverse of the movie, highly favorable to all characters. It would be nice to have this on DVD to be able to compare. The horse's true story is likely in between.