DbcultAccessing Vault...
5.7/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.7/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Sport Parade remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have seventy minutes to spare tonight and want to see Joel McCrea looking incredibly athletic in trousers that are way too tight, The Sport Parade is absolutely worth your time.
People who love messy 1930s pre-code dramas with fast talking and zero moral hand-wringing will have a blast with this. But if you are looking for a deep, polished sports movie that takes itself seriously, you are going to hate it within ten minutes.
It starts off at Dartmouth where McCrea and William Gargan are best friends who win every sport imaginable. They graduate, and instead of getting nice jobs, they immediately realize that nobody cares about college heroes in the real world.
This was a big theme in movies back then. If you've seen The All-American from the same year, you know exactly how this story goes.
But while that other film went the football route, this one takes a weird detour into the world of professional wrestling. Yes, really.
McCrea gets lured into the ring because he needs the cash, and the movie suddenly turns into this bizarre exposé of how fake wrestling is. The wrestling matches are hilarious to watch now.
The guys they get to play the wrestlers look like actual giant thumbs dressed in wool swimsuits. There is one scene where McCrea gets thrown out of the ring, and the sound effect for him hitting the floor is just this dull, empty thud that made me laugh out loud.
Also, the crowd extras look completely bored. You can see a guy in the third row literally yawning during what is supposed to be the dramatic climax of the match.
One of the main reasons to watch this is Robert Benchley, who also helped write the script. He plays a sports writer who is basically lubricated by alcohol for the entire runtime.
His delivery is so dry and natural compared to the theatrical shouting of everyone else. He has this one bit on a microphone where he just sort of mumbles his way through a broadcast, and it feels like it belongs in a movie made thirty years later.
Marian Marsh is the love interest here, and she is fine, I guess. She mostly just exists to look disappointed whenever McCrea takes his shirt off for money.
There is this oddly specific moment where she is holding a telephone, and she holds it so far from her ear that you wonder if she can actually hear the other actor. It is one of those tiny things you notice when you watch these old films too closely.
The whole thing wraps up so fast you might get whiplash. The plot just sort of stops happening, and suddenly there is a happy ending that doesn't really feel earned at all.
But honestly, who cares? It is fast, it is goofy, and McCrea is just so incredibly charming even when his character is being a dummy.
Give it a shot if you want something short and lively. Just don't expect a masterpiece.
IMDb 6.2
1932
Community
Log in to comment.
