The Program

The tale of Seabiscuit, a small-framed, wobbly-kneed contender who persevered through adversity to become a champion racehorse, has become something of an American legend. The name itself has become synonymous with your classic underdog, rags-to-riches success stories. And why not? These types of tales resonate pretty strongly with most audiences; witness all the love for similarly-themed films like Rocky, The Karate Kid, Rudy, The Bad News Bears, etc.. We like seeing the little guy take his knocks and still emerge victorious.

More recently, Seabiscuit's tale has become a summer movie hit, thanks to the 2003 film of the same name starring Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, and Chris Cooper. But back in 1949, Seabiscuit's story was examined in a Shirley Temple vehicle entitled The Story of Seabiscuit. That is to say, Seabiscuit's underdog travails were featured in the film, but the intrepid horse takes a backseat to a plodding and wholly contrived plot concerning Margaret O'Hara (Temple) and her uncle Shawn (Barry Fitzgerald), an Irish girl and her uncle who come over to America to continue nursing school and train horses, respectively. Shawn believes in Seabiscuit as a potential champion, despite the ridicule from pretty much everyone around him. Margaret's brother was killed in a race, and she is loath to see her potential love interest (and racer) Ted Knowles (Lon McCallister) hit the circuit.

I have never been much into horses, or horse racing, or jockeys, or even Portuguese codfish, and I'm not one to enjoy such subject matter in films. Historical inaccuracies (or just plain fictitious events) aside, The Story of Seabiscuit does little to change my mind. The story is slow, meandering, and does little to engage the viewer. Shirley Temple, an adult in this film, was as lovely as any starlet of her era, and Barry Fitzgerald gives what is undoubtedly a spirited and winning performance in a mostly lifeless film. People have raved about the film's racing scenes, and while I admit they are moderately enjoyable they do little to salvage what is a rather uninvolving movie.

The DVD

Video:

There is nothing – nothing – like a movie filmed in the vibrant era of the early Technicolor age. Unfortunately, the video presentation in The Story of Seabiscuit is somewhat problematic from start to finish. The movie is presented in its original full-frame theatrical aspect ratio. There is a severe amount of print defects on this transfer, including scratches, marks, debris, and wear. The stock footage employed in this film displays the most wear, but even to a minor extent these problems are evident throughout the majority of the film. The Technicolor presentation displays a solid but somewhat muted color scheme. There is noticeable bleeding in high-contrast scenes, while flesh tones appear somewhat off throughout the picture. (The Santa Anita Park scenes were filmed in black-and-white to match the stock footage of the time.) Actualized levels of grain structure are evident throughout the picture. Brightness and contrast levels are accurate and well rendered. Compression noise, pixelation, and other transfer artifacts are non-existent. Short of a full-scale restoration, the movie probably looks as good as it possibly could, but the issues are there nonetheless.

Audio:

The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 1.0, and is a fairly accurate mono reproduction of the soundtrack. No noticeable audio defects were detected, although I did notice dialog levels tended to be a little lower than expected. Distortion, hiss, and clipping are not evident. Orchestrations sound fine if boxed-in due to the inherent limitations of the source material.

Extras:

A Day at Holllywood Park is a nine-minute short film, and is a non-fiction look behind-the-scenes at the famed horserace park. I found it to be more interesting than The Story of Seabiscuit. Also included are the film's Theatrical Trailer and a Cast & Crew list.

Final Thoughts

Maybe I'm not the intended audience for this film, as horse racing doesn't engender a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings in me. Of course, I'm not much of a boxing fan but I love Raging Bull. Your mileage may vary. Nonetheless, even if you are a fan of horseracing, there's very little that's compelling or worthwhile about The Story of Seabiscuit , save for maybe the actual footage of the famed horse incorporated into the film. The presentation of the film is spotty, and the extras do not really amount to anything that I could recommend. For hardcore fans only, and even then I'd recommend a rental first.