Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Riding to Win

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Directed by
  
Eric Harrison

Written by
  
Eric Harrison

Director
  
Eric Harrison

Producer
  
Eric Harrison

Produced by
  
Eric Harrison

Initial release
  
29 October 1923 (Sydney)

Screenplay
  
Eric Harrison

Starring
  
Squizzy Taylor Ida Pender

Production company
  
Eric Harrison Photoplays

Release date
  
29 October 1923 (Sydney) 3 March 1925 (Brisbane)

Cast
  
Squizzy Taylor, Ida Pender

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.

Contents

It is considered a lost film.

Plot

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.

Production

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.

Reception

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". Eventually Harrison obtained a release for the movie in under the title of Bound to Win in Sydney in 1923 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.

Taylor died in a gunfight in 1927.

References

Riding to Win Wikipedia