The Return of October (1948)

Director:

Joseph H. Lewis

Writers:

Karen DeWolf (story)
Melvin Frank (writer)

Release Date:

26 October 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Horse

Cast

Glenn Ford	...	Prof. Bentley 'Bass' Bassett Jr.
Terry Moore	...	Terry Ramsey
Albert Sharpe	...	Vince the Tout
James Gleason	...	Uncle Willie Ramsey
Dame May Whitty	...	Aunt Martha Grant
Henry O'Neill	...	President Hotchkiss
Frederic Tozere	...	Mitchell
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Judge Northridge
Nana Bryant	...	Cousin Therese
Lloyd Corrigan	...	Attorney Dutton
Roland Winters	...	Colonel Wood
Stephen Dunne	...	Prof. Stewart
Highland Dale	...	The Horse
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dick Elliott	...	Undetermined Role (scenes deleted)
Eddy Waller	...	Undetermined Role (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

A Date with Destiny (UK)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Santa Anita Park - 285 West Huntington Drive, Arcadia, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

last film of Dame May Whitty.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Soundman (1950)

"Ahh, don't be a schnookle!"

Pleasing piece of yesteryear, a whimsical, contrived, and often extremely silly comedy from (of all people) director Joseph H. Lewis. Terry Moore is brash and appealing playing a headstrong, stubborn eighteen-year old girl facing a sanity hearing after her boyfriend, a campus psychologist, publishes a paper detailing her 'delusional' belief that a racehorse named October is her beloved deceased uncle come back to life; her relatives, greedy sorts who have been cut out of the last will of the lass's eccentric aunt, hope to put the kid away, but all she really wants is to race the horse in the Kentucky Derby! Typically overstuffed screenplay by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank has lots of lickety-split talk, a courtroom sequence played at breakneck speed, but much affection for its characters as well. Moore, with her red hair, wide eyes and fashionable jodhpurs, looks like Nicole Kidman's sassy kid sister; she often struggles with her reactions, and she's so alert that at times she appears to be staring blankly, however she acquits herself nicely with this role, and her romantic scenes with Glenn Ford are sweetly screwball. The big race finale isn't given the same care as the rest of the picture (it's pushed along and then cut a bit short), but then this isn't a teary, sentimental piece and the sub-plots are neatly tied up. Good fun! **1/2 from ****