TIP ON A DEAD JOCKEY

US, 1957, 107 minutes, Colour.
Robert Taylor, Dorothy Malone, Gia Scala, Marcel Dalio, Jack Lord.
Directed by Richard Thorpe.

Tip on a Dead Jockey is a satisfactory crime melodrama with popular stars of the 50's and the glamour and style of the times. It is a bit slow in starting but gains interest.

Robert Taylor is his usual self in a story that makes him take hold of himself on issues like marriage, friendship, fear, smuggling. His scene where he has to start flying again is probably the best.

Made for the average audience.

1. Is there any point behind this film or is it merely a fashionable crime adventure story?

2. What is the attitude of the film towards marriage, love and divorce? Note the contract of the two marriages, the two heroes and the place of a child in the marriage?

3. Why had the hero broken down? Why did he want a divorce? Of whom was he thinking, himself or his wife?

4. What comment did this breakdown make on the worries and responsibilities of war?

5. Discus the reasons why the hero finally decided to take on the smuggling job. Were they adequate?

6. The scene where he cannot bring himself to take off, yet finally does. What happened to him during that sequence? What was necessary for him to overcome his fears?

7. How moral and legal was the solution to the smuggling problem?

8. The smuggler was evil and showed it. He was involved in the fall of the horse during the race and the death of the jockey? Is this all the title of the film was referring to?