High Gear

High Gear
1933 - Goldsmith Productions
Directed By Leigh Jason



SYNOPSIS

big time race car driver Mark 'High Gear' Sherrod (James Murray) loses his nerve following a crash that killed his racing partner Ed. Sherrod decided to honor his memory by sending Ed's son Jimmy (Jackie Searl) to a military academy that the boy wanted to attend. Unable to drive a race car, Sherrod becomes a taxi driver, which he hides from his new girlfriend (Joan Marsh.)



MY THOUGHTS

Dead god, where do I begin?

The movie shows promise to be about race cars. Apart from the crash near the beginning and the very end of the film do we see any in action. Stuffed in between is a pedestrian and uninteresting schmaltzy story.

James Murray was an adequate hero but he looks and acts so much like Dick Powell that I took an instant dislike to him.

Joan Marsh was the least-offending actor in the film. She's cute and plays her part well.

Jackie Searl never achieved the big stardom of a Jackie Cooper or Freddie Bartholomew, though he often played supporting roles in their films and was quite good. He's not here, but with the dialogue he was given it's clear the screenwriters were never children. Searl and the other kids in the film seemingly had to say "golly"or "swell" in every line of dialogue. It's hard to be good when you've got nothing but crap to say.

Eddie Lambert plays the over-the-top Jewish immigrant stereotype. He's the Jar Jar Binks of the film. He's completely annoying the entire time but without him, the film would be a complete dreadful bore filled with uninteresting characters.

The direction, cinematography, editing, music and all aspects of the film show a real half-assed effort.
High Gear looks like it was made for next to nothing by a fly-by-night production company, and it probably was.