Home in Indiana Reviews

Heartfelt story about Sparke Thorton (Lon McCallister), a city kid who goes to live in the country with his aunt and uncle (Charlotte Greenwood and Walter Brennan), a pair of semi-retired horse breeders with only one trotter left on their farm. Char (Jeanne Crain) and Cri-Cri (June Haver) are the two local lovelies who show Sparke another side of country living (swimming holes and jitterbugging, primarily--this is the 1940s). With the help of his uncle and the handyman (Willie Best), Sparke decides to raise a filly and become a champion sulky racer himself. This is a cheerful, upbeat film with some nice location work on the racetracks of Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. The sequence wherein the filly is born is sensitively handled and quite effective. The young actors handle their roles well, while the seasoned performers give nice support in their background roles, and Henry Hathaway's direction keeps things rolling along nicely. The film earned an Oscar nomination for its cinematography.