All-American Soap Box Derby (1936)

★★★★ · All-American Soap Box Derby · Christine Hennig · 2003-04-27

General Motors sponsored this film, as well as the derby, which was supposed to be a tribute to the "All-American Boy." The bombastic narration lends a campy air to the proceedings, which is good, because otherwise they'd be pretty dull, especially the awards banquet at the end. Campy moments include the opening montage of "friendly competition," which goes from friendly games of marbles on to progressively more aggressive sports, such as football, wrestling, and boxing, all while the narrator expounds on how this builds character; the closing montage of faces of boys dissolving into each…

★★★★ · All Hail The Boys! · Spuzz · 2002-12-21

Wonderfully patriotic soap box derby short which features the 1936 races. Plenty of exciting races is blended well with the almost drooling narration, which is somewhat perverse in it's passion for the 'boy'. Great scenes of other boys playing sports too, such as tug of war, football and a great boxing scene. Reccomended.