Atta Boy's Last Race on AllMovie

With this lineup -- the star was Dorothy Gish, the director was George Siegmann, who got his training under D.W. Griffith, and the screenwriter was another Griffith protégé, Tod Browning -- one would assume this picture might have something special to offer. But, in spite of Gish's lighthearted charm, it fell flat, primarily because the story was so musty. In fact, it can pretty much be guessed by its title -- there's the horse race (actually there are two), the mortgage held in balance by Atta Boy's ability to win, causing the damsel much distress, etc., etc. The film's one bright moment -and perhaps this is where the Griffith influence comes in to play -- is when the camera, instead of shooting the horse race from a static position, keeps pace with the running horses as Atta Boy comes up from behind. In the mid-1910s, something as simple as a moving camera added spice to a motion picture.