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Grandad of Races

8 votes

Grandad of Races is a 1950 American short documentary film about the Palio di Siena held in the Piazza del Campo in Siena, directed by André de la Varre. It won an Oscar at the 23rd Academy Awards in 1951 for Best Short Subject.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1950-09-02

Runtime: 9 mins

Director: André de la Varre

Writer: Charles L. Tedford

Spoken language: English

Genres: Documentary

Original title: Grandad of Races

Production Companies: Warner Bros. Pictures

Production Countries: United States of America

Cast

Narrator

Art Gilmore

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Evolving from a festival that featured gladiators and ox-racing, this short feature showcases the horse racing on Siena’s Piazza del Campo. With some forty thousand folks assembled on it’s square from each of this city’s competing districts, there are qualifying races with bareback riders mounted on horses specially trained for the occasion before the carnival atmosphere reaches it’s tumultuous and colourful conclusion and a final race to attain the coveted victory banner. It’s standard newsreel type coverage, but it does manage to capture some of the excitement of this event as some harlequin-costumed citizenry parade, the church does some equine blessing and the flags wave as the crowds become louder and more enthusiastic. It also shows off the architecture of the city to good effect, and all it really needs is a few chariots.

2025-11-30

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