In July 1940 David Butler was taking technicolor footage of Seabiscuit for a film called
Blood Will Tell for RKO. This included footage of Seabiscuit's win at Santa Anita against Kayak after Seabiscuit had recovered from a ruptured suspensory ligament. The cast was to include
Lucille Ball,
Edna May Oliver and
Leon Errol.
Dick Powell was going to play the lead then
John Wayne; the title was changed to
True to Form. Wayne fell out and
Randolph Scott and
James Craig were considered for the film. Eventually it was not made. Butler was friends with Charles Howard. A common friend, Phil Hall, told Butler that Howard was ill and would love to see a film made out of Seabiscuit. Butler approached Jack Warner, who was a horse owner, and pitched the project, saying Barry Fitzgerald would be ideal for the role of Tom Smith the trainer. In August 1947
Warner Bros. Pictures announced they had done a deal with C. S. Howard, owner of the horse, to make
The Story of Seabiscuit. Butler would direct in color from a scenario which included material from Howard. Butler got John Traintor Foote, who wrote the horse riding film
Kentucky, to write the script. In November the studio said Foote had written a script and that Barry Fitzgerald would play the lead alongside
Geraldine Brooks, with
William Jacobs to produce and filming to begin in December. However filming was delayed and Brooks dropped out. In March 1949, Shirley Temple and Lon McAllister were signed to co star alongside Fitzgerald, and the title was
Always Sweethearts. The same month Warners completed a deal with RKO worth a reported $25,000 for the 10,000 feet of color footage of Seabiscuit shot in 1940. The bulk of the film was shot at Northridge Farms, a development established by
Barbara Stanwyck and her then agent
Zeppo Marx, then sold to a syndicate. According to one report the Farm is "used pretty generally when Hollywood is trying to look like the blue grass country of Kentucky." It was also shot at Santa Anita, Burns Park and Burns Ranch in Woodland Hills. The part of the film where Seabiscuit races War Admiral was shown in black and white because Butler could only source black and white news footage of that race. Butler says a copy of the finished film was sent to Howard in Hawaii. "He was very sick there, but he got a big kick out of it", said Butler. "That was one of the nicest things that ever happened to him." The film's title was changed from
Always Sweethearts to
The Story of Seabiscuit. ==Reception==