It’s Superbowl Sunday and today’s Sunday Matinee pays tribute to one of the all time great football players, Harold “Red” Grange aka The Galloping Ghost.
Grange started playing for the Chicago Bears in 1925 and help legitimize the then newly formed NFL football league. Despite having no acting skills, Grange made the leap to the big screen in 1926 with One Minute to Play, a silent movie about football. Grange made another silent movie Racing Romeo in 1927. In 1931 he made his first and last sound film, the Mascot Productions serial The Galloping Ghost.
Grange plays as himself in the serial. The plot has Grange getting kicked off the college football team that he plays for after he’s framed for taking a bribe to throw a game. To clear his name Grange goes after the people responsible. The movie is OK, the stunts are good, Grange actually did most of his own stunts but the acting is just terrible at times. At least there’s a villainous brain surgeon in the film.
Footage of the serial seems scarce all of sudden. It is available on DVD but Grange’s acting is really bad so here is some highlights of Grange doing what he does best. Playing football.
