An American western musical directed by Joseph Kane, starring Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette.
A ranch foreman averts disaster in mixed up dealings over land and sheep between a rancher who is out for money and innocent college girls who have just moved in.
The complex plot was followable, but not as clearly presented as I would have liked. The characters were identifiable, but stereotypical of the genre and time. Audio and video as expected. The only thing to note is Smiley Burnette's repeated use of low vocals during his songs. I rate it poor because I just didn't like it.
An American western musical directed by Joseph Kane, starring Roy Rogers and George "Gabby" Hayes.
A singing cowboy and his sidekick help a woman who owns a mine to summon businessmen to visit and hopefully invest in the enterprise. A city gangster poses as one of the cowboys in their riding gang and a kidnapping of the businessmen and hero cowboys takes place.
This was pretty standard. Plot, characters, audio and video as expected. The only thing to note is the live musical performance and wild dancing of a pair of kids. I rate it tolerable.
An American western directed by Joseph Kane, starring Roy Rogers, Smiley Burnette, Trigger and John Carradine.
A newspaper woman and her secretary are sent by her boss to marry an unknown and wealthy man who owns land in the country in order to get a "hot story". When they arrive, they find that the man is corrupt and she befriends a singing cowboy, with the secretary befriending the cowboy's sidekick. Together, the team work to expose the corrupt businessman and his gang and secure land raights to allow a railroad to be built.
The complex plot was clearly communicated and most of the characters were easily identifiable. The pacing was really fast to fit all of this into 53 minutes and the style was standard for '40s westerns. The audio and video were decent and clear enough to not cause problems. There were some really good action scenes involving men, horses, wagons and cars in which I noticed good camera-work. Overall, not too shabby. I rate it o.k.
An American western directed by Joseph Kane, starring Roy Rogers and George "Gabby" Hayes.
A cowboy sheriff impersonates a corrupt sheriff to expose the leaders of a town as criminals.
This was pretty much what I've come to expect. Some vagueness of plot and few clearly defined characters, lo-fi audio and video that are still audible and can be seen. there were not many musical numbers in this one. Because it blends in with the crowd so well, I will rate it tolerable.
An American western musical directed by Joseph Kane, starring Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette.
A cowboy in Texas gets a letter from his brother who is mining diamonds in Africa. The American brother rounds up the horses requested and goes to Africa in search of his brother.
This was pretty standard. The plot and characters were clearly communicated and there was plenty of music and comic relief. All of the songs were diegetic, but seemed to be from pre-recorded audio with actors miming and lip synching. It just boggles my mind how few actual music performances there are in movies. The audio and video were standard for the date, but clear enough to pass my inspection. Overall, it's a standard 1937 western musical with Gene Autry. What other description would be necessary? I rate it o.k.
An American musical western directed by Joseph Kane, starring Roy Rogers.
A group of border patrol cowboy/soldiers detain a woman who is supposed to cross the Mexican border to marry a man who owns a mine there.
This just seemed very old to me. The plot was a little vague or murky in some areas, but the main characters were clearly identifiable and easy to keep track of. The audio and video were very old and not the best, but not bad. There was one scene where I noticed good directing. The male lead duo were getting on their horses in unison and I thought it looked cool. The songs were good, with the exception of the intro "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" which I found annoying. Overall, pretty standard and blends into the crowd of old westerns I've been watching. I rate it tolerable.
An American western directed by Joseph Kane, starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette and Kay Hughes.
A Texas ranger shows up with his team to help the military protect a supply train. He finds that he is in direct competition with a military leader who is unwilling to accept help and a group of indians who are counting on one of the military men to leave the supplies unguarded.
I noticed the silent film style speeded up fight scenes and the comic relief characters most when I watched this. The plot was clearly communicated and characters identifiable. They fit into standard western roles, but that seemed to work out just fine. The black and white video was a little bit blurry/grainy and the audio was primitive, but I saw and heard everything that was going on. The pacing was very quick all the way through and barely slowed down at all. The humorous elements contained an indian chasing a ranger to scalp him and a weathered old trail hand who used snuff to cause others to sneeze. I'm rating this o.k. because I've seen much better and much worse.
An American musical comedy western directed by Joseph Kane, starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette and Ann Rutherford.
A cowboy hunts a gang of outlaws who are using technology to steal cattle.
This was actually pretty cool. In the first scene, there was a cowboy riding backwards with a mask on the back of his head to look out behind him. We got awesome camera angles in a chase scene and creative editing during Smiley's song about the detective in which he changes costumes. The music was that hokey old honky-tonk style that I like so much and there was a gag with two men in a cow costume attracting the attention of a bull. If you're looking for a western of the 53 minute variety, this is it. I rate it good.
An American western directed by David Howard and Joseph Kane, starring George Gabby Hayes, with a musical appearence by Gene Autry.
A cowboy and his sidekick are run off the road by a woman driving her car. She crashes as well and catches a ride on a passing stagecoach while the duo tow the car to town for her. The men from the stagecoach are villains who trick the cowboy's sidekick into gambling everything the duo owns on a horse race that the villains are planning to cheat at. The cowboy will not give up his horse until he finds who is responsible for injuring it and making him lose the race.
This was pretty standard for old westerns. The plot was easy to follow and the characters easy to keep track of. The audio and video were very primitive, but not bad. Gene Autry's musical numbers came as a set of 3 performed in a dance hall at about the halfway point of the film. Wikipedia identifies this as a screentest for singing cowboys that was successful. If you look closely, you will notice that Autry has a fretboard inlay of his name on the guitar. Overall, this was a very standard western of the time. It may have been a formative film in the singing cowboy genre, but 81 years later, it just seems to fit in with that crowd. I rate it o.k.
An American western musical directed by Joseph Kane, starring Roy Rogers.
A singing cowboy is accused of wrongdoing that he did not do and is imprisoned in the basement of a wealthy landowner. The landowner is about to let him out to hear his story when the landowner is shot. Thinking that the cowboy is now a murderer, the landowner's son chases him as harriers seek a golden orb.
The plot was extremely vague and not communicated clearly. The main characters were identifiable, but everyone else got lost in the shuffle. The musical numbers were dispersed tastefully throughout the film and other characters sang with the cowboy. The style was very much of the times, video had some underexposures and the audio was a little scratchy in places. I rate it poor.
An American western directed by Joseph Kane, starring Roy Rogers.
A train is held up by the infamous outlaw, but he lets an old man and young woman get away with their money. The old man puts his large sum of money in a bank, which is subsequently robbed. The old man gets excited and goes out to look for the thieves.
The plot was rather vague and murky in most sections and I had trouble distinguishing between the many cowboys. There was a single musical number, which was repeated. I thought this was pretty stereotypical of westerns from that time. I rate it tolerable.
An American western musical directed by Joseph Kane, starring Roy Rogers.
A pair of cowboys are mistaken for kidnappers when they find the bracelet of a runaway girl on the trail. They eventually meet the girl and find that she is searching for her late father's buried treasure in his worthless mine. A businessman is in the process of buying the mine and the cowboys must decipher whether the girl's story about her father's treasure is true.
The plot was clearly communicated and characters easy to keep track of. The musical numbers were tastefully sprinkled through the film, so they did not wear out their welcome. I thought that the style seemed a little bland and hokey. The filmmakers were definitely not trying anything new and creative on this one. It always throws me for a loop when I see cars in a western. This one seemed to be set near a city for some strange reason that I cannot fathom. Overall, it's a standard, old, hokey singing cowboy flick. I rate it o.k. because there are many things that are much worse than that.
An American western drama directed by Joseph Kane, starring Roy Rogers.
An official comes to town in order to enforce law and order.
Even after viewing the film and reading Wikipedia's plot summary, I still don't understand what's going on. Was it poor directorial choices, poor acting or lack of style that condemned this film? I vote for lack of style, which includes all the rest. Style is when people are doing stuff right and their own way. Style is good camera-work that shows what's going on. Style is good script-writing that translates into good delivery by actors. I'm learning about making videos at a community college and they say you have to make a plan. Every step in the process is important. This film lacks the definitive style that community college students can lend to a film that says whose film it is. Totally standard and boring with only one crooning cowboy country song, I rate this bad. It lacked all qualities that would make it good.
An American western musical directed by Joseph Kane, starring Roy Rogers.
A singing cowboy is mistaken for Billy the Kid, who has just been killed. He defends settlers from ranchers with the help of a musical instrument salesman.
This wasn't really worth watching. Very stereotypical of the singing cowboy western and at only 53 minutes duration, you're better off just skipping it. Lame and standard in every aspect. The music was alright, but lame and standard too. I rate it poor.
