An American western musical directed by William Witney, starring Roy Rogers, Trigger, Jane Frazee and Andy Devine.
Roy Rogers returns to his ranch home to celebrate 10 years of making films. His horse is stolen by a neighboring rancher and held for ransom.
I was trying to avoid this type of movie by skipping the rest of the black and white westerns, but that has apparently not worked. Color video does not help to differentiate this film from the vast herd of others just like it. Andy Devine helped a little bit. The plot and characters were clearly presented, but everything was standard, predictable and mediocre like the rest of Roy's westerns. I'm surprised that nobody called him on this in all the time he was making these loads of crap. Oh well. I rate it tolerable.
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 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 Frank Mcdonald, starring Roy Rogers, George Gabby Hayes, Trigger and Bob Nolan.
A cowboy rides his mare to a ranch where a stallion is being shown and the two fall in love immediately, disrupting the show and angering the rancher. The cowboy tries to get permission to breed the stallion and mare, but is denied. When the escaped stallion is shot after copulating with the escaped mare, the cowboy is blamed.
This was pretty much standard fare. I do recognize that the film had a different plot than most westerns of the time because it focused on horses, rather than the men riding them. However, the shooting style and sound were so similar to standard American cowboy flicks that the difference doesn't matter quite so much. The characters were identifiable and easy to keep track of and the pacing was alright, bordering on moving too quickly. I rate this tolerable because it is so similar to so many other films in the genre.
An American western musical directed by Frank McDonald, starring Roy Rogers, George Gabby Hayes and Trigger.
An old man runs a dated rodeo show that is losing popularity. The owner of a more successful rodeo proposes to the old man's daughter in hopes of combining the two rodeos. A singing cowboy steps in to sort things out.
The video was amazingly clear for this early date and I liked the hokey, old music. In fact, I'm beginning to like the Roy and Gabby team. The plot was not communicated very clearly and was vague in some places. The recycled characters from every other singing cowboy western were pretty stale, but worked alright for this one. It seems that there were many 55 minute westerns created around this time that are hit and miss based on luck. Some have a hokey charm and others are just shoddily crafted filler. I rate this 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.
An American western musical comedy directed by William Witney, starring Roy Rogers and Andy Devine.
An author of cowboy novels visits a rural town where a border inspector is looking for silver smugglers and their mine. An English gentleman from Scotland Yard also visits, looking for a man who has changed his name.
This was actually a great movie. I think what stood out to me was good acting by well-portrayed characters. Speaking of characters, I've heard the sheriff's voice before. He's Andy Devine, Friar Tuck from Disney's Robin Hood (1973). The plot was a little on the complex side and because of time restraints, I had to restart 3 times to get through the whole duration. The video looked good in primitive color and the audio was alright. The musical numbers were few and far between, adding some extra style without wearing out their welcome. This is a keeper. I may be biased because of my preference for westerns and cartoon voice actors, but I rate this good. Recommended for those who want a good, clean western set in modern times.
