Ridin 'on a rainbow

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Movie
Original title Ridin 'on a rainbow
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1941
length 79 minutes
Rod
Director Lew Landers
script Bradford Ropes
Doris Malloy
production Harry Gray
music Raoul Kraushaar
camera William Nobles
cut Tony Martinelli
occupation

Ridin 'on a Rainbow (partly also Ridin' the Rainbow ) is an American musical western from 1941 by Lew Landers with Gene Autry in the lead role of a singing cowboy. Investigations into a bank robbery lead him to a riverboat, where he finds out that the young singer's father has worked with the bank robbers to secure the future of his daughter. The sung in the film by Gene Autry song Be Honest with Me received a Oscar nomination in the category "Best Song" .

The screenplay, written by Bradford Ropes in collaboration with Doris Malloy, is based on a story written by Bradford.

action

The singing cowboy and rancher Gene Autry comes to the city of Riverton and makes sure that the local ranchers can sell their herds for a profit for the first time in four years of hardship. With a big parade coming up in town, Autry encourages the men to entrust their money to the Eben Carter-run bank. At the same time, Captain Elijah Bartlett is heading for the town with his riverboat Jolly Betsy. There is a troop of entertainers on board who, as soon as one has docked, roam the city. While the locals watch the show parade and are distracted, Matt Evans, a savvy old artist, helps bank robbers Blake and Morrison with their raid in the disguise of a clown. He does this reluctantly and only because he is worried about the future of his very young daughter Patsy. However, when the bank robbers threaten and even kill Carter with a pistol, he is horrified. Regarding his share of the booty, however, he remains silent and takes the looted money to the place ordered by Blake and Morrison.

Autry feels responsible for his friends' money being stolen and wants to find out who is behind it in order to get the loot back. With the help of his buddy Frog Millhouse and the sheriff Jim Mason, he follows Evan's trail leading to the riverboat. However, Evans has already pulled away from the boat after telling his daughter that they will meet in Colesburg. It is the place where the money is hidden. Since the men on the ship only meet Patsy, Gene is able to convince the chief of police that he has to stay close to them to watch what is going on. So he gets his friend, Captain Bartlett, to sign on with him on the ship. Bartlett, however, is clueless about the real background. Genuine concern for Patsy's welfare, Gene tries to befriend the young woman. Patsy, meanwhile, feels torn between the longing for truth and loyalty to her father. She manages to convince Gene to let her go ashore in Colesburg alone. However, when she sees the sheriff, who has arrived without Gene's knowledge, she concludes that Gene has betrayed her. Nevertheless, she manages to sneak to her father's inn in Colesburg, where he is hiding. She urgently asks him to return the money, which he wants to do. Before they can both get to safety, Blake and Morrison appear. Patsy locks himself in an adjoining room and is horrified to hear how the bank robbers shoot her father after he told them where the money is, namely on the boat, and not, as pretended, in Colesburg. Since Patsy has her dog Spotlight with her, she sends it through the window with the room key and orders him to bring the key to Gene. And so it happens that Gene, Frog and others rush to the inn to save Patsy just as Blake and Morrison try to force them to leave with them.

Some time later, Gene gives his farewell performance on the riverboat, as he has decided to live with Patsy on his farm in the future.

production

Production notes, publication

It is a Republic Pictures production . The shooting extended from December 13th to 26th, 1940. The film was shot in the residential area of ​​Morrison Ranch in Agoura Hills and in Lake Hemet in Riverside County , both located in California . The budget for the film was $ 91,854.

The film premiered in the United States on January 24, 1941. In the United Kingdom it was published under the alternative title Riding on a Rainbow .

background

The news spread by the film magazine The Hollywood Reporter that Mauri Grashin had written more comedic scenes for the script was not confirmed in the finished film. Gene Autry and Mary Lee, who had made their first film South of the Border together in 1939 , played several times in this type of western film with a singing cowboy as a hero - Gene Autry always under his name and Lee in her role as Patsy. The following Westerns Back in the Saddle and The Singing Hill were released in March and April 1941, respectively. The Singing Hill formed the last collaboration between the actors in this constellation.

music

  • Some Dancin ' , written and sung by Smiley Burnette
  • Be Honest with Me , written by Gene Autry and Fred Rose
    • sung by Gene Autry
  • Ridin 'on a Rainbow , written by Don George, Teddy Hall and Jean Herbert
    • sung by Gene Autry
  • I'm the Only Lonely One , music: Jule Styne , poetry: Sol Meyer
    • sung by Mary Lee
  • Sing a Song of Laughter , music: Jule Styne, poetry: Sol Meyer
  • Hunky Dunky Dory , music: Jule Styne, lyrics: Sol Meyer
  • What's Your Favorite Holiday? Music: Jule Styne, poetry: Sol Meyer
    • sung by Mary Lee
  • Carry Me Back to the Lone Prairie , written by Carson Robison
    • sung by Gene Autry
  • Steamboat Bill , written by Ken Shields and the Leighton Brothers

criticism

In digitally Obsessed has been executed, the larger budget for this film have made it possible for some elements of Show Boat take over and allow them to merge with the Audry westerns. It was also said that the young singer Mary Lee can be seen in her eighth western with Gene Audry in one of her best roles. Not all songs in the film are good, such as the rather embarrassing song What's Your Favorite Holiday? However, Lee has a nice duet with the folk song Carry Me Back to the Lone Prairie with Autry and the melody Hunky Dory Dunky sung together by Burnette and Audry, stick in your head. The film also contains one of the best and most unusual action scenes of all films made with Autry to date.

Also dvdtalk.com presented to the many songs in the relatively short film and wrote that the film is also a vehicle for genes Audrys protege Mary Lee, Republic Pictures response to Judy Garland . It was also said that the film contained enough songs to qualify as a western, in which mainly sung was done. As a climax, the rescue of Patsy is somewhat reminiscent of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz . Overall, the film is a little more ambitious than the usual Republic B films.

Award

Gene Autry and Fred Rose were at the Academy Awards 1942 with the song Be Honest with Me from this film in the category "Best Song" for an Oscar nominated, which, however, to Jerome David Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II and the song The Last Time I Saw Paris from the musical film Lady Be Good went.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ridin 'on a Rainbow (1941) Notes at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  2. ↑ Ridin 'on a Rainbow (1941) at digitally Obsessed (English). Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  3. ↑ Ridin 'on a Rainbow at dvdtalk.com (English). Retrieved January 27, 2017.