The Singing Hill

I love this movie. It has action, good songs, attractive actors and a good chase scene at the end with the special Republic chase music that was composed especially for the Gene Autry movies. Gene was at his best during the 1938-1942 period of his career and the movies show it. He had Smiley Burnette, June Story, Fay McKenzie, Mary Lee and good songs, nice stories and great scenery. The action was very well done, stories moved along and everyone seemed to be enjoying making these nice and enjoyable movies during this period. The Western Channel recently showed these movies in the uncut format and what a difference. Also the Autry Museum has them for sale in DVD and uncut. It is well worth it to see the full length versions.

Virginia Dale celebrates her twenty-first birthday by selling her last unencumbered asset, the family ranch. George Meeker and her crooked business manager pay her an option, which she uses to throw a party. Her ranch manager, Gene Autry, kidnaps her to the ranch she was born on and hasn't been back to in years, where her neighbors throw a party in her honor; after all, her grandfather opened his extensive range to all of them, which has kept them going for decades. There's nothing she can do, so Autry has her declared incompetent and tries to bypass Meeker's stranglehold on te railroad by driving the cattle across state lines to raise money to buy back the option.

Miss Dale is pretty good in giving this movie a screwball comedy start. It all turns serious when Meeker forces out the other ranchers, and they're heading out like Okies fleeing the dustbowl, and it works pretty well. There's an exciting sequence during the drive when a dam bursts, and Yakima Canutt supervises the stunts as Autry -- or his stand-in, Joe Yrigoyen -- rides his horse down to a raging river to rescue Wade Boteler, Autry is also in fine voice in this one, singing "The Last Round-Up" and "Blueberry Hill." With Mary Lee, Spencer Charters, and Cactus Mack.

When the story begins, the local ranchers are boiling mad at Gene Autry. Despite promising that he'll allow the ranchers access to the property's water, it turns out the actual owner, Miss Adams, has agreed to sell the land to the local baddie, Mr. Ramsey (George Meeker)....and everyone knows he wants control over everything...and he won't allow the ranchers to have any water. Gene insists he knew nothing about this and vows to go to the city to meet with Miss Adams to convince her not to sell. After all, if it's sold, a lot of people's lives will be ruined.

As for Miss Adams, although her family long maintained positive relations with their neighbors, she's a completely spoiled and irresponsible girl who couldn't care less about the ranchers or their plight. In fact, getting her to even listen to Gene seems impossible. So, after trying in vain to get her to listen, Gene gives up and just kidnaps her and her butler!! And, once they are back out west, Autry finds a local judge to rule that she is incompetent to run her own finances and Autry is appointed to do this! Well, considering how quickly she's blown through the family fortune and her crazy spending habits, this is probably for the best. But evil Ramsey vows to do everything he can to stop Autry and prevent him from stopping the land sale. What will this baddie do? And, how will Autry respond?

While this is a generally enjoyable film, I think they made Miss Adams too annoying, too abrasive and too hateful to be realistic. Giving her some likability and not quite so thoroughly hateful would have made for a better movie. And, the same can be said about Ramsey, as nearly EVERY B-western involves a baddie who want to drive out all the local ranchers and farmers....it's just too much of a cliche. Now I am not saying it's a bad film at all...but it could have been better, that's all. As for the music and acting, it's pretty good stuff and the film is quite enjoyable.

A few things to note about the film. First, on the copy I found in YouTube, it was the complete film...something you often cannot find as many of these B-westerns were trimmed for television time slots. However, inexplicably, about a minute of time is missing about 4-5 minutes into the movie. Second, although "Blueberry Hill" is associated with Fats Domino, here in "The Singing Hill" Gene Sings it...country western style.

UPDATE: Only a short time after seeing "The Singing Hill", I saw an earlier Gene Autry film, "Gold Mine in the Sky" and it's essentially the same film....with an obnoxious spoiled girl inheriting the ranch and with Gene as the executor of the will!