Springtime in the Sierras

Good, cute little story where it is question of fight for the well being of animals against human predators. Destined to all kinds of audiences. William Witney had a carrer in three parts. First, his most notorious, concerned the serials, the best ever in the movie industry. William Witney was the master of serials, all companies confounded, better than any one else. This period began in the late thirties till the late forties. Then he began a sesond part in B westerns, one hour length, like this one, most of them with Roy Rogers, the singing cowboy or some Allan Rocky Lane, who was not a singing cowboy.... Those B westerns were all alike, more or less, but agreeable for fans of this kind of stuff. The third part of Bill Witney's career involved longer movies and rather good ones: STRANGER AT MY DOOR, BONNIE PARKER STORY, the rest being action flicks where Witney showed his skills that he used decades earlier for his majestic serials.

Springtime In The Sierras finds Roy Rogers trying to help Harry Cheshire who is animal lover and conservationist against out of season poachers. Cheshire runs an animal shelter and hospital from his place in the mountains where he also has a crusade against those who poach. Cheshire is convinced that there is an organized gang of poachers operating in his woods. His investigation proves right and he's killed for his troubles. That brings Roy into the picture big time.

Roy has two women in this film good girl Jane Frazee whose brother Harold Landon is mixed up with the poachers and Joan Lorring who heads the poachers along with her number one aide, perennial western villain Roy Barcroft. In the climax Roy and Roy mix it up along side a dandy chick fight with Jane and Joan. I also have to say that Lorring is one evil villain in this film.

Andy Devine who did several Rogers films in the Forties is in this one in his usual befuddled state. Andy was a good ally to have, but he was kind of slow and there isn't a Roy Rogers film in it where he doesn't to have Roy patiently explain the situation. Of course it's a plot device to make sure the Saturday afternoon kids understood exactly what was happening, still it made Andy look stupid. But it was worth seeing him at the climax give one of Lorring/Barcroft's henchmen the big splash as you would see someone like King Kong Bundy do. That villain would have been out for a 25 count on the WWE.

As someone who is not particularly fond of hunting other than as a means for food and regulated at that, I have a soft spot in my heart for this particular film. I wish I had seen a full length version, but what I saw was cut down for television back in the day.

Roy Rogers returns to an old boyhood hometown in the Sierras, where he discovers poachers killing off the area deer. Mr. Rogers finds an abandoned fawn, and brings it to "The Sanitarium" - an animal refuge run by old friend Harry Cheshire (as Cap. Foster); there, he finds Mr. Cheshire treating the fawn's mother for a bullet wound. When the animal-loving Cheshire stumbles upon the gang of poachers, he is murdered. Rogers must find those responsible. Sheriff Andy Devine (as "Cookie") lends an occasional hand.

The characterizations are very good; especially, the introduction, and disposal, of the character played by Harry Cheshire ("Cap Foster"). The characters played by Stephanie Bachelor ("Miss Loring") and Hal Landon ("Bert") are also nicely drawn. Memorably, Rogers is dramatically beaten and left for dead in a meat freezer. Of course, Rogers escapes frozen death - and the ensuing shootout is quite exciting. During the obligatory shootout, note that the shots fired actually mean something; there is no pointless shooting, so a sense of real danger prevails. "Good Girl" Jane Frazee and "Bad Girl" Loring have a cool fistfight, too.

Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers demonstrate some excellent harmony and backing vocals on "A Cowboy Has To Sing". On the other hand, "Oh, What a Picture" is dreadful - not only for Mr. Devine's "comedy" vocal, but also for ruining the dramatic pace of the film. A redundant comedy interlude follows almost immediately ("What are You Going to Do Then?"); only one, if any, is really needed. The title song "Springtime in the Sierras" has a strained film tie-in.

***** Springtime in the Sierras (1947) William Witney ~ Roy Rogers, Jane Frazee, Andy Devine

According to IMDB trivia, the heavily abbreviated (in essence, hacked to pieces to fit a TV time slot) version is not the only version available and the full original version was played on TCM a few years ago*. Well, unfortunately for me, the only copy I found was the abbreviated 54 minute version...meaning about 20 minutes of the story was missing!! Keep this in mind, as the original longer version might be an entirely different viewing experience than the one I had.

The plot to "Springtime in the Sierras" is a timeless one. A group of hunters are wiping out the wild game because they couldn't care less about hunting out of season, taking too many critters or breaking 1001 other laws. After one of the local game wardens is killed by these jerks, Roy goes to the Loring Ranch to investigate the crimes. But the woman in charge there is a brutal murderer....and adding Roy's death to her crimes wouldn't bother her in the least!

The plots of about 95% of all B-westerns are very, very familiar. In fact, most use one of only about a half dozen basic story ideas. But "Springtime in the Sierras" manages to be very original...except for the title which has nothing to do with the plot...a familiar thing with B-westerns!

Despite being hacked to pieces, I liked this change of pace story. I particularly was amazed at the scene where Roy shoots at the baddies who are following him....you have to see it to appreciate the brilliant stuntwork. I also loved the scene where Andy Devine squashes one of the baddies!! Perhaps I'll look some more for the original length version....as I am sure my viewing experience couldn't help but be different.

*Heavily editing was done on many B-westerns in the 1950s in order to fit the films into television time slots. In many cases, the original prints are gone. The only TV cowboy I know of who kept original prints was William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy) and a few years ago his original and fully restored prints were uploaded to YouTube. I would love to see Roy Rogers and Gene Autry's prints restored like this...as would the fans.

* This review is based on the shortened 54 minute version * A group of poachers are violating all of the hunting regulations so they can provide the venison and other meats for market. Roy Rogers and Captain Foster, who provide a sanatorium for the wildlife go searching for the criminals, who happen to be neighboring rancher Jean Loring. When Foster discovers Jean's gang at work, she shoots him, which unnerves Bert Baker, a young member of the gang, whose sister runs the ranch Roy works for. Jean and her main henchman Matt Wilkes, find out that it is not safe with Roy on their trail, since he already suspects the two of poaching. Roy sets himself as a member of the Loring ranch, but when he finds the proof he needs, Jean and Wilkes make sure that he never reaches the marshal. Enjoyable routing Rogers picture with a nice amount of songs, action, and mushy sentiment often seen in his films. The fight between Roy and Barcroft in the freezer is very well handled by Witney mainly because of free camera movement even in the cramped quarters. Rating based on B westerns- 6.