Wagon Team

Gene must have been working his rear-end off in the early 50's, what with acting and producing features and TV shows, all at the same time. Anyhow, good to hear his signature tune Back in the Saddle Again, taking me back to those Saturday radio evenings at Melody Ranch. Nostalgia aside, this programmer makes good staging use of dry rocky LA locations for the many action and riding scenes.

Nothing special about the plot as lawman Gene goes undercover to retrieve stolen money from outlaws. In the process he's got to sort out where the Weldon family stands. As Dave Weldon, the boyish Jones looks about 20 but is actually 25, while Davis is his tomboy sister and Harry Harvey his ambivalent dad. Jones does well as a semi-outlaw, though his stamina while supposedly at death's door is more than remarkable. Anyhow, the way a couple of action shots are aimed at the camera, I thought maybe someone had 3-D in mind, the process coming along about that time. Be that as it may, it's a solid Autry programmer even though coming late in the feature-length series.