Across the Rio Grande

This was broadcast on TCM and pressing the info button on the remote we're informed that " A young man becomes the captive of silver-ore smugglers while investigating the murder of his father " You can forgiven for thinking that despite the Hays Code being heavily enforced there is a good chance of a gritty tale being told where the upstanding hero is at the mercy of cruel and sadistic villains similar to the later Western WILL PENNY . That's not how this film pans out

From the outset before a line of dialogue is spoken the tone of the film is set by having a musical soundtrack that borders on the frivolous and this sums up the film which is very silly , unlikely and despite incorporating several genres does none of them effectively . We get comedy scenes , a musical number and the plot proper involves an innocent man facing the gallows and the good guys trying to get to the bottom of a mystery . It has all the hallmarks of a B movie churned out by a film studio to be shown just before the main feature and no matter what the main feature was it couldn't have been any worse than this one