The Singing Cowgirl

Dorothy Page stars in the first of three westerns for Grand National. She owns a ranch, which she manages with the help of only Vince Barnett. When her neighbors are killed, she investigates with the aid of wandering cowpoke Dave O'Brien. It turns out that there's gold on the ranch, and crooked lawyer Stanley Price wants it.

Miss Page sings three songs in a good voice; she had risen to public notice as a singer on Paul Whiteman's radio show, but short periods with Universal and Republic hadn't ignited a major career. Grand National was collapsing following the disaster of SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT, and someone decided the time of making a lady the star of a singing cowboy movie had come. Unhappily, the script was blah, Miss Page's line readings are mechanical and the front office was still under the delusion that Mr. Barnett was funny onscreen. Visually it's fine. DP Mack Stengler offers a couple of trucking shots that are evocative, and Miss Page sings one of her songs in a very effective silhouette. However, she ws not going to save Grand National; after the third of these movies, she retired to private life.