Bells of Coronado

A criminally unheard-of William Witney has always been underappreciated by western genre fans. Just as influential as John Ford, if not more so, Witney made some of the best early westerns out there creating the modernized, choreographed Western fight scenes we still see today. Witney kept the landscapes in the back where they belong and focused on the pure joy. This film, The Bells of Coronado, was one of Witney's last collaborations with Roy Rogers and Trigger but it is still worth checking out. A little adventure, a little action, a little music. It's all here. For Western genre fans who have never seen a William Witney film, do yourself a favor and check one out. If you liked this one, also check these early greats: On the Old Spanish Trail and Adventures of Red Ryder. While I'm a big fan of John Ford, Anthony Mann and Sergei Leone and appreciate what each of them has brought to the western genre over the years, Witney is still my favorite Western filmmaker. Because there's just a pure unadulterated joy to his pictures you can't find somewhere else. Pictures with no cynicism, a welcome watch in today's cynical world.

When Grant Withers puts in a claim for uranium hijacked from his mine, the insurance company sends Roy Rogers in to investigate.

With their reliance on good and sometimes original stories, Rogers' westerns kept up with the times -- except that people insisted on riding horses -- and raw material for nuclear bombs and an implication of foreign spying was as up-to-date as you can get. There's a early comic scene in which Dale Evans, thinking Roy is some evil-doer, sets four guys on him, and then tries to help them out by hitting Rogers with a frying pan ... and hitting them instead. This one also has a couple of plot twists that caught me unaware, and if the songs were not quite as good as usual, they're still pretty good, just like the stuntwork.

There is so much absurdity to this movie it is pointless to describe it. You can read some of the reviews by others to get a sense of it. That said, it does have plenty of action scenes, hard riding and hard fighting. But the logic of having a dam and power company out in without even a truck or a paved road stretches your credibility. And how about a uranium mine using mule-drawn buckboard wagons to haul out their ore? In the early scenes, Dale Evans' character is downright obnoxious, but she straightens out later. Watch this to see Roy Rogers in his prime but don't expect much from the plot.

I watched BELLS OF CORONADO (1950) on Friday, November 5 in commemoration of what would have been Roy Rogers' 99th birthday. I have it in a legit edition on DVD (released in 2004 by LionsGate Home Entertainment and Republic Pictures). It's a beautiful print and the transfer is far superior to most of the VHS copies I have of Roy's Trucolor westerns. The film was beautifully photographed by John MacBurnie and shot mostly on location. I've now seen eight of Roy's Trucolor westerns and have reviewed four on IMDb, the others being TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD, NORTH OF THE GREAT DIVIDE, and UNDER California STARS. Trucolor was a two-color film process developed exclusively for Republic Pictures and was used from 1946-1957.

BELLS has got an odd plot about a power company and a uranium mine in the remote town of Coronado. When a shipment of uranium ore has gone missing and the mine owner found unconscious, only to subsequently die in the doctor's office, the insurance company sends Roy Rogers to investigate by going undercover. Given how these films usually cast local businessmen as the villains, we can't be blamed for quickly assuming that gruff power company owner Bennett (Grant Withers) has got to be the culprit. However, in a big twist, the identity of the actual mastermind, who plans to sell the ore to a foreign power, comes as quite a shock. Can no one be trusted in Republic Pictures' baroque alternate western universe?

Dale Evans plays Bennett's ditzy secretary, quite a far cry from her proactive roles in other Roy westerns (see SUSANNA PASS, for instance). At one point, she shows an irrational fear of nice, gentle Roy and provokes a senseless fistfight between him and three company men. It's so completely out of character for Dale's usual screen persona. Other Roy Rogers regulars in the cast are Pat Brady and the singing group, Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage, who play linemen for the power company. Despite their presence, there are far fewer songs than usual here. Clifton Young, the chief thug in Roy's TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD the same year, where he stole Christmas trees of all things, plays Coronado's General Store proprietor, who works after hours carrying out the thefts of uranium ore for the traitor selling it to the enemy. Which is quite baffling given the high odds of someone recognizing him.

As usual in these later Roy westerns, the setting is contemporary, but everyone wears cowboy clothes, rides horses and carries a gun belt, even when working on the electric towers. At one point, Roy and his new ally, an undercover federal agent, ride out on horseback, armed only with six-guns, to try and stop a plane which has landed to pick up the ore from the gang. They shoot at the gang from the rocks while waiting for Dale, Pat and the "posse" on horseback to show up when what's really needed is a full team of FBI agents with fast sedans, automatic weapons, and helicopters.

There are plenty of great bits of action and stunt work and the location shooting is as good as anything I've seen in these films. I just wish the plot weren't so far-fetched. I also wish Republic had made some color westerns with Roy in a traditional western period setting. Why couldn't he have done something along the lines of what Randolph Scott was doing at the time over at Warner Bros. or Audie Murphy at Universal? Heck, even Republic was making some fine period westerns in Trucolor at the time, but they usually put 2nd-tier stars like Bill Elliott (HELLFIRE, BRIMSTONE) or Forrest Tucker (ROCK ISLAND TRAIL, JUBILEE TRAIL) in them. Would it have hurt to try out Roy in one of them?

Roy Rogers and Trigger (The Smartest Horse in the Movies), as He is Billed, take on Uranium Smugglers in this Bizarre, Bonkers Hybrid.

Not Shy About Crossing the Boundaries of the Spy and Western Genres, it Bends Them Both to Fit in a Roy Rogers Movie.

There are High-Power Electric Line Arrays, a Uranium Mine, Station Wagons, Airplanes and Plenty of Horses.

The Cowboys, Especially Roy, are Dressed to the 9's in Their "Rhinestone Cowboy" Duds with Gun-Belts.

These B-Type Westerns were Republic Studios "Bread and Butter" along with Serials and this 1hr Movie is Horizon to Horizon Filled with the Fun Stuff that the Fans Love.

Fist-Fights Galore, Gun Battles, High-Speed Chases on Horseback and other Outdoor Action.

Roy's Western, Along with Dale Evans and Pat Brady seem Absolutely Comfortable Embracing the Cold-War Plot with RR Going Undercover.

A Few Tunes are Inserted Here and There but Not to Distraction.

The Movie was Filmed in Tru-Color, Republic's Custom 2-Color Process that Always Gave a Surreal Feel.

This Odd, Off-Kilter Western in Surely That...Surreal.

Worth a Watch.