DVD Review: Springtime In The Sierras (1947).

Directed by William Witney
Associate Producer: Edward J. White
Original Screen Play by A. Sloan Nibley
Director Of Photography: Jack Marta

CAST: Roy Rogers, Trigger, Jane Frazee (Taffy Baker), Andy Devine (Cookie Bullfincher), Stephanie Bachelor (Jean Loring), Roy Barcroft (Matt Wilkes), Chester Conklin (Old Timer) and Bob Nolan and The Sons of the Pioneers.

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In what has to be one of the worst examples of shortsightedness in Hollywood’s history, Republic Pictures cut the Trucolor Roy Rogers films to a TV-friendly 54 minutes from running times of around 67-75 minutes each. And, of course, the TV prints were black and white. What’s worse, they cut the original negatives and tossed the “scraps,” so the story goes.

Tracking down the King Of The Cowboys’ Trucolor movies is a real challenge for DVD labels and collectors alike (a fact covered in a recent post). So when another turns up uncut and actually in color, it’s a real cause for celebration. Such is the case with the recently-released Springtime In The Sierras (1947) from Film Chest. Transferred from an ultra-rare complete 16mm color print, it may not be something you’d use to show off your home theater system to the neighbors, but that’s not the point, is it? It’s Roy, it’s complete, it’s in color and it’s now in your hot little hands.

Roy Rogers is after a gang that’s slaughtering wild game illegally. There’s a lot of money in the meat, and these guys are willing to kill (both animals and people) to keep their operation going. Roy’s old friend Captain Foster (Harry V. Cheshire) is murdered, and Roy takes on the gang — with the usual Roy Rogers/William Witney mix of music, comedy and lots and lots of action. There are at least three fistfights, with one between Roy Rogers and Roy Barcroft taking place in a mammoth freezer full of slaughtered game. (Watching these later Rogers films, you have to remind yourself at times that these were aimed at kids.)

There’s plenty of singing, too, which is a real treat with Bob Nolan and the Sons Of The Pioneers on hand. Andy Devine provides his usual comic relief. Dale Evans isn’t around, but Jane Frazee is — and there’s Stephanie Bachelor as one of the deer-killing villains. Sloan Nibley wrote a number of the later Rogers films. This was one of his first, and it shows his flair for story (usually a somewhat oddball one) and gift for balancing the various elements that make up a Roy Rogers movie. Around the time Roy left Republic for TV, Nibley wrote a few good Western features (Carson City and Springfield Rifle, both 1952) before settling into a busy life as a television writer.

The stars here are Roy Rogers and director William Witney. Working together, they created a tough, lean, fast-paced series of films that are slowly being recognized as the gems they are — something those of us who read and write this blog have known for decades. Witney’s under-cranked action scenes are incredible in Springtime In The Sierras, with a couple riding stunts that have to be seen to be believed. (I’m not one to stop a picture midstream, but there’s a riding/shooting stunt in the last reel I had to stop and really study.)

So what does the DVD look like? I’m happy to report that it’s all there, from Republic logo to Republic logo. It’s a little soft, attributable to the 16mm material and the Trucolor process. (That’s a screen grab to the left.) If you’ve seen Trucolor before (during this period when it was two-strip instead of three), you know what to expect. It’s a long way from Technicolor, with a rather other-wordly range of hues that I find beautiful. The disc also includes Roy and Dale hosting an episode of The Chevy Show from Easter, 1961. It’s a black and white kinescope of a color program, complete with Corvair commercials and appearances by Martin Milner and George Maharis of Route 66.

Film Chest has done us all a favor by helping us check another color Rogers off our Want Lists. The fact that they did it with care makes it all the better. Highly recommended.

 

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50s Westerns DVD News #93: Springtime In The Sierras (1947).

The Trucolor Roy Rogers films were really mistreated by Republic Pictures, cut to a TV-friendly 54 minutes from a running time of around 67-75 minutes. And, of course, they were printed black and white. Republic cut the original negatives and tossed the “scraps,” so the story goes — making uncut, color prints of these films a real scarcity.

With Springtime In The Sierras (1947), Film Chest worked from rare, complete 16mm material. The results, I’ve heard from reliable sources, are quite nice. (I grew up watching Roy in 16mm — to me, that’s how he’s supposed to look!) Normally, I’d wait to review this since it’s already available, but a recent post proved what a hot topic these films are, so why not a plug?

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Roy Rogers And Trucolor And DVD.

Henry Cabot Beck of True West Magazine and I were emailing back and forth this morning about the color Roy Rogers pictures (Trucolor, to be precise), how wonderful they are, and how terribly they’re represented on DVD. It’s a matter that has been beaten to death on a number of newsgroups, which shows just how important this really is. With these pictures in mind, a hastily-constructed post seemed in order.

The official releases worth your time and money are:

Bells Of Coronado (1950) is the only Roy Rogers film that Lions Gate got around to putting on DVD during their handling of the Republic catalog. (Maybe this new arrangement with Olive Films will result in a few more.) Coronado is a good one, with Dale Evans, Trigger, Grant Withers and Pat Brady adding their usual support. William Witney lends his masterful direction, the songs are great and the Trucolor looks good. I think this is out of print, but it’s still listed here.

VCI’s Roy Rogers Western Double Feature Volume 1 presents Under California Stars (1948) and The Bells of San Angelo (1947) — both uncut and both looking just fine. California features Jane Frazee and Andy Devine, while San Angelo has Dale Evans, Andy Devine and Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers. Witney directed both. It’s also a deal, available through their website for just four bucks! Trailers are even included. So mosey on over and pick one up.

I wish this was a lot longer post, with lots of links so you could complete your color Rogers collection. Maybe someday. Till then, “may the good Lord take a liking to you.”

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Roy Rogers At The TCM Classic Film Festival

Turner Classic Movies has posted the schedule of their upcoming 2011 TCM Classic Film Festival. The highlight where this blog is concerned is a tribute to Roy Rogers. He’d be 100 this year.

Among the pictures being shown is one of the better ones — Trigger Jr. (1950), directed by William Witney in Trucolor. The opportunity to see this in 35mm is a rare treat. This is a wonderful movie. (One could make a pretty strong case that I live on the wrong side of the country.)

The screenings will include a talk from Cheryl Rogers-Barnett. I spoke to her a few months ago about her folks, Trail Of Robin Hood (1950) and Son Of Paleface (1952). A really, really nice lady.

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Trail Of Robin Hood (1950)

By the late 40s, the Roy Rogers pictures had become relatively elaborate musicals, reducing the action to make room for production numbers — complete with pretty girls and orchestras — and with Roy’s outfits looking more chorus than corral. The story goes that the head of Republic, Herbert J. Yates, had been wowed and inspired by seeing Oklahoma on Broadway.

Of course, glitz, glamour and music rights come with a pretty hefty price tag, especially compared to two guys in western wear punching each other in the face. So with the smaller budgets came fewer songs — and more action. Good thing Roy’s director at the time was William Witney.

Witney fan Quentin Tarantino describes it like this: “After their first few movies together, Witney had gotten Roy out of his fringe-and-sparkle attire and was dressing him in normal attire, blue jeans and stuff. They stopped being these crazy musicals. He turned them into rough, tough violent adventures.”

Such was the state of the Roy Rogers Movie when Trail Of Robin Hood (1950) went into production. It’s in Trucolor, Roy’s traded his Nudie suits for plaid shirts, and the action comes fast and furious. Oh, and in spite of its title, it’s a Christmas movie.

Here, Roy works for the U.S. Soil Conservation Service and comes to the aid of cowboy star Jack Holt, who’s retired and growing Christmas trees — which he intends to sell at cost, so every kid can have one. A large Christmas tree conglomerate doesn’t like Holt’s business model and takes to stealing Holt’s trees, sabotaging his operation and threatening his workers. Naturally, Roy, Trigger and Bullet will have none of this.

I don’t want to give too much away. Just know that the whole thing is actually goofier than it sounds — and that it’s full of fights, chases, fires and other mayhem. Along the way, Roy and the Riders Of The Purple Sage sing a couple Christmas songs, there’s a young girl (Carol Nugent) with a pet turkey named Sir Galahad, and a number of Republic cowboy stars turn up to help save Holt’s farm. On hand are Allan ‘Rocky’ Lane, Monte Hale, William Farnum, Tom Tyler, Ray Corrigan, Kermit Maynard, Tom Keene, Rex Allen and George Chesebro.

Roy’s daughter Cheryl Rogers-Barnett, who has a small part in Trail Of Robin Hood, points out, “They used that formula of putting all their cowboys into one as sort of a promo for the other cowboys. Rex Allen was not a big name yet, and it was a way of promoting him.”

With Trail Of Robin Hood and the other late-period Rogers films (his last Republic picture came out in 1951), William Witney did more than just cut the music and stir in more violence — he turned up the pacing. He creates excitement, builds suspense and sets the pace through skillful editing. And the story is told visually whenever possible. The comedy (from Gordon Jones this time) and songs don’t get in the way or slow things down. And maybe most important, Witney keeps things simple. There’s not an ounce of fat in the picture’s 67 minutes, and camera movement is always purposeful, never flashy. As Tarantino explains, “These guys were storytellers. They knew how to move the camera to convey information so they didn’t have to shoot another dialogue scene to explain something.”

Cheryl Rogers-Barnett says of Witney: “He was a great action director, and loved Trigger. He was always trying to come up with extra things for the Old Man to do.”

Dale Evans, of course, was Mrs. Roy Rogers and his steady co-star. But she was on maternity leave. So Penny Edwards appears in Trail Of Robin Hood — in a part obviously written with Dale in mind. Penny transitioned from singer to actress, was under contract at Warner Brothers, made six films with Rogers in 1950-51, and left the picture business in 1954 to serve the Lord. She returned a few years later, appearing in lots of TV shows and commercials.

Gordon Jones plays Splinters McGonagle, the usual broad sidekick part you expect in a B Western. He was in six Rogers pictures, made a few other Republic films (including Woman They Almost Lynched) and would soon appear as Mike The Cop on The Abbott & Costello Show. Carol Nugent is quite good. And of course, Jack Holt and all the guest stars are terrific.

Trail Of Robin Hood is wonderful, and it’s a shame it’s not better known as a Christmas movie. We can thank the title for that. It was available uncut on VHS from Republic back in the day. But what you’ll find on DVD is cut by at least 10 minutes. Roy, and this great little movie, deserve better than that.

Sources: Quentin Tarantino from a 2000 NY Times piece; Cheryl Rogers-Barnett from a recent phone conversation.

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DVD Review: Apache Rifles (1964)

It’s easy to like Audie Murphy’s later Westerns. He was, almost single-handed, carrying 50s Westerns into the 60s after most cowboy stars had retired or defected to TV. (Murphy had tried television, too, with Whispering Smith.) And he was working on these later films with the likes of William Witney, R.G. Springsteen and Lesley Selander, directors responsible for not only a lot of good pictures, but for the genre as we know it.

Apache Rifles (1964) — an action-filled story of an Indian-hating cavalry officer who has a change of heart when he meets a half-breed missionary — was making the rounds about the same time A Fistful Of Dollars was in production in Italy and Spain. The times they were a-changin’. And pictures like Apache Rifles would soon be almost extinct — short, tough (American) Westerns created by seasoned professionals with utmost efficiently.

Utmost efficiency indeed. One of the real pleasures of Apache Rifles is watching all the pros at work. William Witney with his usual mastery of low-budget filmmaking, especially the action sequences. A tight script by TV Western specialist Charles B. Smith. And solid performances by a cast of veterans at this type of thing: Murphy, Michael Dante, L.Q. Jones, Linda Lawson, etc. This is not to say that the picture succeeds only as a curio — “one of the last of a dying breed” or some sort of cinematic swan song for its participants. It works like so many similar films did before it. If you like medium-budget Westerns, or Audie Murphy pictures, there’s plenty to like here.

There’s also plenty to like with the new DVD from Kit Parker Films and VCI Entertainment. Most important, of course, is the film itself. Apache Rifles has been well served. The transfer is sharp and clean, but without so much digital knob-twiddling it doesn’t look like film anymore. The (DeLuxe) color is a bit muted, but there’s no fading. Grain is evident — and that’s a good thing. The audio’s fine, with a tolerable amount of hiss (that’s probably been there since 1964).

But where the DVD really excels is in its supplemental material. There are short pieces on Witney and the Lone Pine Museum, a still gallery and a longer documentary on Apache Rifles and the end of the conventional Western. It’s always good to see a smaller picture get this kind of attention — and I’m sure we can all come up with a list of dozens more we’d like to see treated this respectfully.

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50s Westerns DVD News #15

VCI has announced a DVD release of Apache Rifles (1964) for August 31. I mentioned this a while back, but now it’s got an official street date. (Maybe this post should be called “50s Westerns DVD News #11A.”)

Directed by William Witney and starring Audie Murphy, this is as close to a 50s Western as you can get without actually making it in the 50s. It’s a good little cavalry picture — with Whitney’s masterful handling of the action sequences.

The press release states that Apache Rifles will be anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and transferred from a 35mm negative (the color was by DeLuxe). Supplemental documentaries about Witney and Lone Pine are promised, along with a still gallery. All-Region, too.

It’s good to see a “minor” film get the A-plus treatment on DVD.  I’m really looking forward to this one.

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50s Westerns DVD News #11

Just heard that VCI Entertainment will be offering up Apache Rifles this summer.

Starring Audie Murphy and directed by William Witney, the picture plays like a 50s Western — even though it was released in 1964. I’ve always liked this one, and I’m sure VCI will do a nice job with it.

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The King Of The Cowboys Hits DVD Not With A Bang, But A Bust. Again.

One of the hardest things about writing 50 Westerns From The 50s, the book, has been actually settling on the 50 Westerns. There are so many to choose from, and putting together a well-rounded sampling has been very, very hard. I’m still trying to sort it all out.

From the very beginning, I wanted to include a Roy Rogers movie — why wouldn’t I? — and that has presented a problem. His films of the 50s, a terrific string of action-filled pictures directed by William Witney, are poorly represented on DVD. (His earlier pictures fare a little better on video.) Republic did a good job with their transfer of Bells Of Coronado (1950) — it’s uncut and the Trucolor looks good. Aside from that, you’re left with a lot of heavily-edited titles from Goodtimes or junky-looking stuff from those public domain companies. I’ve bought a bunch of them, and aside from lucking into a decent-looking, unedited Trigger, Jr. (1950) for a dollar, I’ve been ripped off.

With this book, I feel kinda funny recommending a film that no one can find a watchable copy of. After all, my goal is to make you want to watch these things!

Timeless Media Group has a new six-disc, 20-movie set out: Roy Rogers: King Of The Cowboys. It includes some really great ones, including personal favorites Trail Of Robin Hood (1950) and Spoilers Of The Plains (1951). I was so stoked when I heard this thing was coming. But I’d heard some grumbling about the label’s previous Rogers releases, so I decided to wait for a verdict before whipping out my debit card.

Tonight I noticed a comment on the set from Roy H. Wagner, ASC. A cinematographer should know a good transfer from a bad one, so I’m gonna take his advice — and spend my $50 or so on something else.

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A Christmas Corral.

Someone asked about Westerns with a Christmas theme. Here’s a few that quickly came to mind.

John Ford’s 3 Godfathers (1948) is often knocked as being sentimental and hokey. I’ve always loved it — partly because it’s sentimental and hokey. Because it’s as pretty in color as My Darling Clementine is in black and white. And because John Wayne’s hat is so cool.

If you watch it this Christmas, note the gun sounds in the early chase scene. I can’t remember any other picture where guns sound like that. (Ford had already done a silent version of the Peter B. Kyne story, starring Harry Carey and called Marked Men. When Carey died, Ford decided on a Technicolor remake dedicated to his friend — and co-starring Harry Carey, Jr.)

There’s The Cowboys And The Indians (1949) with Gene Autry singing “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.” A pre-Lone Ranger Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels are on hand.

And then there’s Trail Of Robin Hood (1950), where Roy Rogers and a gang of his cowboy-star buddies (Rex Allen, Monte Hale, Tom Tyler, etc.) come to the aide of Jack Holt’s Christmas tree farm. Directed by William Witney, in Trucolor, this is a really, really cool movie — one of my favorite Rogers pictures. I’d love to see this show up on DVD, uncut. Maybe next Christmas?

If you know of any other Christmas-y Westerns, please let me know.

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