DVD Review: The Roy Rogers Happy Trails Collection.

Mill Creek’s new four-disc set, The Roy Rogers Happy Trails Collection, gathers up 20 Rogers pictures spanning his entire career, and presents most of them in the same unfortunate condition we’ve seen before. However, the set does have its advantages.

Here are the Rogers movies you get:
Young Bill Hickok (1940)
Sons Of The Pioneers (1941)
Cowboy And The Senorita (1944)
Sunset In El Dorado (1945)
Don’t Fence Me In (1945)
Man From Oklahoma (1945)
Along the Navajo Trail (1945)
Rainbow Over Texas (1946)
Down Dakota Way (1949)
The Golden Stallion (1949)
Susanna Pass (1949)
North Of The Great Divide (1950)
Trigger, Jr. (1950)
Trail Of Robin Hood (1950)
Bells Of Coronado (1950)
Twilight In The Sierras (1950)
Spoilers Of The Plains (1951)
South Of Caliente (1951)
In Old Amarillo (1951)
Pals Of The Golden West (1951)

Many of these are from the later period, when William Witney was packing these things with action — and shooting some in Trucolor. They also had longer running times, which is where we run into trouble. Trail Of Robin Hood (1950), for instance, runs 67 minutes. In this set, it runs just 63 minutes and that includes the Happy Trails Theatre introduction. So it’s fair to say that up to 10 minutes of the film is gone. This pattern continues throughout, with the damage depending on how long or short each movie was originally. Young Bill Hickok runs under an hour, so it might not have too much missing. Cowboy And The Senorita (1944), Roy and Dale’s first film together is the odd man out. It does not have an introduction, and it runs its full 77 minutes. Looks pretty good, too.

There are a few supplemental videos, some of them from the Roy Rogers Museum, which are nice to have — especially since the museum is no more, and it’s about as close to a tour as we’re gonna get anymore.

Some of these films are available elsewhere uncut. (Trigger, Jr. from Kino Lorber is incredible.) Wouldn’t it be great to have them complete with the introductions included as an extra, the way the Gene Autry pictures are done? I’m dying for a full-length Spoilers Of The Plains.

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Happy Thanksgiving.

Here are, left to right, Foy Willing, Roy Rogers, Penny Edwards and Gordon Jones getting ready for some turkey in William Witney’s Trail Of Robin Hood (1950). I know it’s a Christmas movie, but I went for the turkey thing.

Anyway, here’s wishing you all a safe, happy, food-filled Thanksgiving. And I hope you can get away from the parades, dog shows, football, traffic and sales long enough to watch something like, say, Waco (1952) with Bill Elliott, one I’ve been meaning to revisit.

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Sunset In The West (1950).

Directed by William Witney
Starring Roy Rogers, Eselita Rodriguez, Penny Edwards, Gordon Jones, Will Wright

I have the extreme honor of preparing a commentary for Kino Lorber’s upcoming Sunset In The West (1950). The work copy they sent was so gorgeous, I had to share it (and they were kind enough to say OK).

They also say there’s a little work left to do on it. Judging from this, it’s gonna be quite a thing.

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50s Westerns DVD/Blu-Ray News #227: Sunset In The West (1950).

Directed by William Witney
Starring Roy Rogers, Estelita Rodriguez, Penny Edwards, Gordon Jones, Will Wright, Foy Willing And The Riders Of The Purple Sage

One of the hottest topics on this blog has always been the availability, or absence, of the Roy Rogers Trucolor films of late 40s and early 50s. The arrival of one of these pictures in color and uncut is always worth celebrating — and we get this next one, Sunset In The West (1950), on DVD and Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber.

More info as it comes in — and a huge thanks to Bob Furmanek for the tip! And if they want a commentary, I’d love to do it.

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Black Friday In TruColor.

They say today marks the beginning of the Christmas season. Here’s Roy Rogers and Trigger in Trail Of Robin Hood (1950), making sure every kid gets a tree.

Around my house, this wonderful, charming 67 minutes is a holiday tradition. It goes well with egg nog, cookies and, of course, popcorn and Raisinets (not to mention one of Sir Galahad’s relatives).

There’s absolutely no way I can recommend this movie enough. And I’d like to say hello to Sis McGonigle herself, Carol Nugent.

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