Roy Rogers in TruColor and Uncut (20 Viewers)

[Josh Steinberg]

If you haven’t already, check out the commentary on Kino’s BD for Trigger Jr. - Witney’s son is one of the participants (and Witney himself is heard thanks to archival recordings) and the influence that Witney had on Tarantino is one of the topics discussed. It’s a great listen!

 

[Bob Gu]

A three color Trucolor will be shown on GritTV, Thursday July 5th, Noon to two EST. THE ROAD TO DENVER - 1955 with John Payne, Skip Homeier, Lee J, Cobb and Mona Freeman.

Next on GRIT, for Roy Rogers, is another lost Trucolor, NIGHT TIME IN NEVADA-1948 with Andy Devine, Adele Mara, and Grant Withers. This is the last Rogers for Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers, but we will see Pat Brady again. Sloan Nibley writes and William Whitney directs. Roy has to protect Mara's legacy and, solve a murder and the hijacking of his herd from a moving train. GRIT will show this on Saturday July 7th at 6 A,M, to 7:30 A.M. Will they show it uncut?

 

[RBailey]

NIGHT TIME IN NEVADA is one of my favorite Rogers-Witney films (along with EYES OF TEXAS). Love the film noir style opening with Grant Withers narrating the action.

 

[Bob Gu]

John/RBailey, I, too, enjoy Grant Withers, matter of fact, unconcerned , delivery in all his bad guy roles, and in his occasional good guy or red herring roles.

So, yesterday the GRIT broadcast of NIGHT TIME IN NEVADA was a 53 minute version. It had an incorrect Republic logo at the beginning and end of the movie. The YouTube uncut version posted above has the correct logo, for this period.

The GRIT print was rather nice and clean looking. Even if you have full length versions of Roy Rogers movies, it is still a good idea to take a look at the edited versions since they were made from the trimmed negatives and may actually look better than the uncut versions in the PD/collector market.

The Republic logos changed over the years. Some of the Independence Hall Bell Tower versions were even animated and the bell swung and rang, before merging with the music from the movie. Sometimes on these older prints the logos come up silent or with generic music, that may be original or may have been attached by syndicators or private owners of the prints. Republic removed the logos, fore and aft, on the edited prints so the syndicators. (like MCA), could put on their own logos. The Paramount title cards from some of the Hopalong Cassidy movies are lost and what we see is the syndication company shown instead of Paramount.

 

[Bob Gu]

I think EYES OF TEXAS was the first time we see Bullet. It was a character part where he was called Wolf and Roy saved him from the bad pack.

 

[Bob Gu]

GRIT showed three Roy Rogers Trucolor movies this week. The cut B&W version, NIGHT TIME IN NEVADA, an older green blue jeans uncut TRIGGER,Jr.. and an uncut NORTH OF THE GREAT DIVIDE, a print that has a Nostalgia Merchant logo before the Republic logo appears. The print is good but too dark in the night scenes and not popping sharp. The old Republic Home Video VHS looked pretty much the same.

NORTH OF THE GREAT DIVIDE features Penny Edwards, riding Buttermilk, I think, and gives us an origin story for Bullet. Roy engages in a bullwhip fight with the dog heavy, Jack Lambert. Roy Barcroft is his boss.

This may be the only modern day Rogers movie that might be set in the past, the North West Indian tribe in the story is depicted as wearing buckskins and living in teepees and we don't see any cars. But the clothes worn back at Roy's office, and the uniforms of the mounties seem 1950. There is mention of it being Festival time for the tribe, so maybe that is why the buckskins for both of Roy's visits. An earlier Rogers movie, UNDER NEVADA SKIES-1946, had cars and also showed Indians in buckskins and teepees, but that was some kind of Frontier Days celebration, the Chief wore a modern western style suit when he was off the clock.

 

[RBailey]

I'd love to see NORTH OF THE GREAT DIVIDE get the Kino Blu-Ray treatment. That whip fight between Roy and Lambert is something else.

 

[Vic Pardo]

GRIT showed three Roy Rogers Trucolor movies this week. The cut B&W version, NIGHT TIME IN NEVADA, an older green blue jeans uncut TRIGGER,Jr.. and an uncut NORTH OF THE GREAT DIVIDE, a print that has a Nostalgia Merchant logo before the Republic logo appears. The print is good but too dark in the night scenes and not popping sharp. The old Republic Home Video VHS looked pretty much the same.

NORTH OF THE GREAT DIVIDE features Penny Edwards, riding Buttermilk, I think, and gives us an origin story for Bullet. Roy engages in a bullwhip fight with the dog heavy, Jack Lambert. Roy Barcroft is his boss. View attachment 47886 This may be the only modern day Rogers movie that might be set in the past, the North West Indian tribe in the story is depicted as wearing buckskins and living in teepees and we don't see any cars. But the clothes worn back at Roy's office, and the uniforms of the mounties seem 1950. There is mention of it being Festival time for the tribe, so maybe that is why the buckskins for both of Roy's visits. An earlier Rogers movie, UNDER NEVADA SKIES-1946, had cars and also showed Indians in buckskins and teepees, but that was some kind of Frontier Days celebration, the Chief wore a modern western style suit when he was off the clock.

That's Noble Johnson in the photo on the far right playing the chief, a black actor who played just about every race and ethnicity you can think of. He's best known as the native chief in KING KONG (1933). This was his last movie. He died in 1978 at the age of 96.

 

[Bob Gu]

Trucolor SUNSET IN THE WEST-1950 is being shown on Grit, Saturday, Aug. 4, 6:00 A.M. to 7:30 A.M. We don't have to been concerned with this one since it is out on restored DVD and BluRay from Kino. A restored print was released in 1998, by Republic Home Video. GRIT should not be showing a cut version of this, but you never know.

Sunday Aug. 5, GRIT has a Roy Rogers double feature from 8:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M.

SUSANNA PASS-1949 is first. Roy's a Game Warden. Dale Evans plays a feisty scientist and ex-Marine, so she gets to throw the comic relief, Martin Galarraga, around. Estelita Rodriguez is featured. The main villain is Doug Fowley, who wants the oil under a fish preserve. The uncut 1992 Republic Home Video release of Susanna Pass was too reddish and dark. The YouTube uploads of this are kind of blurry and faded. Interested to see what GRIT will show on this one.

Next is GRAND CANYON TRAIL-1948, with Jane Frazee and Andy Devine. This is the first Rogers movie for Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage. Old prospector actor Emmett Lynn is also in this. Ex-Three Mesquiteer, Robert Livingston and Roy Barcroft are the bad guys after a lost silver mine. Another creepy rather unexpected murder occurs. The last time I caught this on GRIT it was cut, but it was a cleaner looking B&W print than the uncut B&W versions from Alpha on DVD and Sinister Cinema VHS. Grand Canyon Trail is one of the lost Trucolors, but the UCLA Film Archive lists full Trucolor elements for it, though. So maybe it is not lost anymore.

(Some sources list THE GAY RANCHERO-1948 as the sixth lost Trucolor but that is around in an unrestored Trucolor, 62 or so minute version vs the 72 minute original runtime. Both the 62 minute Trucolor version and a 72 minute B&W version are on YouTube. If anyone has the Alpha version, I'd like to know the run time and if it is in Trucolor or B&W. Sinister sells the edited Trucolor version, but I don't have it. I do have a collector copy and the YouTubes.)

On Thursday Aug.9, 11:30 A.M. to 1:00 P.M., GRIT will run TWILIGHT IN THE SIERRAS-1950. It concerns a counterfeit Gold Certificate story with a convict rehabilitation angle. Roy is a Parole Officer. Dale is the Deputy Sheriff. Pat Brady is a veterinarian. Estelita Rodriguez is on hand again, and George Meeker is the head counterfeiter. Another Rogers Trucolor that was on VHS from RHV.

I see the YouTube uploads of DOWN DAKOTA WAY from post #182 have gone away. There are still other uploads of the semi-restored version and an edited version on YouTube. The edited one was posted by Roy's daughter.

 

[RBailey]

Thanks for posting that great shot of Emmett Lynn from GRAND CANYON TRAIL. Nice to see James Finlayson get some work in this one.

 

[Bob Gu]

SUZANNA PASS, on GRIT today, was another one of those very nice, uncut, but too green in the blue jeans prints, and the night scenes were a little too dark. But it was way better looking than the old Republic Home Video VHS, or any YouTube up the last time I looked. It had a World Vision/Spelling tag at the end along with a Paramount logo. I don't know off-hand when Paramount got the Republic library from Spelling, but it seems some of these restorations were taking place in the mid to late 1990s. GRIT will show SUSANNA PASS again, on Friday Aug. 17, at 12:00 Noon to 1:30 P.M.

The GRIT print of GRAND CANYON TRAIL was as expected a 53 minute cut version and in B&W. It looked pretty sharp in some of the daytime scenes, not so much in the night scenes. It had a Republic logo at the beginning, probably replaced, and no logos after THE END. Bullet, Roy's dog, did not appear in GRAND CANYON TRAIL despite the above movie poster. GRAND CANYON TRAIL will be on GRIT again, on Tues. Aug. 21, at 12:00 Noon to 1:30 P.M.

James Finlayson:

 

[Bob Gu]

OOPS! Got my AMs and PMs mixed up., in post #189. TWILIGHT IN THE SIERRAS is on GRIT tonight 11:30 PM to 1:00 AM, not Thursday morning.

 

[Bob Gu]

TWILIGHT IN THE SIERRAS, on GRIT, last night, was a full-length, nice, newer, Trucolor print that was too green again. Apparently, all the Trucolor Roy Rogers that were out on Republic Home Video on VHS were later remastered at some point, but the prints showing up on Grit and YouTube did not all go to the last step of color correction which would have made denim look blue instead of greenish. But the denim does look blue on the Kino SUNSET IN THE WEST and TRIGGER,JR. discs and also on the SPRING TIME IN THE SIERRAS print shown recently on GRIT.

Dale rides her horse Buttermilk in, TWILIGHT IN THE SIERRAS. Look for western bad man Robert Wilkie in the lobby card below, as a helpful bus driver. House Peters, Jr., early TV's Mr. Clean, has a featured role. See old Roy and House and House as Mr. Clean below. It looks like 'one take Rogers', actually did lasso the run-away wagon himself, in this movie.

 

[Bert Greene]

I seem to recall House Peters, Jr. also being a baddie, menacing Roy in "Under California Stars" (1948). I usually associate Peters, however, as one of the regular villains in the late Monogram b-westerns, alongside Terry Frost, Pierce Lyden and company.

 

[Bob Gu]

I wanted to comment on a Roy Rogers double feature from Alpha, that was released in 2009, that has the 1942 B&W RIDIN' DOWN THE CANYON, in a 53 minute version of the original 55 minutes, and a B&W full 74 minute version of the lost 1947 Trucolor, ON THE OLD SPANISH TRAIL. CANYON looks good and SPANISH TRAIL is OK, but fuzzy. No Republic logos on either.

RIDIN' DOWN THE CANYON is short and fast moving, with lots of good songs, action, and first rate comedy with Gabby Hayes, abetted by Pat Brady. See Gabby lead a conga line!! Linda Hayes, (the mother of Cathy Lee Crosby), is Roy's romantic interest. Her little brother is played by hard-riding Buzz Henry, who grew up at Republic and stunts and acts in many Republics in the 50s and even shows up in Disney's SWAMP FOX mini-series as a redcoat. Buzz Henry later became the stunt coordinator, and stunt double for Mike Conners on MANNIX.

In RIDIN' DOWN THE CANYON, Roy and The Sons of the Pioneers play radio singers, and fan Buzz Henry wants them, along with Gabby, to help him capture the horse rustlers who took his paint horse, Trigger,Jr., along with his family's herd. The outlaws are bossed by Addison Richards and Lorna Gray/Adrian Booth, from a dude ranch. The henchmen are James Seay, Roy Barcroft, Hal Taliaferro, and Tom London. Get a load of the battery operated home recording set up Buzz uses to record Roy and the Pioneers from the radio!

So what is missing in the missing two minutes? The full version of "Go To Sleep My Little Buckaroo". (We see Roy sing the beginning and then it cuts to the end.) Possibly a scene where the Pioneers lose the rustlers they are chasing, but maybe we were supposed to figure that out for ourselves. "Buckaroo", itself could be two minutes. Below is a Roy version of "Buckaroo" from DON"T FENCE ME IN, followed by the debut of the song in Dick Foran's CHEROKEE STRIP-1937, followed by "Blue Prairie", from CANYON. The Dick Foran westerns were released in a complete collection by Warner Archives. Roy and the Pioneers were in two of them, SONG OF THE SADDLE and THE CALIFORNIA MAIL, both 1936.

 

[Bob Gu]

B&W version ON THE OLD SPANISH TRAIL--Continued:

ON THE OLD SPANISH TRAIL features guest star Tito Guizar, who has a nice outdoor musical number with Estelita Rodriguez.. It is very operatic and exciting with a lot of movement. Very unusual for a Rogers movie where The Sons of the Pioneers usually perform on a radio or theater stage, or around a camp fire.

The plot involves Guizar following Jane Frazee around the country as she performs in the Pioneers' traveling show. There are traveling robberies following the show too. Guizar's character is blamed, which is okay with the real bad guys led by Charles McGraw, with henchmen Fred Graham, Marshall Reed, and Steve Darrell. Andy Devine is the sleep walking lawman Cookie Bullfincher.

The YouTube of RIDIN' DOWN THE CANYON seems the same as the ALPHA, but the YouTube of ON THE OLD SPANISH TRAIL looks cleaner than the Alpha, plus it has the Republic logos at the beginning and end.

 

[Vic Pardo]

Tito Guizar is very good in BLONDIE GOES LATIN (1943)--and Penny Singleton, as Blondie away from Dagwood, has some very sweet near-romantic scenes with him. In my book, it's the best of the Blondies.

 

[Bob Gu]

Tito Guizar and Estelita Rodriguez were in the next Roy Rogers Trucolor, THE GAY RANCHERO-1948.

Tito is a bullfighter and pilot who follows, run-a-way heiress, Estelita, to a dude ranch/spa, run by Jane Frazee and The Pioneers. Jane also runs an air service with Andy Devine. The bad guys, George Meeker, LeRoy Mason, and Keith Richards want to take over both the spa and the aiir service.

Full 71-72 min B&W version from YouTube.

 

[Bob Gu]

Saturday, Sept. 1, GRIT will show DON"T FENCE ME IN-1945, 6:00 AM to 7:30 AM.

This was a B&W release and at 72 minutes is one of the Roy Rogers musical specials with plenty of songs and even a dancing specialty act. There's Roy, Dale, Gabby, The Sons of the Pioneers and even Trigger dances. The plot involves Dale as a reporter looking into the death of an old outlaw. Dale's M.O. is to disguise herself as a show girl. Screw ball romantic comedy and music ensues. The crime plot with Moroni Olsen and Marc Lawrence almost gets in the way.

I have no idea what GRIT will show for DON"T FENCE ME IN. A full length version that was put together from a nice cut print and filled out with lesser elements and no period logos was released on VHS by Republic Home video.

Roy and Dale's daughter, posting on YouTube as TheCowboyandtheSenorita uploaded an uncut DON'T FENCE ME IN, as a three part upload. I didn't notice this until today and have not watched it yet, but part one actually has a period Republic animated Independence Hall logo that sings "Republic Pictures Presents"!!! I have never seen one like that before. (She mentions she had to take one song out, but I am hoping she put it back in.)





More Dale cheesecake:

DFMI Part 2:




DFMI Part 3:

 

[Bob Gu]

This morning's GRIT showing of DON"T FENCE ME IN was missing about 2 minutes of the chase sequence, after Gabby is shot, and a 1 minute outdoor sequence right before The Pioneers sing "Tumbling Tumbleweeds", at the club. The GRIT broadcast clocked in at 68 min. plus. The print looked and sounded a lot like the old Republic Home Video VHS release, only edited. I missed the opening a bit and didn't see if there was a logo or proper theatrical release title card. I'll check again on next Saturday's replay. The old VHS had a silent Republic Independence Hall logo and the edited version of the title card. Both the GRIT print and the old VHS had a generic THE END card with no end Republic logo.

The YouTube version posted above in post #199 is from an actual theatrical release print and not only has the proper Republic animated logo with music and vocals, and the Republic Presents tittle card, it also has the original THE END, A Republic Production, lettering superimposed over the final live action scene. But it is missing the end Republic logo. (I still have not checked for the deleted song, one of the repeats of the title song in the movie?)

DON'T FENCE ME IN, will air again next Saturday Sept. 8, 2:00 AM to 3:30 AM, double featured with Trucolor BELLS OF SAN ANGELO-1947, 3:30 AM to 5:00 AM.

The last time I noticed GRIT showing BELLS OF SAN ANGELO it was severely edited and in black and white. That is odd since 75 minute unrestored Trucolor versions are all over the place in the Public Domain. The VCI and Mill Creek versions look nice. The sound usually has drop outs though, losing some exposition.

BELLS OF SAN ANGELO has an original runtime of around 78 minutes. The scene that is missing from the 75 minute version is a sequence near the end where Dale is sent away to get help for Roy. We see her ride off on Trigger and the next scene is a musical number with The Sons of the Pioneers, ending with riderless Trigger galloping in. The next time we see Dale she is being ushered in to the head bad guy's office at gun point. So obviously the missing scene is Dale being intercepted by the henchmen and Trigger escaping.

BELLS OF SAN ANGELO is the Rogers movie that is most famous for beginning the era of the more violent fist fights in Roy's movies. He has several vicious fights with actor/stunt man Dave Sharpe and the other henchman, and Roy is beat up and sent on his way early in the movie.

The plot is about the illegal smuggling of cheaper foreign silver being sold for the higher U.S. fixed price. The villains are, John McGuire, Dave Sharpe, Fred Graham, and Dale Van Sickel.

Dale Evans plays a pulp fiction western mystery writer, that the gang thinks is a man.

Andy Devine is the sheriff and has a subplot about his being a fugitive. He has a fun bit with Ray Turner, playing an over dressed cowboy mailman. Andy greets him saying, "Hi Ya, Buck"! That is a reference to the greeting Andy always uses for Jack Benny on his radio show, when Andy performed in the Benny western sketches. Andy Devine also appeared with Jack Benny in, BUCK BENNY RIDES AGAIN-1940. Benny wore a cowboy outfit similar to Turner's.