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Roy Rogers in TruColor and Uncut (1 Viewer)

John Sparks

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Just purchased from Amazon RARE ROY ROGERS MOVIES VOL.5. It has 4 movies, but I needed 3 of them for my collection. The other two volumes are in my queue and hoping they'll go down in price. This volume dropped from $20 to $10, so I grabbed it.

The movie I watched today was: EYES OF TEXAS. Run time is supposed to be 70 min, was 70 min. but the box said 54 min. Had Republic Pictures front and back, but it was in B&W, with the word "color" blacked out. Picture was soft, but I've seen worse.

I did sample the other 3.

WALL STREET COWBOY. Run time supposed to be 66 min, was 56 min. box said 66 min. Picture soft, no front/back Republic Pictures.

SOUTHWARD HO. Run time supposed to be 58 min, was 53 min, box said 56 min. Picture soft, no front/back Republic Pictures.

FRONTIER PONY EXPRESS. Run time supposed to be 58 min, was 53 min, box said 60 in. MCA TV Ltd. at front, no Republic on back. Picture was pretty good.

This box set is put out by Reel Enterprises with a RE visible in the bottom right corner throughout the film on all the films.

All in all, not too bad. The other 2 volumes I want will probably be the same.
 

John Sparks

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WALL STREET COWBOY was not soft. The opening titles are soft but the rest has a pretty good picture. Especially upscaled to 4K.

FRONTIER PONY EXPRESS was pretty good, including picture wise. As it progressed, the picture got a lot better. They even included the card, "SPONSOR'S MESSAGE" at the 30 min. mark. Same as above about 4K.
 
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John Sparks

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Great! That's one of the titles I wanted off Amazon, but it was so expensive, $70-90. I'd hate to watch it and not own it physically.

Oh, and eBay wants $108-135...I wonder why someone thinks it's so rare?
 
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Bob Gu

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That TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD, out of print, Goodtimes DVD is not the full movie, according the review on Amazon. It's the Happy Trails Theater 53 minute version with Roy and Dale chatting with Penny Edwards.

If the TCM version proves disappointing, you are better off tracking down the complete VHS versions from Republic Home Video. I have the 1991 release, but the reviewer says his is a 1995 release from Republic/Lions Gate. That one may be a newer better print than the 1991 release. And TRAIL is also on YouTube, complete, probably from the old VHS, or a TV broadcast.
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GRIT has shown TRAIL in the past, but it must have been cut, since I didn't save it. But, I'll take a new look if it shows up again.

TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD-1950 67 minutes TRUCOLOR
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TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD is the last Roy Rogers Trucolor, released on December 15, 1950, and some sources say it was also the last Republic 2-color produced. But, Rod Cameron's, OH! SUSANNA, also a 2-color Trucolor ?, was released on March 3, 1951. HONEYCHILE, with Judy Canova, was the first 3-color Trucolor, and was released on October 12, 1951. Republic did not release any color movies, between OH! SUSANNA and HONEYCHILE, in 1951, as they geared up for the 3-color Trucolor process. Roy's last five Republics, released in 1951, were produced in black and white.

TRAIL stars Roy, Penny Edwards, Gordon Jones, Carol Nugent, and Jack Holt, plus a slew of old cowboy stars.
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The plot: Movie star, Jack Holt has a Christmas Tree Farm and wants to sell his trees way below cost, so every kid can afford a tree. Big Business Christmas Tree does not like this, and the tree middleman, Clifton Young, takes this as license to stir up trouble, with Holt. Forestry Agent Roy, along with Trigger and Bullet, step in. Penny Edwards is Big Tree's daughter. Carol Nugent plays the kid. When Carol got taller, she married Nick Adams. I thought Carol and her sister, Judy, were the same person. Both usually played spunky, head on straight, young ladies.
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Roy with 'Crash' Corrigan.
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'Crash', besides being an actor, also owned, Corriganville,, a western movie town, and provided, and sometimes acted in, gorilla/ape costumes. Sure, the costumes never fooled anyone, but did we really want Carole Landis to wrestle a real ape? 3M movie: THREE TEXAS STEERS
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Bert Greene

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"Trail of Robin Hood" is such a delightful gem. I have that Republic vhs release (although I can't seem to find the darned thing, to my frustration). It truly is a hilarious and marvelously self-conscious 'hat tip' to b-western villainy, with that scene of George Chesebro joining in with the 'good guys.' I would have thought the role might have been designed for Republic's top dog of a villain, Roy Barcroft. But I'm glad they used the perpetually sneering and always growling Chesebro. He always brings a smile to my face, just like his fellow badman, Jack Ingram, wiho had that nasally voice and a certain low-key aura of mental denseness. Both perfect as nefarious henchmen ready to create grief for whichever B-cowboy hero rides into town, year after year.

Believe it or not, Chesebro had a few little starring (hero) roles back in the silent days. One was a rather goofy, low-budget indie called "Wolf Blood" (1925), about a tough logger who gets bitten by a wolf, and then starts to think he's becoming a wolf. Grapevine Video has a nice copy of it, but frankly, it's not a very good film and I wouldn't particularly recommend it. I'm almost certain Chesebro also starred as a hero in an early silent serial or two, but the title or titles escape me.

But back to "Trail of Robin Hood," I sure hope it either has, or it can be, restored to the gorgeous quality of "Trigger, Jr" and "Sunset in the West," as we've seen via Kino's blu-rays. Luckily, it's never been one of those titles whose original elements were chopped up for tv-syndication. But did Trucolor negatives survive as nicely as has those other two? Sure hope so. Actually, all those Republic Trucolor films need saving before it's too late. I believe both "Hellfire" (1949) with Bill Elliott, and maybe "The Plunderers" (1948), with Rod Cameron, have been rescued and restored, if memory serves me. Need 'em on blu! Especially, "Hellfire," which is one heck (ahem) of a movie.
 

Bob Gu

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I always thought George Chesebro looked and sounded like Jason Robards, Jr., more than Jason Robards, Sr., did.

Yes, HELLFIRE, THE PLUNDERERS, and THE OUTCAST have been restored and were shown in that Museum of Modern Art Program earlier in the year. I posted the MOMA videos about it a few pages back, Posts #166,167,168.

George Chesebro, thinking he is turning into a wolf in that movie WOLF BLOOD, brings to mind a Jason Robards, Jr., movie, called MR. SYCAMORE-1975, where his character wants to turn into a tree??
 
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Bert Greene

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Regarding "Trail," also find it interesting in that cameo cowboy-hero bit, Tom Keene has returned to being Tom Keene again. He'd switched his screen name to Richard Powers a few years earlier, following the end of his starring western career. I think his last Monogram western was 1942. But here in "Trail," he's back to being cowboy-star Tom Keene. Of course, before he adopted the Keene moniker, he was being billed as George Duryea, starring in a few late-silents, like MGM's rather agreeable "Tide of Empire" (1929), and Cecil B. DeMille's uneven but fascinating "The Godless Girl" (1929). The former is available thru Warner Archives, and has a nice print.

I'd hoped Warner Archives was going to collect all the Tom Keene RkO's into a set, like they'd done with Dick Foran's WB series. But they started releasing them separately, with "Cross-Fire" (1933) and "Renegades of the West" (1932), which are actually two of the weaker entries. I'm afraid the reluctance to collect and release them all in a set might imply elements problems with some of them. Might not be up to snuff for a disc release. But I'd sure like to get a spiffy copy of "Scarlet River" (1933), with Keene playing a movie-cowboy making a film (a plot device that both Rogers and Autry dipped into quite often). The movie is good fun, and serves up a neat little scene at the RKO commissary. I'd say two of the best Keene RKO's are "Son of the Border" (1933) and "Come On Danger" (1932), which both feature Julie Haydon, an exceptionally talented little actress who never quite made a big name for herself. Although, she did get a pretty good role in the intriguing but overly-talky fantasy "The Scoundrel" (1935), opposite Noel Coward. Only saw it once, about 30 years ago. It was production-team Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's follow-up to their bizarre but entertaining "Crime Without Passion" (1934). Another little item that should be out on disc.
 

Bob Gu

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Behind the scenes, movie-within-a-movie, films are great fun, especially westerns. Below: THE BIG SHOW where Gene Autry played the stuntman, Gene Autry, and the actor, 'Tom Ford'. (Which means that that were at least two more stuntmen, playing Gene as Gene, and Gene as Tom.)
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The former cowboy stars were always working, They worked themselves up to stars. Then when they started to fade, they played character parts, bad guys, posse members, and extras in crowd and saloon scenes. Kermit Maynard is all over 50s and 60s TV westerns.

Were George O'Brien's "Renegade Ranger" and Tim Holt's "Come on Danger", remakes of Tom Keene's "Come On Danger"?

It's been four years since Vol. 4 of the TIM HOLT COLLECTION came out from WAC. There are still 10 Holt RKOs, left, but some are Zane Grey titles that may still be with Lionsgate. Lionsgate also released the five earlier Zane Greys with Robert Mitchum, James Warren, and the Chito Rafferty character played by Richard Martin and John Laurenz.

Bob Mitchum, 'Big Boy' Williams, and Richard 'Chito' Martin, in NEVADA.
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Tim Holt and Richard Martin with Lois Andrews, in RUSTLERS.
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Julie Haydon, for Bert.
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Bert Greene

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Ah, real nice, Bob! I've never seen those stills of Haydon before. And yes, RKO sure made use of that "Come On, Danger" script. The George O'Brien version from 1938 seems to get the most attention, as RKO borrowed a young Rita Hayworth from Columbia for the leading-lady role. All three versions are pretty sharp fare, with the young lady rancher in charge of a crew of renegades. I actually like the oldest one (Keene's) best, and admittedly, Julie Haydon has a lot to do with that.

Those westerns in which the star cowboy is playing himself as a "movie cowboy" working in the film industry, or something along those lines, usually makes for a fun recipe. Gene Autry's "The Big Show" (1936) is indeed one of my favorite Autry films, with its many location scenes shot at the Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas. Each time I see the film, I can't help but peer closely at the large outdoor crowd scenes. That's because my grandparents attended the event back then in 1936, and somehow I wind up wistfully looking for them in the footage, however wildly unlikely it would be they were there that specific day and captured on film.

Along similar lines there is Charles Starrett in "The Cowboy Star" (1936), as a western actor who goes home to his ranch, but winds up tangling with outlaws, natch. I have a nice original lobby-card to the film, with a portrait of Starrett and the lovely Iris Meredith. Not too different, plotwise, we also have George O'Brien's "Hollywood Cowboy" (1937), about a film cowboy on a camping trip out west. Good fun. There was also "Hollywood Round-Up" (1937) with Buck Jones, which I haven't seen in ages, but I recall Buck being the stuntman for the actual 'cowboy star,' with leading lady being sad-eyed Helen Twelvetrees, whose career path was pretty much bottoming out by this period.

I'm sure there must be many more examples. Buck Jones was also in that earlier one entitled "The Thrill Hunter" (1933), where Buck, playing a hopeless braggart, manages to get invited to Hollywood by a film company to star in films. It was a pretty good, comedy-tinged western. Sony has this one out via their 'mod' Archive line, and the print looks pretty stunning. The Fox Archive line also has "The Cowboy and the Blonde" (1941), with George Montgomery and Mary Beth Hughes. It's a bit more of a romantic comedy than a b-western, but it definitely shows that mix of western and film-studio shenanigans. Fox's print of it isn't as stellar as some of their others, but it's certainly adequate. Yeah, a lot of films traveled this territory, and I find just about all of them enjoyable.
 

Bob Gu

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Bert, thanks for the run down on all those movie cowboys, playing movie cowboys, movies. I do have "Scarlet River" on tape somewhere and I'll look into the mod ones the next time I am off my not buying anything mode.

Does anyone have this? Is it worth getting?
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I notice the written blurbs about this book on Amazon and DeepDiscount, use the same wording that was used as the narration in this old documentary.
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RBailey

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I had planned on buying the Republic Pictures book that Bob Gu posted above until I looked at the book information on the Amazon website. Go to the books "Look Inside" feature and on one of the pages is a poster for a Buck Jones Universal feature "The Crimson Trail". Underneath the poster is the copy "Cowboy actor Buck Jones and his horse Silver were stars at Republic Pictures." I decided not to buy it because of an error like that making it through the editorial process. (Buck made only one Republic film, WAGONS WESTWARD in 1940 billed third under Chester Morris and Anita Louise),
 

Vic Pardo

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I watched TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD on TCM tonight. Beautiful Trucolor print. Lots of blue and orange. No red or green. Even the Christmas trees were brown. I'm guessing it was a new print. Certainly a lot sharper than my old Republic Pictures VHS edition.

Here are some screen shots:

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I was amused at how reckless the bad guys are, always attacking, assaulting and trying to kill Roy, who happens to be the head of the regional office of the U.S. Soil and Conservation Service, which makes him a federal government official. Despite the fact that he wears a cowboy outfit, rides a horse and carries a gun belt. Don't they realize there are federal penalties for such actions? It would be well within Roy's rights to call the FBI.

Which is, of course, true of so many of Roy's "modern" westerns. In BELLS OF CORONADO (1950), the bad guys are stealing uranium and transporting it to a secret air field to be flown out to the Soviet Union, yet Roy never calls the FBI, which would have mobilized helicopters and an army of field agents with fast cars and automatic weapons, but instead he organizes a feeble posse from the Riders of the Purple Sage singing group, who happen to be local utility workers, and they ride out on horses with six-guns to try and stop a plane. Oh, well...but that's what makes Roy's Trucolor westerns so unique.
 
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