User Reviews

Riding, roping and singing hero Gene Autry comes to the aid of the elderly Mathilde Hutchins and other ranchers in danger of losing their ranch land to dastardly land-grabbers like hotel owner Cavanaugh(Walter Fenner). Gene's sidekick 'Frog' Millhouse(Smiley Burnette)is along for comic relief. And for love interest there is June Storey playing Alice. You can't really have an Autry movie without a good chase sequence and some harmonizing. MOUNTAIN RHYTHM is full of songs with the better being "Long Long Ago", "Gold Mine in Your Heart" and even "The Old Grey Mare" is interesting. The cast includes: Ferris Taylor, Jack Pennick, Tom London, Bernard Suss and Jack Ingram.

"Signal 42 Men", that's the battle cry as leader Judge Worthington (Ferris Taylor) rallies his men together via the hobo grapevine and come to the rescue of local ranchers trying to win back their grazing land at government auction. It seems that financier Cavanaugh (Walter Fenner) has his sights on Pueblo Springs as a major tourist destination and health center, and makes every effort to thwart the locals in their quest. You won't believe the cattle roundup that the hobos inspire, using every form of locomotion available in the early 1900's - auto, tractor, motorbikes, scooters and bicycles, not to mention a bunch on foot to bring the cattle to market. It's probably the highlight of the film.

What any of this has to do with the title isn't very clear, but then again, a lot of B Westerns from the Thirties and Forties didn't. Gene Autry hooks up with sidekick Smiley Burnette once again, and for you trivia fans, I believe this is the only time I've ever heard Smiley's character Frog Millhouse referred to by a real first name - that would be Lester. I wonder if they made that up on the spot.

The action is fast paced and punctuated by a variety of Autry tunes, with a neat medley of popular songs during a mid-flick hayride, which includes Old MacDonald, The Old Gray Mare and Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet. The lighthearted touch undercuts some of the shenanigans by the bad guys, but that's par for the course in a lot of Gene's pictures. Gene looks awkward in all of his fight scenes and Smiley looks awkward most of the time, but if you're a fan, most of it won't matter as the good guys come through in the end with enough cash on hand to win the land auction from the baddies.

B. Reeves "Breezy" Eason directs this Gene Autry Western, and as usual his hand on the tiller means lots of realistic action. The ranchers of New Mexico are trying to purchase a parcel of government land that they've grazed their cattle on for 20 years, but which is being put up for sale. Crooked businessmen in the area want to frustrate the ranchers' plans and grab the land to expand an existing resort and turn the area into an urban sprawl that they can cash in on, big time.

Enter Gene Autry and Frog; and two hobos, "Judge" Homer Worthington, and Rocky, to help the ranchers out-wit the baddies. Throw in an elderly female rancher, Ma Hutchins, who takes a liking to the judge (and him to her) and you've got a Western that, while the general plot line is familiar -- crooked businessmen trying to cheat honest ranchers -- has some unusual twists and turns.

Especially entertaining is a knock-down, drag-out fight between Gene and Frog, and several of the henchmen of the crooked businessmen, in the resort they want to expand. It's one of the best-directed fight scenes I've ever watched, and it's very clear that it really is Gene, and not a stunt man, trading punches and wrestling with up to three baddies at a time. Ditto for Frog. Eason generally permitted his stars to do any stunts themselves that they were capable of, and people who worked with Gene Autry have been quoted as saying that he liked to do his own stunts, when allowed.

Plenty of rough, hard riding during the climactic scenes, too, with Eason shooting in such a way as to show that it really is Gene on Champ, galloping full tilt through narrow gorges and up and down hillsides.

There are also five or six good songs in this movie, starting with "Highways Are Happy Ways" right at the start. And there seems to be a real camaraderie between Gene, Frog, the judge, and Rocky. Also, Maude Eburne and Ferris Taylor provide plenty of character color as Ma and the Judge.

And before I forget, the lovely June Story, the leading lady, and Gene start out having a verbal spat, as they so often did in his movies; but by the end, they appear to be headed for the altar and matrimony.

This is one of Gene's best movies of his pre-1940 Republic years, before the studio became fixated on spoiled eastern heiresses as a plot line in film after film. It's definitely worth watching.