Notice in these productions from the '30's how often Gene is protecting little guys against big predators. It's a popular theme, I suspect, for that Depression decade. Here he's helping dairy farmers against a conniving outlaw outfit, led by a double-dealing doctor. Then too, these productions liked to work radio broadcasting into the storyline, as they do here with the doc giving orders in code over the air (clever).
It's a typically good Autry oater from the period, with a bang-up climax of hard-riding and buckboard crashes. That's along with two standout songs, especially the one by lakeside, plus little Patsy Montana who can be my cowboy's sweetheart any day.
Watch for Elmo Lincoln in a dairyman's role—he was one of the screen's earliest Tarzans! Quite a trip from the jungles to the Old West. Of course, Frog gets his usual comic relief, but he also gets to battle the bad guys just like Gene. Maybe the biggest surprise is tall, handsome Buster Crabbe as a good-bad guy, and so soon after traveling the universe as Flash Gordon. He's tough competition for Gene, but our hero manages. Anyway, it's another fine matinée special from our friends at Republic and Melody Ranch.
An "8" on the matinée scale.
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