Whoa!!! - did I hear that line right? And Gene's on the receiving end to boot, from black Mammy Etta McDaniel when the Stanhope thoroughbred (that would be Valdina) goes on a tear. That's not the only racial embarrassment in the film when viewed from the vantage point of today's political correctness. There's also Smiley Burnette in black-face posing as said Mammy later in the story. Fortunately the film achieves some balance with an all black song troupe offering up a spiritual rendering of 'Swanee River' followed up by a livelier tune later on. Both were quite well done and enhanced the musical offerings usually left to Gene and one of his cowboy back-up bands.
In a business deal at the center of the story, Gene bails out Southern plantation owner Grandad Stanhope (Eddy Waller) with some rodeo winnings of his after the old coot bets above his head and loses. As collateral, Gene takes possession of Valdina, but comes to realize that the Stanhopes and their neighbor plantation owners are all about to be taken advantage of by Henry Wheeler-dealer (Hardie Albright). The local landowners are unaware that the timber on their property has suddenly acquired market value, and Wheeler wants it all for himself.
After getting off on the wrong foot with Miss Caroline Stanhope (June Storey), Gene begins his investigation to set things right for the locals. As usual, Frog has a sub-plot on the side trying to avoid a gun duel with Colonel Jefferson (Frank Dae) and marriage to his daughter Evangeline (Terry Nibert). There's a third female cast member, Mary Lee as Stanhope sister Patsy, who manages to offer up a couple of songs along the way herself.
Keep an eye on that steeplechase race in which Gene goes up against villain Wheeler. I stopped counting at four over the different types of racetracks the event was taking place on. It started out on a grass field, hit a standard race track, and also managed to include a number of different barriers for the horses to jump. This all might have confused your average horse, which makes sense that Champion sat this one out.
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