San Fernando Valley (1944) User Reviews (6)

"I'm Gonna Settle Down And Never More Roam, And Make The San Fernando Valley My Home"

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 22 July 2008]

On a review of another of the co-starring westerns of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans I remarked that the banter between the two of them was a kind of red state Tracy and Hepburn. Some of the comedic banter here is a bit more forced and the comedy more physical in San Fernando Valley. It was more like Cagney and Davis in The Bride Came COD. Not that that was bad.

Remembering that this was a film made for the kiddie trade so some of the goofiness of the plot is somewhat forgivable. Dale Evans and Jean Porter are the granddaughters of Andrew Toombes and Jean's one flirtatious young lady. Instead of doing their work, the cowhands on the ranch played by Sons of the Pioneers are busy serenading her. So Toombes loses patience and fires the whole lot of them, including a pair of no goods played by LeRoy Mason and Charles Smith.

Well Dale decides to strike a blow for feminism and to replace the Sons of the Pioneers with some female cowhands led by Dot Farley. Remember this was the war years of Rosie the Riveteer and I can imagine this film must have really struck a responsive note with the swingshift crowd.

Of course Jean misses the guys and decides on a scheme where the Sons of the Pioneers steal Toombes's horses and then the idea is to recover them so everyone can see how valuable the men are. Of course Smith and Mason decide to take advantage of the scheme for their own profit and its up to Roy Rogers to stop them.

Even Trigger gets into the act when Rogers tackles two bad guys jumping off of Trigger. Trigger keeps one at bay while Roy subdues the other. What a horse.

Roy and Dale are in great voice singing the title song and a host of others. The big hit record of Gordon Jenkins's classic was done by Bing Crosby, one of Der Bingle's biggest wartime sellers.

And Roy and Dale even get their first screen kiss here to the consternation of millions of kids out there who thought Roy violating the cowboy code as set down by Gene Autry.

During this period a lot of Roy's films were given big musical productions, as big as Republic and Herbert J. Yates would have them. The seven minute finale includes the title song and others from the score and has singing and dancing you might more associate with Busby Berkeley.

Now that definitely violates the cowboy code.

Rather typical of the genre...

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 24 June 2012]

Mr. Kenyon is having problems. His employees mostly sit around singing with his young daughter (Jean Porter)--a problem typical to most ranches. So, he fires his employees and his older daughter (Dale Evans) hires a bunch of woman to run the place. At the same time, Roy has come into town and gets run over by Dale and conked over the head and robbed. So, his trail naturally is to the Kenyon spread--to woo Dale and find the thieves.

This film has a lot in common with Roy Rogers' other movies. It's set out west--but in a weird modern one with cars, telephones and the like. When Dale meets him, she hates him--only to eventually be won over by the rugged and virtuous Rogers! He also has a dopey sidekick--though instead of the familiar Gabby Hays, he's got the more larcenous but equally unattractive Edward Gargan. Gargan isn't the women-hater that Gabby usually plays but he's enjoyable nonetheless. And, of course, there's Trigger who manages once again to save the day. Familiar...but also enjoyable.

In the 1950s, most of Roy Rogers' films were hacked apart in order to make them fit into a one-hour time slot. Because of this, many of his films (particularly those in the public domain) have been truncated severely. Oddly, in many cases they left in all the songs--making the pacing of the films rather poor. Fortunately, "San Fernando Valley" is not one of these shortened films--and the pacing is much, much better. Instead of the usual song-chocked movie, this one actually has a bit more story and doesn't seem so rushed. It's not at all a great film but (the acting and writing are rather broad) it's a bit better than the average Rogers film. For fans of the genre, it's well worth seeing. For others, it might seem a bit silly and predictable (which they are....but that's part of their old fashioned charm). Plus, the weird orange dance number at the end is pretty weird--and something that might throw off potential fans, as it's MEGA-weird now that I think about it!!

"I certainly hope I run into you again some time. At sixty miles an hour!"

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 28 March 2022]

You might think you wound up watching the wrong film when this one begins. It has Betty Lou Kenyon (Jean Porter) singing a musical number while cutting back and forth to a man daydreaming on a hammock. When it resolves to Miss Kenyon singing with a bunch of cowhands on the Kenyon Ranch, the outcome isn't very favorable for Bob Nolan and The Sons of the Pioneers; they're all fired for not attending to ranch business! Leading that charge is Betty Lou's sister Dale (Dale Evans), who thinks it would be a good idea to replace them all with women. And this was well before women's lib came on the scene! However, when Dottie O'Toole (Dot Farley) introduces herself to Gramp 'Cyclone' Kenyon (Andrew Tombes), she calls herself the new 'foreman'. At least political correctness still hadn't entered the language.

This picture has a bit more slapstick than the usual Roy Rogers flick. Right after Dale kisses Roy on the cheek to make her sister jealous, Roy shouts 'Yippee!" and proceeds to blindly run into a swimming pool! Also unusual is the lack of a legitimate sidekick for Roy. You could say Edward Gargan fills that role here as the carnival concessionaire Keno, but he's not really funny or provide any humor to the story.

Like a lot of Roy's early flicks, this one is heavy on the musical numbers, even in the shortened for TV format I caught on one of the streaming channels. Most have Dale joining in with Roy, including that first tune where they're both 'jailed' for arguing in the street by carnival sheriff Hank Bell. This film, more so than most of Roy's pictures, has him openly wooing a potential girlfriend, and I guess it worked in the long term. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans married in real life three years later.

Dale Evans rules the roost, in this musical comedy western

[weezeralfalfa · 9/10 · 25 April 2019]

Having only seen Roy Rogers films released before this one, I can say this film is in a class by itself, thus far. This is only the second Roy film featuring Dale Evans, who is the most influential actor through most of it. The emphasis is almost exclusively on music, comedy and some flirting, with just a tad of villainy. Unlike most Roy Rogers films I have seen, the copy at YouTube is uncut, which adds to its appeal.......Although Andrew Tombes, as 'Cyclone' is the owner of the ranch where much of the action takes place, his granddaughter Dale(Dale Evans) mostly runs this horse ranch. His nickname being a piece of sarcasm, Cyclone is anything but an energetic leader, spending much time laying in his hammock. Cyclone's younger granddaughter, Betty Lou(Jean Porter) spends much of her time singing or flirting with the wranglers, most of whom play a musical instrument, to accompany her singing. She's a late teen, about 10 years younger than Dale(Jean Porter was actually 22, but short, which makes her seem younger). She's in the boy-crazy stage, and much of the film deals with her related antics.........Dale is introduced to Roy when he steps out in front of her station wagon, and gets bumped slightly. They get a bit acquainted, then argue some. The parade-sanctioned policeman charges them with being a public nuisance, and pushes them into a motorized cage, after handcuffing them together. But pickpocket Roy grabbed his keys to the handcuffs and cage. After he leaves, Roy takes off their handcuffs, and lets himself out of the cage, but doesn't let Dale out, because she refused his offer of a dance date. He gets in the cab and somehow starts the motor, gunning it down the bumpy road, throwing Dale all over the cage. Finally, she's had enough and agrees. When Roy comes to her home to pick her up, she has a few surprises waiting, like a fake holdup man, and a pail of water over the screen door, activated by opening it........Dale fires all the wranglers because they spend too much time lazing around with Betty Lou. In town, she discovers Hattie's Cowgirls taking part in the parade, and succeeds in signed them up to replace the fired wranglers! Later, the male cook quits when he sees all the women wranglers. Roy happens to be on hand, so he and his sidekick Keno(Ed Gargan) are hired as cooks, even though they have no such experience. They find "The Bride's Survival Guide" on the kitchen table, and decide to make a complex dish. Unfortunately, while they are gathering the ingredients, Willie, the dog, makes off with their book, so that they have no idea how much of each ingredient to add, and how to mix them. Of course, they come up with something less than edible. Roy dumped the entire container of paprika into his sauce, causing the partakers to immediately run to the bathroom. Keno's biscuits broke a plate when dropped on it! The 2 are fired, but Betty Lou, who has developed a crush on Roy, thinks of some ways to keep Roy around, rescuing her, or the horses. She convinces the former male wranglers ,who are still around, waiting for their female replacements to be shown inadequate, with hopes of replacing them, to rustle the horses, then return and offer to find them! Roy and others go looking for the horses. Roy finds 2 men, former employees of the ranch , as suspects. He chases them, and, amazingly, moves off Trigger onto one of the horses, and pushes both men off their horses(I assume a stunt man actually did this). They roll down a hill and fight until Roy prevails........Willie, the dog, is an all around scamp. Twice he stole Cyclone's pipe, laying beside Cyclone. I've mentioned his stealing the cook book. Also, he kept beating Keno at shell games! The presence of impish Jean Porter is a significant plus, as she is involved in the singing and , of course, drama, and comedy. 65yo Hattie O'Tool, as the leader of the cowgirls, is also funny, especially when interacting with Cyclone or Keno........ Singing takes place periodically, featuring Jean, Roy, Dale or the Sons of the Pioneers. There is a 7 min. elaborate production at the end, featuring several songs, including the title song, and including a gymnastic roller skating duo, and a gymnastic dance team: a satisfying end to an interesting, atypical, Rogers film.

Excellent Movie

[timbertrail4444 · 10/10 · 2 January 2014]

In order to enjoy San Fernando Valley you must watch the uncut version. It is a shame that they cut Roy's movies to 54 minutes for TV. Most of the time they cut out some great musical numbers and songs. This movie has Dale Evans (her first year in the Roy Rogers movies), Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers, Jean Porter and of course Trigger. They have an excellent musical number at the end with loads of catchy tunes and dancers. Most of Roy's movies are available uncut but you must search for them. Don't watch the 54 minute versions. One highlight of the movie is when Roy sings "How Could Anyone Be Sweeter Than You" To Dale and the Pioneers singing "Over The Rainbow Trail" to the girls around the swimming pool.

Fun Blending Of Old And New

[dougdoepke · 24 April 2022]

The plot's mostly incidental to the characters, mainly about baddies stealing horses so men can replace women as ranch hands, after the guys have been fired and replaced by gals. Naturally Roy goes after the stealers, that is, when cutie Porter's not making big-eyes at him. If that sounds like a wacky plot, it is, wacky but fun.

That Hollywood opening of dancers on a sound stage had me wondering if I'd hit the wrong button. But the narrative quickly and cleverly recovers. No, it ain't a formula oater, but it is lively with lots of eye-candy for the guys. And that's along with lots of hard riding and flying fists, but little fast shooting. In fact, Roy's minus guns and holsters for the most part.

Nonetheless, things move along at a rapid clip, along with some nice touches. There's Trigger winning a fist-fight proving hooves are tougher than fists, plus a burly, loud mouth woman (Farley) who sent me under the bed, and that's along with a clever blending of old west and new.

Anyway, it's a fun way to pass an hour with Roy, Dale, Trigger, and teenage Shirley Temple look-a-like, Jean Porter. So giddy-up horsey, let's go.