Tom Keene, der König der Steppe

Frederick Burton has been running the freight line for years, plagued by bandiits. When he is killed in a raid and the goods stolen, son Tom Keene tries to get money to carry on, but can't. It's all part of Michael Harris' plot to get the franchise for himself. Only pretty Barbara Kent is pulling for him.

RKO was the single Hollywood Major (which meant it owned production facilities, distributors and a theater chain) to maintain a B Western franchise through the 1950s. They were cheap to produce and had a steady market until B movie cowboys Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy moved to the small screen and destroyed the Saturday Morning Matinee.

This western has some fine photography by Ted McCord, is an early example of the Singing Cowboy genre -- nothing outrageous, just fellows spending some leisure time making music -- and if everyone seems to be a lot neater and cleaner than you'd expect after a day raising dust on the back of a horse..... well, that's the movies for you.