Rainbow Over the Range

An above average Tex Ritter vehicle featuring his future wife Dorothy Fay (a Prescott native.) The movie was filmed in and around Prescott, AZ, including Watson Lake, Granite Dells, and the movie studio Producers Pictures Corporation (soon to be PRC) built at what is now Watson Lake Park. After making only two pictures at their new Prescott studio, PPC first rented it to Monogram, and then sold it to the City of Prescott. Listed third billing on the title credit is Warner Richmond, yet he is barely in the beginning of the movie. During early shooting he was thrown by his horse, landing on the granite rocks, suffering a fractured skull. Catchy tune under the credits: "My Tonto Basin Home" by Garland Edmundson.

Rainbow Over The Range has Tex Ritter cast as a US Marshal with Slim Andrews as his Deputy/Sidekick. They're called in on a job because someone is rustling horses that are consigned to the US Army and the local sheriff and deputy are killed right at the beginning of the film.

Not much suspense in this film mainly because within the first 10 minutes we know exactly who the outlaw leader. In fact the idea is to deprive the brother and sister who currently have the government contract for cavalry horses of same. And on the front this despicable villain is even willing to go after the school where the sister teaches.

The brother and sister are Dennis Moore and Dorothy Fay and shortly after this film was made, Tex Ritter and Dorothy Fay tied the knot in real life. Fay gave up her career which mostly consisted of B westerns like this one where she also co-starred such folks as George Houston, Buck Jones, and Wild Bill Elliott.

Rainbow Over The Range is a pleasing enough B western for Tex Ritter who while he does get a couple of songs in, the accent is on riding and shooting. He and Andrews have a nice comic number with Fay's school kids attending. That's worth checking out.

Someone has stolen all the horses that Jeff and Mary (Dennis Moore and Dorothy Fay) were going to sell to the cavalry.

The two young innocents believe that Mayor Rader (Jim Pierce) is trying to help them but, even allowing for a level of naivety, they should see that anyone with a mug like that can only be a rotter! Not only does he arrange for people to be murdered but he also wants to close the school where Mary teaches. How bad is that? Luckily Tex is on hand - along with comic sidekick "Arkansas Slim" Andrews - to sort the crooks out and sing the excellent title song. The bad guys must have liked it too: note how, when they decide to shoot him on the trail, they wait until he finishes the number before actually drawing their guns.

Good undemanding fun!