The Strawberry Roan

I am a longtime collector of Gene Autry memorabilia, especially his films. The "Strawberry Roan" has always been my favorite Autry film. I can remember seeing this movie in 1948 as an eight year old boy. I'm sure that seeing this movie in Cinecolor added to my enjoyment of the film. As a boy I was not really into the music but the "horse story" intrigued me and kept my attention.

I searched for over thirty years as a film collector for a 16mm print of this title in color. This past summer my search ended as I purchased a print that was listed on Ebay. So far as I know, this is the only color print in existence.

As a Gene Autry western I rate this film at 4 stars because of the story, scenery, and music. Gene sings some beautiful songs in this one.

Longer (78 minutes) than the usual Autry western, 1948's "The Strawberry Roan" tells a story about Gene's horse Champion (World's Wonder Horse) who appeared in his films from 1935 until 1953. Actually there were three film horses called Champion, all were sorrel-colored with three or four white stockings. The original died while Gene was in the service so the one in "The Strawberry Roan" is probably Champion Jr. (born in 1942) who appeared with Gene until 1950.

In this color film Champion looks more chestnut than strawberry, and the roan part is hard to tell (a roan is a horse with white hairs mixed in equally with its main color).

Gene plays a ranch foreman who captures a wild strawberry roan which then throws the son of the ranch owner. The young man Joe (Dickie Jones) breaks his leg and the horse starts to attack him. The enraged father Walt (Jack Holt) goes on a shooting rampage and believes he has killed the rogue horse, but Gene finds the wounded animal and secretly nurses it back to health. Meanwhile Joe has gone into a severe depression over his riding mistake and won't even attempt to walk again.

When Walt finds out about Gene's subterfuge they have a falling out. Walt's daughter Connie (Gloria Henry-a young Mrs. Mitchell from "Dennis the Menace") tries to patch things up between the two men because you just know that the best thing for Joe would be to get back up on the saddle and ride the same horse that threw him.

Gene still finds the time for singing. In addition to the title song there is "Texas Lullaby" and "When the White Roses Bloom in Red River Valley".

This was not just Pat Buttrum's first Autry film but the first film of his career. He looks very young but has already developed several of his comic bits.

Gene was an old looking 40 by this time but they still tried to sort of pair him up with teenage looking starlets like Gloria Henry. The code of the west wouldn't permit him to be attracted to someone his daughter's age, so like on his later television show these girls are made to seem vaguely in love with his character while he seems more attracted to horses.

Dickie Jones' Joe is the most interesting character. If you ever wondered about the term "borderline personality" you may want to closely observe this guy. Such people are characterized as having a tendency to react more intensely to lower levels of stress than others and to take longer to recover; peaking emotionally on less provocation and taking longer coming down. Such is poor Joe. It is interesting that this clinical condition should get its most accurate screen portrayal in a film that is mostly about horses. I think at one point Gene even remarks that horses and people are a lot alike.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Anyone who has had a loved one with a spinal injury can really relate to this outstanding movie. Gene Autry does it all in this one. He is a foreman, horse trainer, therapist to a paralyzed Dickie Jones and performs some of his best songs. It's not hard to see why Jack Holt was Al Capp's favorite actor. He shows great passion in trying to avenge his sons injuries and tries to kill the wild stallion responsible. But he has to battle his foreman in the process. Champion well earned his second-billing status in this one. John McGuire added just the right suspense and Pat Buttram showed signs of the perfect sidekick making his film debut here.

Recently, a bunch of fully restored Gene Autry westerns were uploaded onto the Shout Factory channel for the Roku and Amazon Fire devices. Most are gorgeous and feature the full movie...not the abbreviated versions chopped up to fit TV formats. However, "The Strawberry Roan" is, despite the restoration, a really ugly film. This is because they used an inferior color process in the original movie, Cinecolor. Cinecolor films in the early days looked about as good as the Two-Color Technicolor pictures. But both processes were primitive and used a red-orange as well as blue-green pallet...and they achieved a color-like stock. In other words, it wasn't true color and didn't display the full range of colors. However, when Three-Color Technicolor (or simply 'Technicolor') came out in the mid-1930s, it was vastly superior to the two-color processes. Shockingly, despite this, the obsolete Cinecolor process continued to be in use into the 1950s...mostly because it was cheaper and easier to use. But it was also pretty ugly...and over time, it gets uglier and uglier. See the film...you'll see what I mean. Everything looks orangy and greeny (is 'greeny' a word?) in the movie...with no true reds, blues or yellows.

When the story begins, Gene and some of the other hands on the ranch FINALLY catch the beautiful horse who has been running wild for some time. The ranch owner (Jack Holt) is thrilled and his son (Dickie Jones) is even more excited and begs his father to let him have the horse....which he does. Unfortunately, when the horse tosses the young man, he's badly hurt and the father wants to kill the horse. Gene intervenes an the horse escapes. But after the boss and his workers chase the roan, it falls off a cliff and everyone assumes that when Gene went down to investigate he shot the horse to put it out of its misery. But Gene is loathe to kill the pretty animal and later returns to tend to it until it's well enough to return to the wild. What's next? After all, Gene is bound to make his boss mad about saving the animal AND the poor kid...will he recover??

This film has a very impressive cast for a Gene Autry film. Jack Holt was a fine actor in the 1920s-30s and it's nice to see him here. Gloria Henry (the mom on TV's "Dennis the Menace"....and who is still going strong well into her 90s), Dickie Jones (who made tons of cowboy films and was the voice of DIsney's "Pinocchio") as well Pat Buttram are also on hand to lend their support. And, so is Rufe Davis...though his shtick is something you'll either love or hate.

So is this film any good? Yes....in fact, it's among Gene's better films. This is because it's really nothing like any of his films and offers some plot that you won't see in other B-westerns. This is important, as about 90% of all these films feature about 3-4 different plots...but not "The Strawberry Roan". The only deficiency in the film is that there aren't any memorable songs like you'd find in some of Autry's other pictures. Still, I liked how different this one was...a major plus for fans who love the genre.

*If you are curious, this is from the American Roan Horse Association's website: "Roan" refers to a horse coat color pattern characterized by an even mixture of colored and white hairs on the body, while the head and "points"-lower legs, mane and tail-are mostly solid-colored. Horses with roan coats have white hairs evenly intermingled throughout any other color. The head, legs, mane and tail have fewer scattered white hairs or none at all. The roan pattern is dominantly-inherited, and is found in many horse breeds. While the specific mutation responsible for roan has not been exactly identified, a DNA test can determine zygosity for roan in several breeds. True roan is always present at birth, though it may be hard to see until after the foal coat sheds out. The coat may lighten or darken from winter to summer, but unlike the gray coat color, which also begins with intermixed white and colored hairs, roans do not become progressively lighter in color as they age.

I doubt that any western, big budget or small, has photographed the superbly scenic locations of Sedona, Ariizona more beautifully than this overlooked Autry western. (Even the few outdoor sets are well done.) Columbia popped for more than usual amount of financing and definitely got their money's worth. This is an easy-going horse story, of the type so popular in the late forties, with just enough action and suspense to entertain both kids and adults. Gene has to protect Champ from a vengeful father, after Champ has disabled his son. Dick Jones does a spirited job as the likable son, showing why Autry kept up their association over the years. There are no typical bad guys or gunplay, but lots of scenic chases across the majestic spires and red-rock formations. I like the way the plot grows out of believable characters instead of the usual stereotypes. Also, the comedy relief is low-key and works nicely into the story line. Except for the lilting title tune, however, the usual musical numbers remain pretty forgettable. Too bad in our age of special-effects spectaculars that this kind of innocent Saturday afternoon fare has ridden off into the sunset. There is still a lot to be said for those gentler values.