Home in San Antone

Raucous 60-minutes where Corrigan, Cleveland, and Frawley compete for the crown of Most Noisy. Hard to believe this was a studio production (Columbia), when it plays more like something from Monogram. I'm just sorry Acuff and Co. don't get more music time, since, as reviewer Audiemurph points out, the plot is a mess. Something about a stolen statue and a radio quiz show giving away a fantastic (for then) $200,000. Fans who tune in expecting a western will be disappointed. It's really a country musical pitched in a contemporary setting. Sort of odd seeing the Modernaires since their selections are often jazzy. Here, however, they're strictly conventional, probably to broaden audience appeal. Anyway, the film looks like a quickie and is mainly for fans of Acuff who really should have had more screen time instead of all that goofy comedic yelling.

(In passing—to my knowledge the first big payoff quiz show was TV's $64,000 Question {1955-58}.)

"Home in San Antone", running a mercifully short 65 minutes, barely rises to the level of a B-movie. The acting is pretty bad, and the story makes absolutely no sense at all. There may never have been a more confusing radio program prize show in all of broadcasting history.

However, the movie has a couple of things going for it that keep it from being a complete waste of time: first and foremost, the presence of the always-cantankerous William Frawley, still a few years from Lucy, playing what he generally plays best, a cranky and domineering detective who manages to get everything wrong (I think he played the exact same role in "Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man" two years later, with the same suit and hat).

Frawley may also be the victim of the most unconvincing stunt double ever; his double is tall and lanky, and the clothes don't fit him at all. This HAS to have been a joke amongst the folks who produced this movie.

An addition, this is a movie in which the music is actually better than the plot; the legendary Roy Acuff and his Smokey Mountain Boys play a number of old-time country songs, which I found catchy and enjoyable.

Most hilarious of all are the 3 ladies with the very short skirts who were forced to sing the brief and silly jingle for Hurrah Laundry over and over and over again. Gentlemen, these may be the most attractive and fabulous pairs of legs to appear anywhere on film through the entire 1940's.

Having said all that, this is not a movie to put on your must-see list.