Romance Road

This beautiful 3-strip Technicolor two reeler is a variation on the Friml-Stothart-Harbach-Hammerstein musical dealing with Canadian Mounties. This time around there is conflict between the men building a new railroad and the native French-Canadian trappers. Also in the mix, like Rose-Marie, is an abusive relationship between a white man and a Native American girl. The Mountie is summoned to save the day.

It's not a bad film, but the plot may be a bit much for a two reel short and characters are undeveloped. It's all rather melodramatic. The film is also devoid of humor. The songs, with lyrics by Jack Scholl and music by M. K. Jerome, are serviceable, but are not in the class with Friml melodies. Don't get me wrong. Scholl and Jerome wrote tons of music and lyrics mostly for Warners shorts and "B" pictures. Occasionally, one of their songs found its way into an "A" production, like "Knock on Wood" in "Casablanca" or "Some Sunday Morning" from "San Antonio". They are definitely unsung musical heroes of Hollywood and their work should be re-evaluated.

Romance Road (1938)

** (out of 4)

Weak romance about a RCMP sergeant who finds himself in the middle of a land rights battle between trappers and a railroad crew. The two sides are battling over what the land is for while the officer has this on his mind as well as a relationship with one of the locals. If it wasn't for one item this short would have been a complete disaster because there's really nothing good here. The story is about as simple as one could be and nothing special is done with it. The acting is below par to say the least and the relationship between Walter Cassel and Anne Nagel never rings true. Another major problem are the two songs that we get to hear because neither one is catchy and I'd say both should have been tossed out to save us from the 19-minute running time. What makes this film worth viewing is the 3-strip Technicolor. This color process wasn't widely used in 1938 so you can almost overlook all the flaws here because it's obvious everyone involved was more interested in making the picture look pretty and not overly worried about anything else. Fans of the 3-strip process will want to check this short out but others should stay clear.

For about half a dozen hears, Warner Brothers produced three-strip Technicolor short subjects, the primary purpose of which was to show off the color process. With that in mind, they offered some marvelous photography -- great production numbers and bright, bright colors. What could be more colorful than the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in their bright, red tunics? What could be stirring than Rudolf-Friml-style songs, with choreography by Bobby Connelly, now promoted to director?

Mounties were popular stage characters. If all we know of them these days is ROSE-MARIE and Dudley Do-Right, these 'Northerners' are a genre of movie whose time had passed. They look mildly ridiculous, even when the conventions are being taken seriously. However, the pictures are handsome, the players are good-looking and that's a bit of all right.