Rodeo Rhythm

I watched this movie for the first time over the weekend. The acting & sound wasn't that great but what would anyone expect in 1941? It was a special film to me because my brother was one of Roy Knapp's Rough Riders. This film was made the year I was born but I wasn't aware of it until now. Seeing these young children do their own riding was amazing. Later on in my life I remember seeing Roy Knapp & the kids do their stuff & they were fantastic. It's a film along the lines of the Little Rascals & I was proud to see my brother involved...even tho he didn't have a speaking part & was uncredited....

Other than the juvenile western act of Roy Knapp's Rough Riders which was a troupe of young trick riders, there's not a whole lot to recommend Rodeo Rhythm. It was shot in the Kansas City area on a more anemic budget than usual from Producer's Releasing Corporation and featured apparently a whole lot of local talent in the cast who look pretty uneasy before the camera.

Three people in the cast had other film credits besides this one. They include Fred Scott former opera baritone turned singing cowboy hero, Loie Bridge playing his sister who runs an orphanage which is populated by the young trick riders and John Frank who plays the mean old skinflint who wants to shut them down.

To keep the wolf away the kids fall back on the old Mickey Rooney/ Judy Garland gambit of let's put on a rodeo. Most of the last quarter of the film is devoted to said rodeo.

One thing I will say, the kids are real kids and not Hollywood kids and their lack of guile in their performances is appealing. But it's not enough to lift the film out of terminal mediocrity.