Under California Stars

This film has about the same visual appeal as My Friend Flicka,

with it's brilliantly colorful Trucolor camerawork. The color

enhances greatly a film that is still mostly enjoyable. Though

highly dated, at times it's even suspenseful and get pretty exciting

towards the end, when Roy Rogers and his friends go to rescue

Trigger, who is billed as the smartest horse in pictures, and who

comes across as just that. Roy is charismatic and does all the

singing and horse wrangling like a pro, why shouldn't he?, and the

rest of the cast lend decent performances. Michael Chapin is

probably the best of the cast, after Roy, making his role as the

token star-struck kid seem not too predictable. Jane Frazee, on

the other hand, comes across as one of the dumbest leading

ladies ever. So, it's amusing and squeaky clean entertainment for

all the ages, but nothing superb. But then, it really wasn't

supposed to be.

Roy Rogers finishes his latest picture. He and Trigger head to their ranch to discover that Andy Devine has hired a lot of new hands, all of whom look like him, because they're cousins: all except the new horse trainer, Jane Frazee. But such pleasantries are discarded when some men who have been rounding up and butchering wild horses on his land. Roy stops them, and they decide that it will be much more profitable to kidnap Trigger and hold him for ransom. Roy is willing to pay, but then they start killing people....

Roy moves into color productions with this one; the print I looked at was not in great shape, obscuring Jack Marta's usual fine compositions and scenery shots. Wade Crosby makes a fine mean villain, and George Lloyd an interesting conflicted one. Roy, the Sons of the Pioneer, Andy, and Miss Frazee get some nice singing in as usual, and we get to see Roy ride another, uncredited horse. Although the story seems a little sketchy at times -- perhaps it had to be edited a touch more tightly than usual -- there are the usual nice stunt touches to keep the audience happy.

This film is within Rogers' batting average for light Western fare. There's some black hats that kidnap Trigger-played with dastardly glee. There's a young kid who is star struck. There's comedy bits that mostly work. But the film's title song-and how it is worked into the film-is one of the better usages of the singing cowboy trope. I've been humming Under California Stars all day after watching the film for the first time.

Roy, Trigger, a scruffy dog, and a boy like I used to be. Add some baddies, Trucolor, a pretty girl, and comic relief (Devine), and what else could this front row geezer ask for. And catch that surprise opening. As that scene shows, Roy plays a version of himself as cowboy hero. Seems some new West connivers want to steal Trigger for ransom and they've got a misguided youngster (Chapin) as part of their plan. Meanwhile, Roy's got his movie career to think about. And what would that career be without the world's smartest horse. Actually, a big part of the story is Roy and co. preventing cruelty to animals, whether horses or dogs. That means the bad guys are really bad. There's not much action til the end. The story, however, moves along nicely, with Director Witney even using close-ups astutely, especially with little Ted. But don't look for many tunes from the Sons of the Pioneers. They're mainly along for the ride. No, there's no Oscar bait here. Just the kind of afternoon entertainment that might hook some of today's youngsters if given half-a-chance.

Roy Rogers is a popular movie cowboy / rancher, celebrating his 10th Anniversary in pictures - with the assistance of helping hands Andy Devine (as "Cookie"), Bob Nolan, the Sons of the Pioneers, and Cookie's cousin Jane Frazee (as Caroline). Mr. Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers are in particularly fine voice for this "10th Anniversary" movie.

Michael Chapin (as Ted) plays a Roy Rogers fan who is taken in by the star; the boy witnesses the film's major plot development - the kidnapping of Trigger. There are several dramatic moments; but, these do not mix well with the light atmosphere of celebration and song-writing. Trigger and young Mr. Chapin are very appealing in "Under California Skies"; not surprisingly, they steal the show. A dramatic western with Chapin and Trigger (and/or Tramp) would have been a welcome feature from the studio.

**** Under California Skies (4/30/48) William Witney ~ Roy Rogers, Michael Chapin, Andy Devine, Jane Frazee