Rhythm on the Range

Several of the preceding comments have gone into great detail about the film and its pleasures. "Rhythm on the Range" is, to our modern jaded eyes and ears, obviously dated, but it has a charm and sly humor that are abundant enough that even 21st century sophisticates can enjoy it. I concur that the major reason to watch the film is for the wonderful performance of Frances Farmer, here somewhat eschewing her early haughty characterizations for an almost subversive comedic performance. This was Frances' first "A" production, after receiving top billing in two very well received Paramount "B"'s, "Too Many Parents" and "Border Flight." Frances went straight from this film to her legendary role(s) in Goldwyn's "Come and Get It," so from late summer, when "Rhythm" was released, through the end of 1936, when "Come and Get It" premiered, she was arguably the hottest, and certainly one of the most talked about, new stars of that era.

The duet one of the previous commenters mentioned, "The House Jack Built for Jill," was in fact filmed but was not, as that commenter stated, slated for the end of the film, but rather for the scene where Bing and Frances escape the rainstorm and find shelter in the farmhouse. I have Norman Taurog's original shooting script and the scene is still extant in the script, including Taurog's blue line through the pages indicating it was filmed.

One of the previous commenters repeated some unfortunately commonly believed misinformation about Frances. Though Frances' institutionalization was certainly no picnic (to say the least), the most horrifyingly sensationalized allegations about her treatment (found in both her ghost-written autobiography and the largely fictionalized "Shadowland") never happened, including the spurious claim that she was lobotomized. My article detailing the truth about these allegations, "Shedding Light on Shadowland," is linked under the Miscellaneous section on the IMDb listing for Frances Farmer. Or you can find it by using a search engine and searching for "Shedding Light on Shadowland."

Never mind the story (it rips along anyway), it's the playing (fun and lively from Bob Burns and Martha Raye) apt from Crosby and adequate from Francis Farmer) and the backgrounds, plus at least three good songs beautifully performed by Crosby and others including, briefly, Louis Prima and Roy Rogers! Well worth a visit.

Hollywood in the classic era occasionally made some very, very bizarre casting decisions. Since actors were generally contracted to studios, often they'd stick some of these folks in the darnedest pictures and there wasn't much the actors could do about it. Some great examples of bizarro casting was seeing Katharine Hepburn as a Chinese woman in "Dragon Seed" as well as John Wayne as Genghis Khan in "The Conqueror". Not QUITE this strange, but close, is seeing Bing Crosby playing a cowboy in "Rhythm on the Range". Bing Crosy as a cowboy?! Believe it or not!

When the film begins, Doris (Frances Farmer) is rehearsing for her wedding. She's a spoiled woman and freely admits she's marrying more out of boredom than anything else! Fortunately, when she goes to a rodeo and sees the buff he-man, Jeff Larabee (Crosby) she is smitten...though he seems more smitten with a cow! Strange as it is, this is the film in a nutshell!

While casting Crosby as a cowboy was stupid and udderly ridiculous, this film manages to be a lot of fun. Even with the inclusion of Martha Raye (who is usually too brash and obnoxious), it's still filled with neat songs and characters. Brilliant or sophisticated? No way...but still somehow fun and worth seeing.

By the way, during a song and dance number late in the film, it's Louis Prima singing and playing trumpet. He wasn't yet famous and later would gain eternal fame as King Louie in the cartoon "The Jungle Book".

Another source of recording material for Bing Crosby were western songs. He recorded a good many of them in his career. About the time Rhythm on the Range was being made the singing cowboy was just getting started as a movie staple. When Bing's 78s were being compiled into vinyl albums in the 1950s he had recorded enough for several albums. Lots of the songs of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers are in the Crosby catalog in fact a young Roy Rogers can be spotted in the I'm An Old Cowhand number.

Runaway heiresses were another movie staple especially in the 1930s and that's Frances Farmer's part. She's running away from a marriage she's not terribly thrilled about and stowing away on a freight boxcar she finds Bing Crosby who unbeknownst to her works as a ranchhand on her aunt's Frying Pan Ranch out in Arizona. Bing is nursemaiding a bull named Cuddles and Bing, Frances and Cuddles make their way west with several adventures. Trailing them are a trio of hoboes played very well by James Burke, Warren Hymer, and George E. Stone who have found out who Frances is and are looking to make a quick buck. Their machinations go for naught of course.

In Frances Farmer's book, Will There Ever Be A Morning, she describes a not very happy life in Hollywood. However she liked this film, as it had no pretensions and similarly her leading man. She described Bing Crosby as a pleasant unassuming fellow who she liked, but didn't get to know real well. Frances had a best friend, a matron of honor to be, for the wedding that didn't come off. She was played by Martha Sleeper and I think a lot of her part was edited out. Sleeper gave some hints of a really juicy Eve Arden type character that could have been used more.

The second leads were played by Bob Burns and Martha Raye. Burns, the Arkansas Traveler and regular on Crosby's Kraft Music Hall, played his usual rustic type and in this film introduced his patented musical instrument, the bazooka. Made out of two gas pipes and a funnel, the bazooka was a kind of countrified bassoon. The army's anti-tank device in World War II looked something like it and it was named as such.

Martha Raye made her debut in this film and would go on to do two other films with Crosby. She sings her famous Mr. Paganini number here and her bumptious character complement Burns quite nicely.

Crosby sings A Cowboy's Lullaby to Cuddles trying to calm him down during the train ride and the famous Empty Saddles during a scene at the Madison Square Garden Rodeo. He gets a ballad entitled I Can't Escape From You to sing while on the road with Farmer. But the most famous song to come out of this film is I'm An Old Cowhand which was a big seller for him. It's an ensemble number with just about everyone in the cast participating including as I said before, Roy Rogers and also a young Louis Prima. Now there's an interesting combination. I'm An Old Cowhand was written with words and music by Crosby's good friend and sometime singing partner Johnny Mercer.

IT's a good film and I'm surprised Paramount didn't come up with any more Western type material for Bing considering he did a lot of recording of that material. The only other western type ballads he ever sung on the screen were The Funny Old Hills from Paris Honeymoon and When The Moon Comes Over Madison Square from Rhythm on the River.

Crosby would have to wait until he essayed Thomas Mitchell's part in the remake of Stagecoach during the 1960s to be in another western. And there he sang no songs at all.

One song that was cut out from the film was a duet by Crosby and Farmer called The House Jack Built for Jill. Crosby did record it for Decca as a solo and it is heard towards the end of the film in background. I was lucky to get a bootleg recording from the cut soundtrack. Frances talk/sings a la Rex Harrison and Bing sings it in his inimitable style. I think this was supposed to be a finale and it was cut at the last minute. The film does end somewhat abruptly and you can tell there was more shot. Maybe one day it will be restored.

Rhythm on the Range was remade by Paramount with Martin and Lewis as Pardners. Dean and Jerry are good, but it ain't a patch to the original.

Pleasant musical with several great spots. Rhythm on the Range stars Bing Crosby as a rodeo star and Frances Farmer as a debutante. Yes, that's right. They share a box car heading to Arizona and fall in love. Along for the ride are Martha Raye and Bob Burns. Bizarro plot, but it all works. Crosby and Raye are just terrific. Crosby debuts "I'm an Old Cow Hand" with help from Raye, Burns, Louis Prima, Leonid Kinsky, and Roy Rogers! And Raye sings her signature tune, "Mr. Paganini"--the show stopper. Farmer is gorgeous, Crosby is smooth, and Raye is hilarious. You gotta see this film. Also in it are Martha Sleeper as the catty bride's maid, Lucille Gleason as Penny, Samuel S. Hinds, and a trio of hapless thugs: James Burke, Warren Hymer, and George E. Stone. Lots of fun. And Martha Raye should have been a much bigger movie star!