The Singing Vagabond

"The Singing Vagabond" is one of Gene Autry's earliest films...and it shows it. What I mean by this is that the studio had many of the story elements in this film you'd expect in his later films...but the story doesn't quite work. Gene Autry is called 'Tex' (while he's Gene in almost every other film) and his personality seems very different...quieter, less friendly and a bit aloof. See this film and his later ones....you'll likely see what I mean.

The story begins with a minstrel number that will no doubt shock and offend many. Soon after, a young lady (Ann Rutherford) running away from her guardian and joining a traveling show out west in 1860. When she meets the somewhat dashing Captain 'Tex' Autry, she immediately hates him...because, well, that occurs in nearly all his films where the leading lady hates him but learns to adore him through the course of the story.

As for the rest of the story, Captain Autry is said to be a highly trusted and valuable soldier...which is what makes the rest of the story so confusing. A scumbag is stealing horses and insists Captain Autry is doing this. And, with no real hard evidence, the court declares Autry guilty and sentences him to death. What's next? See the film...or not.

The look of this film as well as Autry and Smiley Burnette make me wonder if this film was actually filmed earlier and then was released AFTER a few of his other films debuted. It just doesn't seem like they got the characters or the formula just right and everyone and everything just seems out of place. In particular, Autry is stiff and his character not altogether likable. Overall, not bad...but not quite right.

This is, I think, the only Gene Autry movie where he didn't use his real first name. He is "Tex Autry" in this one. Don't know whose idea that was, but it was never done again. The Singing Cowboy and his group spend a good part of the film fighting a fierce Indian tribe near a U.S. Cavalry fort, singing, and, for Tex, romancing a lovely leading lady, Ann Rutherford. She has come from back east, where the movie begins at a New York theater where we see part of a minstrel show. Some may find this distasteful in this politically correct age, but it didn't bother me a bit, as at the age of 9 I was privileged to see the last live minstrel show ever put on in my hometown. Anyway, there's a lot of good action in the film, and Gene Autry is starting to show acting talent that his critics always claimed he never had. Worth a view!

The opening musical/comedy skit may be a bit much and even downright offense to the modern viewer, but it does provide a historical glimpse of a dead art form, the minstrel show, which evolved into vaudeville and thus found a place in early Hollywood movies. Since the story takes place in 1860, the skit is apropos for the plot of the film. The producer takes the show westward via wagon train and with it many-a showgirl, including a runaway, Lettie Morgan (played with aplomb by beautiful Ann Rutherford, aka Polly Benedict of the Andy Hardy series), whose aunt has just told her that she is not as rich as she thought she was, to ward off an undesirable suitor. The wagon train runs smack into trouble and to the rescue ride Captain Tex Autry, aka Gene Autry, and his band of cavalry buddies, including, of course, the redoubtable Smiley "Frog" Burnette. As Rosanne Rosannadanna would say, from there if it's not one thing, it's another. Tex (Gene) is framed by the bad guy, Utah Joe, played with standout surliness by Allan Sears. And the rest of the movie involves Tex (Gene) and his buddies trying to prove his innocence and Utah Joe's guilt. This includes a rousing shootout between the cavalry and renegade Indians who have been stirred up by Utah Joe. The wagon filled with explosives provides a fitting closing for this action-packed, early Gene Autry entry that most should enjoy. Unfortunately, the songs are not up to Gene Autry standards, even though he and Frog, both talented songwriters, helped pen most of them.