Man from Music Mountain

Not to be confused with the later Roy Rogers film (THE Man from Music Mountain), this is very much a Poverty Row assembly-line oater, yet it's also better than most by far. For one thing, Autrey's foe isn't so much a villainous individual as a corporate usurper trying to suck the lifeblood by duplicitous means from an already-impoverished mining town that might or might not have a still-unmined gold reservoir. FDR would approve! For another, the musical sequences are frequent and often humorously eccentric. (I loved the number partially played on sleigh bells.) The whole thing is pretty tongue-in-cheek, with more singin' and yappin' than ridin' and shootin' until the last reel. I saw fhis on a cheap DVD collection (50 Gunslinger Classics) and it looked fine. I need to fill ten lines, right? Kerfuffle. Kablooey.

Ivan Miller, having a played-out gold mine and the ghost town nearby on his hands, sells it off to people looking for a place to settle, claiming that the power company is going to be running a line from what looks like Hoover Dam. They're doing no such thing, so when Gene Autry wanders into town, he finds the people there desperate: no business, no money, and they're going to lose their land. So he subsidizes them with his own cash, and starts to fight Miller's swindles with his own, including a claim that a new vein has been struck in the gold mine.

There's not a tremendous amount of story here, but with a Gene Autry movie, that's no trouble. Just put in a few more songs and a xylophone solo! Polly Jenkins and Her Plowboys play an amusing medley, Smiley Burnette sings "She Works the Third Tub at the Laundry" and Autry contributes a few more serious tunes for a happy little effort. With Carol Hughes. Sally Payne, Lew Kelly, Dick Elliott, and, of course, Champion.

Really good early Autry, an expert mix of story, music and action. I also learned what a difference electricity made to rural communities. We tend to take electric power for granted, but the movie is set in 1938, soon after Boulder Dam was built, and the bad guy is using the promise of electrification to scam Depression era folks. It's really worked well into the plot, better than any A-movie I've seen, and even produces a good laugh.

Anyhow, Gene gets to do some hard riding in order to thwart their plans, along with an action-filled mine tunnel finale. Frog has a fairly straight role minus the usual clownish humor. What a fine versatile performer he was. There's also a did-I-really-see-that novelty act that beats out tunes on about everything but rocks. Include too a lovely Carol Hughes as eye-relief from all the ugly guys, and you've got a near perfect package of Autry entertainment.

Gene sings a song called "Man from Music Mountain" near the beginning of the movie when Frog tells him that he needs to pep things up. The song is about as close as the story gets to the title of this action-filled shoot-'em-up. It seems that an eastern pair of shysters is getting rich selling shares in a worthless gold mine located near a ghost town. The crooks are also selling realty in the deserted mining town telling the buyers that the government is going to reopen the area by pumping water and electricity their way as a result of Boulder Dam. The only problem is the government is by-passing the area so the land is virtually worthless. In rides Gene and his cowhands to try to thwart the efforts of the bad guys. Gene even grub stacks the new arrivals until he figures out a way to get their money back and run the swindlers out of the country.

The film opens with a homage to President Roosevelt's New Deal, showing the magnificent "Eighth Wonder of the World," Boulder Dam. Hollywood continually championed the New Deal during the 1930's, helping Roosevelt in his attempt to strangle Ol' Man Depression. It's doubtful if any other American President has been so favored by the mass media as Roosevelt throughout his twelve years in the White House.

There's more than the usual amount of music in this Gene Autry outing. Most of it written by Gene, Frog (Smiley Burnette), and an up and comer Fred Rose, who would later discover Hank Williams, Sr, and help found the huge conglomerate, the Roy Acuff, Fred Rose Publishing Company in Nashville. Rose and Smiley were two of the best song writers around so expect some fine tunes. Smiley was a consummate musician, much better in that category than in the humor department, although in "Music Mountain" he does have some funny parts. One standout routine is "She Works Third Tub At The Laundry" with really raunchy lyrics for 1938 with a few sexual innuendos thrown in for good measure. Toward the end of the film Gene, who began his singing career imitating the great country blues singer Jimmie Rodgers, does a song that is a reworking of Jimmie's old "Gambler's Blues," giving the viewer a feel of how Gene sounded in the beginning before he attempted to become a popular crooner. There's also a cute ditty called "Burning Love" that involves a fairly humorous scene between the men and the ladies played by the vivacious Carol Hughes and the cut-up Sally Payne.

Between the songs there's plenty of action culminating with a wild chase from the mine where an explosion opens a new vein of gold to the town to try to stop the crooks from horning in on the new riches. The chase involves Gene doing some fancy riding and roping. In most of Gene's movies there's a mixture of the Old West and the new west. So expect some modern inventions such as motor vehicles and electric gadgets. In fact, Frog wants to open an electric shop in town if electricity ever gets there.

A good one for Gene Autry fans. Not bad for those who like Saturday matinée cowboy shows.

Great songs by Gene and Ole Frog and a couple of beauty salon beauties in Carol Hughes and Sally Payne provide some great tunes of their own. Autry doing his best to slow down the scoundrels, well played by Ivan Miller and Ed Cassidy grub stakes the patsies until he can figure out what to do. Stalwart performer for Republic, Earle Dwire and some good stunt work make Man From Music Mountain a memorable Autry film.