Bells of Coronado

The film starts when a mines proprietary shipping a load uranium is attacked .Later the mines passes into a rancher owner named Bennet(Grant Withers,who played for John Ford and appeared over 200 movies until his suicide),he reclaims the company which sends to Roy Rogers(1914-1998) as an undercover insurance agent.Posing as a cowboy looking for employment,he gets a work along with a crew called ¨the riders of the purple sage¨ .Meanwhile happen songs alongside with a secretary(played by his spouse Dale Evans), pursuits and struggles against the uranium smugglers.He must avoid the robbers from taking off an airplane with the stolen load and he gets an exciting final confrontation on high voltage tower.The movie contains action Western,suspense,shoot outs,fighting and is quite entertaining.The film is produced by Republic picture, usual in serials of low budget .The motion picture is well directed by William Witney ,a prolific director of short budget and TV episodes(Daniel Boone, Bonanza,Virginian).

The picture is starred by famous Roy Rogers,he played in various musical groups,in 1934 he formed a group called sons of pioneers,they appeared in numerous Westerns(Rhythm on the range,Son of the pioneers,On the Spanish trail among others).Roy was married three times.Arlene Wilkins ,his second wife,died a few day after giving birth to their son,¨Roy Rogers Jr or Dusty¨ and Dale Evans his third spouse,became his four children's mom .Inducted along with his wife Evans into the Hall of great Western performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and also as member of the Sons of pioneers.Their nicknames were,Roy as ¨King of cowboys¨, Dale Evans ¨Queen of the West¨and Trigger ¨Smartest horse in the movies¨. Roy got his horse ¨Trigger¨in 1938 and rode him in every one of his film and TV shows after that.He had appeared in one early movie,being ridden by Olivia de Havilland in ¨¨ The adventures of Robin Hood¨. Trigged died in 1965,aged 33 years.

"Bells of Coronado" is a rarity--a full-color Roy Rogers film. This is probably the case because it's one of Roy's later movies--and his popularity was at its peak and color film a little less costly than it had been in the 1940s. However, aside from the use of color and an absence of the usual sidekicks like Gabby Hayes, Andy Devine or Smiley Burnett (in this case, it's a lesser-known and less goofy Pat Brady), the film is very much like a typical Roy Rogers 'western'. In other words, aside from Roy and the rest riding about on horses out west, the film really is NOT a western but a modern ersatz cowboy film. Think about it--how many westerns have plots about stolen uranium and feature bad guys trying to escape by airplane?!

So is everything exactly like his other films? Well, close, but not exactly. Dale appears as usual but she sports brown hair and isn't annoying or stupid (a role they usually had her play). Also, unlike most Rogers films in the public domain, this version has not been trimmed down for a one-hour TV slot and its running time is about 67 minutes.

Overall, the film is very ordinary for a Rogers film, though with a little less music and a feeling that you've really seen this sort of thing several times before--which is true if you've seen many Roy Rogers films. It's entertaining but certainly won't tax your brain or leave a lasting impression. Thoroughly adequate with little to distinguish it one way or the other.

There is so much absurdity to this movie it is pointless to describe it. You can read some of the reviews by others to get a sense of it. That said, it does have plenty of action scenes, hard riding and hard fighting. But the logic of having a dam and power company out in without even a truck or a paved road stretches your credibility. And how about a uranium mine using mule-drawn buckboard wagons to haul out their ore? In the early scenes, Dale Evans' character is downright obnoxious, but she straightens out later. Watch this to see Roy Rogers in his prime but don't expect much from the plot.

Solid Rogers film, speedy and fun. The advent of television eliminated these formulaic, but competent, oaters. A shame they can't be seen on the big screen today. Vivid Trucolor helps greatly.

When Grant Withers puts in a claim for uranium hijacked from his mine, the insurance company sends Roy Rogers in to investigate.

With their reliance on good and sometimes original stories, Rogers' westerns kept up with the times -- except that people insisted on riding horses -- and raw material for nuclear bombs and an implication of foreign spying was as up-to-date as you can get. There's a early comic scene in which Dale Evans, thinking Roy is some evil-doer, sets four guys on him, and then tries to help them out by hitting Rogers with a frying pan ... and hitting them instead. This one also has a couple of plot twists that caught me unaware, and if the songs were not quite as good as usual, they're still pretty good, just like the stuntwork.