O Canário da Serra

Gene Autry and Ol' Frog put on another great extravaganza which is well directed by Joseph Kane. Betty Bronson always gives a fine performance as the Juliet to Autry's Romeo. Her dad, Russell Simpson is the west's favorite curmudgeon. You can't have a hero without a villain well played by favorite western heavy, Leroy Mason. Great to see a cameo by Fred 'Snowflake' Toones who was a staple in these early westerns.

One reviewer on here said he "couldn't find a single yodel" in "Yodelin' Kid from Pine Ridge". He must have gone to the popcorn stand, or the restroom, just as the movie started, as Gene yodels the first few bars of the theme song over the credits of the movie. Yes, he did yodel, in a number of his early recordings. And yes, so did Roy Rogers. But my opinion is that Gene's yodeling was superior to Rogers'.

Gene Autry started making records in the late 1920s, and many of his early records were his versions of records made earlier by Jimmy Rodgers, who was famous for his yodeling. That's where Gene learned how to yodel.

Although in the film Gene Autry is from the town of Pine Ridge and gets to sing quite a few numbers, I don't believe I heard a single yodel come from him in the Yodelin' Kid From Pine Ridge. He was not a yodeler, unlike his main singing cowboy rival who would soon be making his first starring western Roy Rogers. Now he yodeled in just about every film he made.

In Yodelin' Kid From Pine Ridge, Gene is cast as Gene Autry Jr., a sensitive young man who is devoted to the cattle business, but does not like to see the violence developing between the cattlemen and a group of turpentiners who are from the hills. These transplanted hillbillies headed by Russell Simpson like the pine forests because they strip the bark off the pine trees and make turpentine to sell.

The cattlemen however want more grass acreage for the cattle to graze and want to burn down the forest. And they don't like the hillbillies just taking cattle whenever they need a meal. Cattlemen LeRoy Mason and Charles Middleton want to lead the effort to burn the forest. And Middleton is Gene Autry, Sr. Talk about exotic casting, Gene Autry as the son of Ming The Merciless.

Anyway Gene is banished from the councils of the cattlemen and joins a Wild West show and many years go by before he returns to Pine Ridge and only as part of the Wild West show. But he's back involved as soon as he returns. Part of the reason of his involvement is Russell Simpson's stepdaughter, former silent screen star Betty Bronson.

In the 54 minute running time a lot of singing and riding gets mixed in with a lot of gunplay as Gene finally gets to the bottom of the feud between the cattlemen and turpentiners. Not much suspense as it is revealed pretty early in the film, but I won't reveal it.

Smiley Burnette plays the head of the Wild West Show, not the usual sidekick part with Gene. He's still getting a lot of laughs, but you will not hear one frog croak which was part of his screen persona.

For fans of the great singing cowboy tycoon, Yodelin' Kid From Pine Ridge should please them.

Excellent storyline. Beautifully upscale sets. Nice direction and marvelous character actors. Plus Autry gets the most interesting girl he's been paired with in his movies! Thank goodness we didn't have to see him in Africa again!!!!

In Georgia or the Florida Panhandle, the ranchers think the turpentiners are stealing their cattle. Only Gene Autry knows better, and is kicked out by his father, Charles Middleton. The turpentiners hate him too, despite Betty Bronson speaking up for him. Her father, Russell Simpson is mad at her. Autry gets a job with Smiley Burnette's Wild West congress and investigates.

It's a nice B western for Autry, with the Tennessee Ramblers providing a far more hillbilly sound than usual for the series. With good performers, a script that offers a handsome variation on a stock western plot, and Joseph Kane directing, there's good music and handsome camerawork by William Nobles proceeding at a good pace thanks to editing by Lester Orleback.

Betty Bronson rose to fame when she was chosen to play the title role in the silent version of Peter Pan. She was a fine actress, but tastes changed, her producers didn't know what to do with her, and she largely abandoned the screen after her marriage in 1933. This would be her last screen appearance for two dozen years. She died in 1971, largely forgotten, at the age of 64.