O Revólver de Prata

This film was one of Autry's Columbia features that was edited for television. When it opens, Autry is riding Champ in a long shot and you can just barely hear him singing until he gets closer to the camera. I dubbed the song from his soundtrack CD album of movie songs, and right at the beginning, you can hear a gunshot. It probably was like that on the edited film I saw, but the card game is not shown only referred to throughout the film, until Gene recreates the game at the end of the picture, causing the villain to make his escape on a stagecoach conveniently parked outside. When Melody Ranch Theater aired on the Nashville network, I wondered if they ever showed the complete version or just the one that was already available to television. I always did like the song and recall it was used in the background when they did a documentary on the TV westerns of the Fifties, showing Chuck Conners spin his rifle, etc.

The likable Gene Autry and a good story make this a worthwhile B-Western in spite of a pace that is rather slow at times. The story starts with a shooting in the middle of a dice game, and when Gene thinks the sheriff is accusing the wrong man, he has to perform a difficult balancing act. Autry wants to find out who the real killer was, and why he did it, but he also has to stay on the good side of both the sheriff and the rather excitable suspect, who does not always appreciate Autry's help.

It's a scenario with some good possibilities, and as it unfolds, they get some decent mileage out of the situation. Chill Wills gets a couple of good moments as the sheriff, and Barbara Britton is lively as the suspect's loyal sister. Overall, it's better than average for a B-Western.

The lights go out at the dice game, shots are fired, and Stanley Blystone is dead. Hot-headed young Russell Arms is the obvious suspect, and he bolts. Gene Autry was a friend of Blystone, so when he finds Arms with his sister, Barbara Britton, he's surprised. He doesn't think Arms did it. So he gets him away before sheriff Chill Wills can arrest him, and begins to investigate.

The singing cowboy pictures that Autry did are a couple of steps above his Republic fare. First, the story is a lot better set out and run. And second, there's a much better cast in the small parts. Jack Holt, Robert Shayne, and Clem Bevans have good parts, and Wills is an absolute delight in his role, at ease and natural. The songs seem a bit less of a grab-bag, with "Pretty Mary" being quite charming. If much of the behind-the-screen talent is the same, with John English directing, and William Bradford handling the camera, everyone seems far less focused on letting Autry carry the picture, and more on seeing what they can do to make it all work.

During a dice game, the lights go out and a participant is shot to death. Larry Evans (Russell Arms), one of the players, is accused of the shooting, so Gene Autry (Gene Autry), a friend of the dead man, confronts Larry and his sister, Mary (Barbara Britton), who are hiding out in an old house. But Gene quickly realizes Larry is innocent and decides to protect the siblings from the law while he looks for the real killer. Gene's pursuit is sidetracked when an angry mob comes after Mary and Larry.

Agreeable enough Autry western with the usual quota of singing, shootin' fistfights and ends with an excellent Stagecoach sequence featuring really good stunt work. Barbara Britton is pleasing to the eye as the sister of the wanted man. Only problem is that it can be sluggishly paced and repetitive with the suspected murderer escaping all the time and then Autry promising to get the real killer. Not enough mystery/whodunnit, though liked how Autry nabbed the real varmint.

Not one of Autry's better entries from the post-war period. With Columbia Pictures' backing, the result should have been better than it is. Gene is chasing after fugitive Russell Arms to clear him of murder charges before a vengeful posse can catch up. It's a novel idea for an Autry Western since almost all the screen time is taken up with the three parties playing tag with one another. However, the script has trouble integrating the mystery part into the chase. So we get passages like Gene and Arms watering their horses with Gene saying to Larry (Arms) something like "By the way, Larry, where were you standing when the shots were fired?", and then riding off. Ten minutes later, we get a similarly disconnected question with a similarly fleeting answer. It's like trying to follow a bread-crumb trail where the crumbs are a mile apart. With a different, better integrated, approach the two plot angles could have really gelled into a single current of suspense and excitement. I know, some will say this is, after all, only a matinée Western, so why expect more. But it's also a time when Autry was trying to break the matinée formula. With a better script, this entry could have equaled the superiority of contemporaries like Sioux City Sue or Trail to San Antone.

What Loaded Pistols does have is the sparkling and gorgeous Barbara Britton, whose smile could light up a city block. Too bad her career never equaled her talent. Also, the comic relief is down-played and comes from the nimble Chill Wills instead of the annoying Sterling Holloway. Then too, I like the way the songs are integrated into menial tasks, such as fixing breakfast, instead of the usual, more elaborate production numbers. I know many Autry fans object to anything negative about his movies. Nonetheless, I don't think Columbia Studios served him as well here as they did in other productions.