The Old Corral

I wonder what theatergoers in 1936 thought when they expected cowboys and instead were greeted in the opening scenes by an urban nightclub. Good thing action soon transfers to cowboy country. Eleanor (Manning) is on the run after witnessing a murder in the city, and now fortunately she has Sheriff Gene looking after her. But there are baddies in cowboy country too. So Gene ends up battling two gangs instead of the usual one.

This is a very early Autry western, before, for example, Frog (Burnette) settled into his clownish comedy relief. Here he plays a deputy in fairly straightforward fashion. It's weird, however, seeing cowboys alongside the old-timey four-wheel flivvers. Nothing special about the 60-minutes. Just a pretty good mix of action and song. Still, I wish it were a better selection of tunes since the Sons Of The Pioneers are on hand to vocalize along with Gene. Also look fast for Roy Rogers as a cowboy henchman, along with Lon Chaney Jr. in a sizable baddie role before he became the definitive Wolf Man (1941). All in all, it's a decent Autry programmer with some interesting features of its own.