Oklahoma

I have to be honest, the dance sequences were cornball and this entire program was put together more like a Broadway production than a western. I really feel authenticity was sacrificed for a cornball sideshow, especially for the parts with the "Indians", which of course, they weren't. It would have been so much better if they left the comedy in the hands of Gabby Hayes and Pat Brady. Of course there's no fixing it now. So, I'll keep it in my collection anyway, although I probably won't be watching it again any time soon. Sorry guys, but that's my honest feeling. I think I'll stick with the other films from here on out.

Gabby Hayes and Maude Eburne have been feuding since they became neighbors in the Oklahoma Land Rush, which means that Roy Rogers and Dale Evans must also be feuding, even though Roy is his usual amiable self.

There is no gun play in this entry in Rogers' series, although there is a big fire and a Land Rush Reenactment Race offer some excitement. Most of the songs are forgettable, although Miss Evans sings a nice version of "Beginning To See The Light" at the beginning. Frank MacDonald is the director here, so the more usual sort of plot is downplayed in favor of comedy .... which, alas, has not aged all that well. With Roger Pryor, Si Jenks, Eddie Kane, and the usual players in Rogers' movies.

Man From Oklahoma finds Roy Rogers and Dale Evans as the offspring of some feuding western families which goes way back to the Oklahoma land rush. Both own half of a valley that Roger Pryor covets because he knows there's oil on the land and they don't.

Through a bit of some dumb bravado both Gabby Hayes and Maude Eburne who are the heads of the clans put up their halves of the valley as a prize in the annual Land Rush recreation race. So both families and Pryor are playing for all the marbles.

I never would have thought a Duke Ellington song would have gotten into a Roy Rogers movie, but Dale Evans wins vocal honors here as she gets to sing I'm Beginning To See The Light in a nightclub setting.

Fans of John Wayne will recognize some of the footage of John Wayne's film In Old Oklahoma during the recreated Land Rush. I'm sure the idea for this film germinated with Herbert J. Yates not wanting to waste any of the expensive footage he shot for that film which was Republic Pictures big budget item from two years earlier.

Man From Oklahoma should satisfy the still legion of fans that Roy and Dale still have.