Directed by Joseph Kane
Associate Producer: Sol C. Siegel
Screenplay: Dorrell McGowan, Stuart McGowan & Betty Burbridge
Original Story: Dorrell & Stuart McGowan
Photography: Jack Marta
Film Editor: Lester Orlebeck
Cast: Roy Rogers (Roy Rogers), Smiley Burnette (Frog Millhouse), Carol Hughes (Eleanor Fairbanks), Maple City Four, Guy Usher (John Fairbanks), Tom Chatterton (Congressman Edward H. Marlowe), Kenneth Harlan (Richards), Alden Chase (Tom Andrews), Brandon Beach (Senator Wilson), Earl Dwire (Mayor Biggs), Dick Elliott (William P. Scully)
Joe Kane’s Under Western Stars (1938) is a pretty big deal. It was Roy Rogers’ first film as a star, his first film as Roy Rogers and his first film with Trigger. Plus, it was a huge hit — and landed an Oscar nomination for Best Song. All that’s evidently enough to get it added to the Library Of Congress’ National Film Registry.
For those of us who’ve seen all of Roy’s films (countless times?), it’s a bit of an oddity. It plays much more like a Gene Autry movie — which is exactly what it started out to be — than an early Rogers picture.
For a film with so much going for it, it was a crime that it had been condemned to PD Hell:you’ll find it either looking abysmal or edited down to 54 minutes (an old TV print) — or both! Well, folks, the fine folks at Film Masters have come riding in like the cavalry with a nice-looking, complete DVD and Blu-Ray of Under Western Stars.
It’s easy to recommend the film, which hints at a couple movies to come along later — Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939), with its naive young man who enters into politics, and Chinatown (1974) with its backdrop of the fight for water rights in southern California.
We may never see Under Western Stars look any better. Roy’s filmography is a big fat mess, thanks to Republic’s mishandling of its material as they prepared these things for TV. And a big thanks to Film Masters for rescuing this one! Highly, highly recommended!
50 Westerns From The 50s.