Red River Valley (1936)

Director:

B. Reeves Eason

Writers:

Stuart E. McGowan (story) &
Dorrell McGowan (story)

Release Date:

2 March 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Your Singing Son of the Saddle Braves Dynamite Death to Clear Himself of the Bandit Brand!

Plot:

Gene and Frog set out to find out who has been causing the accidents at a dam construction site.

Plot Keywords:

Dam | Construction | Chase | Robbery | Train

Cast

Gene Autry	...	Gene Autry
Smiley Burnette	...	Frog Millhouse
Frances Grant	...	Mary Baxter
Boothe Howard	...	Steve Conway
Jack Kennedy	...	Mike - Train Engineer
Champion	...	Gene's Horse
Sam Flint	...	George Baxter
George Chesebro	...	Bull Dural - Conway's Henchman
Charles King	...	Sam - Bull's Dupe
Eugene Jackson	...	Iodine
Edward Hearn	...	Sheriff Ed
Frank LaRue	...	Banker Hartley Moore
Ken Cooper	...	Henchman Long
Frankie Marvin	...	Henchman Becker (as Frank Marvin)

Also Known As:

Man of the Frontier (USA) (TV title)

Runtime:

USA:59 min (2004 restoration) | 54 min (edited version) (re-edited version) | 60 min (original version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor High Fidelity Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #2590) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Laguna Dam, Yuma, Arizona, USA

Company:

Republic Pictures

Trivia:

Lane Chandler and Jack Rockwell are in studio records/casting call lists as cast members, but they did not appear in the movie. Neither did Bob Burns and Jack Kirk who were listed as cast members in a modern source.

Quotes:

Gene Autry: If you walk out now, you'll ruin the valley. Everybody will lose their homes, farms. You'll get your money! Baxter's arranging for a loan now and he'll be here to tell you himself.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Construction Song (We Love Our Foreman)

A masterpiece when compared with Blazing Saddles!

This was an incisive indictment of American capitalist greed in a similar vein to Battleship Potemkin ... sorry, I've got my notes mixed up. This is much better than Potemkin! The print I watched needed some of the same TLC however, but I guess and reckon that won't happen.

Gene delivers his herd of steers to the railroad, only to change his job into that of the more exciting sounding "ditch rider" for the dam builders. I don't know, I suppose I could have missed it but what the heck is a ditch rider's duties, apart from thwarting the baddies at every turn? They're trying to stop construction on the dam, but not destroy it - a fine line in movies like this! The acting and screenplay is what you would expect; the title song is sung suitably downbeat throughout, with a little help from Smiley and a Novelty Hillbilly Band in the starkly lit saloon.

I loved it - not recommended for the serious.