The Old Barn Dance (1938)

Director:

Joseph Kane

Writers:

Bernard McConville (original screenplay) &
Charles F. Royal (original screenplay)

Release Date:

29 January 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Autry and his buddies have a horse selling business which is threatened by a tractor company which claims horses are out of date.

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Tractor | Contract | Radio Station | Gunfire

Cast

Gene Autry	...	Gene Autry
Smiley Burnette	...	Frog Millhouse
Joan Valerie	...	Sally Dawson (as Helen Valkis)
Sammy McKim	...	Johnny Dawson
Walt Shrum and His Colorado Hillbillies	...	Musicians (as Walter Shrum and his Colorado Hillbillies)
The Stafford Sisters	...	Trio of Comic Singers (as Stafford Sisters)
Maple City Four	...	Comic Singers
Roy Rogers	...	Singer (as Dick Weston)
Ivan Miller	...	Mr. Thornton
Earl Dwire	...	Clem Handley
Hooper Atchley	...	Maxwell
Ray Bennett	...	Buck - Thornton's Hrnchman (as Raphael Bennett)
Carleton Young	...	Peabody - Thornton's Henchman
Frankie Marvin	...	Cowboy
Earle Hodgins	...	Terwilliger

Runtime:

54 min (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 #3981) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Republic Pictures

Trivia:

Gene Autry temporarily left Republic Pictures in a contract after this film. As Republic's "singing cowboy" he was replaced in his next scheduled feature, Under Western Stars (1938), by the young singer Dick Weston, whom the studio renamed Roy Rogers.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs (2000) (TV)

Soundtrack:

At the Old Barn Dance

Tractor versus Horse

Gene Autry was one of the most popular of stars in the 1930s and 1940s, in the movies,on radio, and on record. In his own way, a lot like Bing Crosby except he appealed to the folks in what now would be considered the red states.

His westerns were primarily musicals and had little plot line. But I have to confess that the villain here was truly unique. Tractor salesmen who are out to takeover a lot of land when farmers put up mortgages to get tractors.

Do you believe it? Gene Autry is hawking the virtue of using horses for ranch and farm work and he defeats the dastardly tractor people who have hornswoggled him to do a radio show for them.

With that kind of plot, can you take this film seriously. Of course not. So just listen to the singing.

By the way, the Old Barn Dance was a popular radio show at the time that featured country and western music and Gene made his start there