The Royal Rodeo (1939)A young monarch, bored with responsibility and craving excitement, invites a traveling rodeo show to perform at his palace. Director:George Amy |
|
| 0Share... |
The Royal Rodeo (1939)A young monarch, bored with responsibility and craving excitement, invites a traveling rodeo show to perform at his palace. Director:George Amy |
|
| 0Share... |
| Complete credited cast: | |||
| John Payne | ... |
Bill Stevens
|
|
|
|
Lucile Fairbanks | ... |
Marianne
(as Lucille Fairbanks)
|
| Cliff Edwards | ... |
Shorty
|
|
|
|
Scotty Beckett | ... |
The King
|
|
|
Boyd Irwin | ... |
Regent
|
In the small European country of Avania, the King, who is only a child, is more interested in the arriving American cowboy show led by Bill Stevens than he is about affairs of the state. After meeting Bill, the King requests that a rodeo be held at the castle. The two begin a friendship based on Bill seeing in the King what he himself was like when he was a child. When the Regent of Avania abducts the King and his governess Marianne in an elaborate and widespread conspiracy to overthrow the King, Stevens puts on a real live wild west show to save the pair and maintain the monarchy as it should be. In doing so, Bill also hopes to demonstrate a wider perspective of life the American way. Written by Huggo
Left-over sets from THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD and THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX are used extensively for this lavish Technicolor short in sumptuous color. Obviously, Warner Bros. had spent so much on all the costumes and sets for those films that they put them to use in this short subject featuring JOHN PAYNE in one of his earliest singing roles. (He later joined Alice Faye at Fox in a series of musicals, years before A MIRACLE ON 34th STREET).
SCOTTY BECKETT, who played the son of many a Warner star during his childhood, plays the King of a small European country who is dazzled by American cowboys and is delighted when the rodeo comes to the village with JOHN PAYNE, LUCILLE FAIRBANKS and CLIFF EDWARDS in the spotlight.
Beckett is abducted by a Regent who wants to become the king but saved, of course, by his cowboy hero Payne. Payne and the cast do a few musical numbers, including a jaunty ditty called "In the Good Old American Way", and with the young king returned to the throne there's a happy ending for everyone.
Produced on what looks like a major budget, the color is excellent and the familiar sets look better than ever.