Rhythm of the Rio Grande (1940) User Reviews

Is Pablo really so bad?

[alan-pratt · 7/10 · 3 August 2009]

Someone is raiding and killing and trying to drive the ranchers out.

Those still around - along with gullible Texas Rangers captain, Forrest Taylor - believe it is the work of wicked Pablo, the well known Mexican bandit. We know better of course: didn't we see those shifty expressions flitting across Tris Coffin's face? (What do you mean, he always looks like that?).

Tex isn't fooled either. Pablo so enjoys Tex's singing that Tex wisely opines that any man who loves music and singing has a heart and can't be responsible for all the crimes he is accused of! Great songs in this one. I loved Rhythm of the Rio Grande and Pablo so enjoyed Mexicali Moon that he felt too mellow to shoot anyone. There is also a strikingly pretty heroine in Suzan Dale who, as far as I can see, only made one film. I wonder why.

Absolute nonsense but I really enjoyed it!

Well, it does have curiosity value!

[JohnHowardReid · 5/10 · 2 October 2014]

This one is quite unusual for a Monogram feature in that it's beautifully photographed – and by none other than Marcel LePicard who generally turns in the flattest, dullest, grayest, no contrast work in the business. No doubt he was inspired by the movie's exterior locations which do not depend on the usual scrubland in the Hollywood hills but rolling vistas of salt flats and rocky, cactus- strewn deserts. Unfortunately, the time and care taken with the photography are not reflected elsewhere in the production. The script is an amalgam of the most atrocious clichés and explanations of the obvious: "Strangers!" exclaims the deputy bad guy to his chief. "It may be the law!" To which the chief answers: "Better get out of here fast! There's liable to be trouble!" Alas, this stuff is directed (perhaps understandably) with not a bit of sparkle. Only in the action scenes with riders hurtling across the plains and Tex Ritter shooting down the lead bad guys in a fine climax does the direction perk up. Ritter is an amiable if undistinguished hero. He also sings three songs which give the impression of miming to ancient recordings, all of them occurring in fairly fast succession in the middle of the film. Slim Andrews has a small, uncredited part, appearing in the cantina scene as the band leader. Glenn Strange can be spotted in quite a fair-sized role as the local sheriff. Suzan Dale is just so-so as the heroine and the comic relief is rather forced, but fortunately there is not much of it. Tris Coffin does okay as the baddie. Production values although tied to a slow-moving clichéd script, are above the Monogram average. Martin Garralaga is okay as the bandit chieftain, but some of the minor players are something less than competent. There's not a bad fight scene (especially for the ten-year-olds) in which Tex and two Texas Rangers wreck a whole lot of breakaway furniture. Available on a Comet Video DVD.