Melody Ranch
by Joseph Santley
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ann Miller, Barbara Jo Allen, Barton MacLane, Gene Autry, Jimmy DuranteDirector: Joseph Santley
Producer: Sol C. Siegel
Writer: Betty Burbridge
Writer: Bradford Ropes
Writer: F. Hugh Herbert
Writer: Jack Moffitt
Writer: Ray Golden
Writer: Sid Kuller
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 84 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-05-20
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Image Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Melody Ranch
Movie Review: Autry's unique westerns
Summary: 4 Stars
Like many of Autry's pictures, this one's different from your average run of B-westerns, all right, and that's why some film reviewers over the years have acted as if Gene Autry's movies gave them the toothache. But I believe his pictures have to be considered on their own merits, not according to some rigid formula, and on that basis I found this one funny, tuneful, with some excellent action, some good romantic scenes and beautiful cinematography, and a plot that, while it meanders a little, is nonetheless interesting and reasonably believable.
Radio singing cowboy Gene Autry returns to his hometown Torpedo to be proclaimed Honorary Sheriff. He finds that three brothers, bullies he remembers from his childhood, run the community, and he undertakes to bring real law, order and justice to his hometown.
Smiley Burnette is absent from this 1940 flick (that year was the peak of Gene's popularity), and in his place are Jimmy Durante and George "Gabby" Hayes, two of Hollywood's premier "characters" of their era. Durante is hilarious, although occasionally "over the top," and Hayes is his usual cantankerous but capable self. Comedy actress "Vera Vague" adds to the humor as Durante's love interest.
Autry's encounter with the three bullying brothers during the film has its basis in a real incident from his childhood. When in grade school Gene Autry was often chased home by a group of older, bigger boys who didn't like him; his sisters would slam the front gate shut behind him to keep them from catching Gene. His father, witnessing this one day, proclaimed, "No son of mine is going to hide behind his sisters' skirts!" The next day, Autry Sr. was at the gate when his son came racing home, the bullies on his heels. He forced Gene to confront the bigger boys, who beat him bloody. But it is believed that Gene Autry learned a lesson from the incident, about standing up for oneself.
The DVDs recently released of the restored, complete versions of Autry's movies are a godsend to those of us who had seen the earlier ones only on TV "western" shows beginning in the 1950s. Those shows often were of battered prints that were then further mutilated to make them fit the program's time limitations. I've seen scenes in these DVDs, especially this one, that I never knew existed.
This is well worth watching, if you're an Autry fan, or are broadminded enough to view his movies for what they were and are: Different and unorthodox by B-western standards -- but great entertainment.
Summary of Melody Ranch
Lawlessness runs rampant in Gene's hometown of Torpedo until the movie and radio cowboy returns as Honorary Sheriff for a Frontier Days celebration and cleans up the town! Featuring Jimmy Durante, Ann Miller (On the Town), and such classics like "We Never Dream the Same Dream Twice" and the title song, this musical was Gene's biggest theatrical production upon its release and remains one of his best- remembered big screen journeys!Musicals & Performing Arts DVD Video
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