Rainey Dawn
This may not be Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette's best film but it's not a bad movie. It's quite fun - really cute. What makes this film extra fun and special is the fact that Roy Rogers shows up as Buck O'Keefe - that yodel scene really cracked me up laughing. We also have Lon Chaney Jr as Garland - Simms partner. Makes for a fun film overall.We get a few songs, some gun firing, a few punches and a cool cast. The story is a bit strange: A woman witnesses a murder and ends up in a town that is still more like the old west rather than modern (for the time era). Of course our singing cowboy and sheriff Gene Autry is there to save the day.7.5/10
Wizard-8
This is the first Gene Autry movie I've seen - I decided to give it a look seeing that it was paired with another movie I bought on DVD, and that it also had Roy Rogers, the other singing cowboy. In some ways, it is a strange movie. It takes place in a world that has gasoline-powered vehicles and other modern (for the time) conveniences, but at the same time it has cowboys on horseback acting like they are living in a world several decades in the past! There are other laughable parts in the movie, like really bad back screen projection and tires that screech on dirt roads. But most of the movie is pretty dull in nature. Even though the movie runs less than an hour, it is extremely padded, when more time should have been given to develop the story properly (among other script screw-ups, it never properly introduces the female heroine at the beginning.) As for the (expected) songs, most of them sound alike, and won't stick in your head for a second after they're finished. If you grew up with Gene Autry westerns and are feeling nostalgic, I recommend that you keep your rosy memories and not shatter them by revisiting this movie.
Michael O'Keefe
Chicago gangsters arrive in town in their limousine looking for songstress Eleanore Spenser(Hope Manning). They want to silence the songbird, because she can finger them for murder. Local sheriff Autry will do his best to straighten things out. Deputy Frog Millhouse(Smiley Burnette)tries to find a safe place to hide the singer; while Gene is rounding up the singing O'Keefe brothers(Sons of the Pioneers), who were previously arrested and released to help in taking on the gangsters and run them out of Turquoise City.There is always time for song during an Autry flick: Eleanore will sing "With All My Heart", "Sons of the Pioneers" will vocalize on "Down Along the Rio Grande" and Gene will sing "Money Ain't No Use Anyhow" and the title song "Old Corral". Note that another singing cowboy Roy Rogers is a member of the Sons of the Pioneers. Also in the cast: Lon Chaney, Jr., John Bradford, Charles Sullivan and Merrill McCormick.
Kieran Kenney
Old Corral is a very enjoyable film. Gene Autry proves that he stands in a class on his own, showing good acting skills, a great singing voice (as always) and the proper energy that the role demands. Hope (Irene) Manning is pretty good as Eleanor Spencer aka June Edwards, but one can easily tell why most people still don't know her as a great actress. And, of course, Smiley Burnett is the quintescential Gene Autry sidekick, always a welcome screen presence as far as I'm concerned.Since I do enjoy some country music, I liked the appearance of the Sons of the Pioneers, and a young Roy Rogers was supposed to be among them. I only really noticed him at the beginning, when he and his gang hold up the tour bus. After that, he drifts in with the background extras.Then there's the action scenes. They hold up pretty well, although the immobility of the camera, some fairly transparent visual effects and clunky editing kind of hinder the climax from being as climactic as it could be. All in all, though, it's a good film that I recommend for anybody who wants to watch a enjoyable classic western.
AD
