The Old Corral

Plot synopsis:
After witnessing nightclub owner Tony Pearl murdered by gangster Mike Scarlotti (John Bradford), blues singer Eleanor Spenser (Irene Manning) flees Chicago and heads West on a bus. Soon her picture appears in newspapers across the country. The bus makes a stop in Turquoise City, New Mexico, where Martin Simms (Cornelius Keefe), the crooked owner of the Blue Moon saloon, befriends Eleanor. After seeing her picture in the newspapers, Simms, who is hoping to collect a reward from Scarlotti, sends the gangster a telegram revealing Eleanor's whereabouts.
The bus is held up by the O'Keefe Brothers (Sons of the Pioneers), a local aspiring singing troupe seeking publicity. Sheriff Gene Autry (Gene Autry) arrests all of the O'Keefe Brothers, except Buck and Tom who escape. Meanwhile, Simms sees Eleanor preparing to leave town and is able to convince her to stay. Gene arrives on the scene and recognizes Eleanor from the bus. She introduces herself as Jane Edwards, the new entertainer at his Blue Moon saloon. Sometime later Gene sees Eleanor's picture in a newspaper and goes to the Blue Moon saloon to protect her against Simms. Gene and Eleanor end up singing a song together.
Gene discovers Buck and Tom in their hideout at the old corral and hires the O'Keefes to perform at the town plaza for Turquoise City's celebration of its new dam. During the concert, Scarlotti arrives and threatens Simms, trying to force him to reveal Eleanor's whereabouts. Deputy Frog (Smiley Burnette) is able to warn Eleanor about Scarlotti's arrival and takes her to the old corral to hide. Scarlotti follows them to the old corral. Gene recruits the O'Keefe Brothers as his posse, who stampede cattle, forcing Scarlotti's men to scatter. Gene arrests Scarlotti, and Eleanor names him as the murderer of Tony Pearl. Gene also arrests Simms for intimidating a witness. Gene then releases the O'Keefe Brothers, sings another song, and kisses Eleanor.

Tags: violence

Review:
Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and .
Only a year after starring in the action serial THE PHANTOM EMPIRE, Gene Autry was already a singing cowboy star.
In this film he costars with sidekick Smiley Burnette and a young Roy Rogers, who does not get individual billing but is grouped along with the Sons of the Pioneers.
A highpoint of this film is Good Guy Gene ordering Bad Guy Roy to yodel at gunpoint!
Also in the movie is a young (29) Lon Chaney as the manager of a gambling hall who shows a very wide yellow streak when some big city gangsters decide to muscle in.
Don't worry, Gene and Smiley will save the day and have time to sing a few songs too..
Great Autry/Rogers/Pioneers Outing.
This is a great Autry outing with a very young 24?
year old Leonard Slye with the newly formed Sons of the Pioneers.
One of the most beautiful of the Pioneers recordings is here "Silent Trails" to this fan a better song than "Tumbling Tubleweeds" or "Cool Water." The exterior scenes were the oft-used Iverson Ranch, very recognizable by the chase roads and rock formations.
The town scenes were the Republic Studios western set which i think was new at this 1936 time frame.
It became in the 1960's CBS Studio Center, back lot location for Gunsmoke, Big Valley, Cimmaron Strip and other westerns of the time.
As far as Old Corral is concerned its a fine movie, some say hokey but not this fan.
Autry and the pioneers, Smiley and the rest are fine in the film.
Only bad stuff to this fan were Oscar and Elmer, who I guess were maybe a radio duo or something similar at the time.
They were in a couple of Autry films..
It is fun to watch this old movie and see a young Roy Rogers as well as Gene Autry.
I like to guess where the outdoor scenes were done.
Another fun aspect of this era of Westerns is the blending of "modern" technology with the old west.
The Old Corral starts out a whole lot like the Bing Crosby Paramount classic, She Loves Me Not. If you'll remember chorus girl Miriam Hopkins witnesses a gangland murder and flees from the mob.
Here it's Irene Manning who's a nightclub entertainer who sees John Bradford do the same thing and flees out west.Well, those big city gangsters are way out of their element when they're tangling with Gene Autry.
Of course not everyone in the west is as friendly as Autry.
There's Cornelius Keefe and Lon Chaney, Jr. who recognize who Manning is before Autry does.
They own the local saloon and under the guise of giving her a break, hire Manning to entertain, but in the mean time call Bradford hoping to curry favor with the gangland boss.If that's not enough sheriff Gene has to contend with the Sons of the Pioneers and their lead singer, one Leonard Slye who play a brother singing group who take to being outlaws as a way to gain notoriety and a radio contract.
Of course in two years that lead singer left the group and started putting out his own westerns for Republic and Herbert J.
Yates under the name of Roy Rogers.I agree with a previous reviewer that Manning's soprano and Autry's western twang don't exactly mesh.
It might be why Gene mostly didn't go in for singing co-stars throughout his career, unlike his famous rival at Republic.
Of course Gene didn't marry a co-star the way Roy did.The scene where Manning is trying to make a go of saloon singing and falling on her derrière until Gene helps out is reminiscent of Jeanette MacDonald trying to sing for her supper in Rose Marie.
Jeanette had a co-star though who was more suitable to her voice.The Old Corral is kind of dopey, especially the bit about The Sons of the Pioneers.
Still it's a great bit of history, an historic meeting between Gene Autry and Roy Rogers..
Sons of Pioneers musical number.
"The Old Corral" became famous for its fight scene between Gene Autry and his future competitor at Republic, Roy Rogers, known at that time as Dick Weston.
Rogers was part of the Sons of the Pioneers musical group featured in Autry's pictures.
In this film, they play highwaymen (overland bus robbers) who also known how to warble a tune.
While most of them are captured and put in jail, young Weston gets away and Autry has to go after him, not only for the robbery but because the group needs his harmony.
After he is subdued, Autry asks him to yodel.
In the next scene, the group is shown singing "Silent Trail," a moving ballad about the passing of the old West.
They always gave their songs a bit more class than the usual "hillbilly" groups Autry had in his films, who had been taken from the National Barn Dance radio show..
"The Old Corral" has most of what you could ask for in one of these old Westerns, with good action and interesting characters, as well as the variety entertainment that you expect in a Gene Autry feature.
It has Autry as a sheriff having to contend with a family of outlaws at the same time that he is trying to protect a woman on the run, and while the plot often lacks credibility, it's entertaining and moves at a good pace.
Besides Autry, it has Smiley Burnette in one of his usual roles, and the supporting cast features brief appearances by Lon Chaney, Jr., Roy Rogers, and Edward Platt - quite an assortment.
Certainly there's nothing remarkable here, but it's good entertainment that most fans of older Westerns will find enjoyable..
One of Autry's best with a young Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers..
Gene Autry and Smiley Burnett (Frog) are singing and croaking their way through another Saturday matinee.
Look for a very young Roy Rogers (Leonard Slye) and the Sons of the Pioneers..
A good Autry movie.
This is a good Gene Autry movie.This movie has a young Roy Rogers in it.He plays a good (bad) character.He is part of a singing group called " The O'keefe Brothers" (The Son's of the Pioneers) and they provide some very good songs in the movie.Gene and Hope Manning also sing some songs.It has a pretty good plot to it as well.Smiley Burnett displays his musical ability and his comedy ability.It has a very short fight scene between Gene and Roy(guess who wins?).All in all an enjoyable movie..
Gene and the Sons of the Pioneers to the Rescue.
Eleanor Spencer, a nightclub singer, witnesses racketeer Scarlotti shoot down rival gangster Pearl.
Spencer takes a run for it with Scarlotti and every newspaper from Chicago to Los Angeles posting notices for her testimony.
She ends up in Turquoise City, where bar owner Simms recognizes her and decides to hold her for Scarlotti, who he hopes will give him money for turning her over.
Simms is being watched closely by Sheriff Gene Autry, who decides to protect her.
It's up to Gene and the Sons of the Pioneers (who held up Gene and a group of bus passengers in order to get some food money, even though they really wanted a radio contract) to save Eleanor from being taken by Scarlotti's thugs (who made the cross country trek).
Very enjoyable western thats very typical of an early Autry Republic.
Also interesting to see Roy Rogers holding up Gene early in the movie (something you don't see everyday).
The climax was a little weak, and the songs were not integrated too well with the movie (Autry's country voice and Manning's operatic did not blend well in the barroom song).
Interesting to see Roy Rogers & Gene Autry in same movie.
Although the movie is typical of the "B" westerns, it is interesting to see Gene Autry & Roy Rogers in the same movie & realize the Roy surpassed Gene in popularity when Gene enlisted & served in World War 2 Gene actually kisses the girl in the final scene !!.
A thrilling and satisfying old western..
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.
After that, he drifts in with the background extras.Then there's the action scenes.
All in all, though, it's a good film that I recommend for anybody who wants to watch a enjoyable classic western..
Early Autry Programmer.
I wonder what theatergoers in 1936 thought when they expected cowboys and instead were greeted in the opening scenes by an urban nightclub.
Good thing action soon transfers to cowboy country.
Eleanor (Manning) is on the run after witnessing a murder in the city, and now fortunately she has Sheriff Gene looking after her.
So Gene ends up battling two gangs instead of the usual one.This is a very early Autry western, before, for example, Frog (Burnette) settled into his clownish comedy relief.
It's weird, however, seeing cowboys alongside the old-timey four-wheel flivvers.
Just a pretty good mix of action and song.
Still, I wish it were a better selection of tunes since the Sons Of The Pioneers are on hand to vocalize along with Gene.
Also look fast for Roy Rogers as a cowboy henchman, along with Lon Chaney Jr. in a sizable baddie role before he became the definitive Wolf Man (1941).
All in all, it's a decent Autry programmer with some interesting features of its own..
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..
Despite the novelty of having Roy Rogers appear (very briefly) in this Gene Autry film, there is very little to distinguish this cowboy film.
The plot isn't especially interesting and Autry doesn't sing anything particularly memorable or enjoyable.The film begins with a mobster murdering some sap--and a woman witnessing it.
Instead of going to the police, she runs--and ends up out west.
Naturally she soon meets up with nice-guy, Gene and the two soon end up between a local gang of jerks (one of which is played by Lon Chaney, Jr.) and the gang from back east.
And, will anyone particularly care?I've seen a few dozen Autry films and would have to place it near the bottom.
Even the usually likable Smiley Burnette and his antics are really subdued in this one and the action never really heats up.
All In Fun Western.
This may not be Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette's best film but it's not a bad movie.
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.
Roy Rogers to Gene Autry - "Put 'em up Sheriff!".
This is one of Gene Autry's most easily obtained films, but if you pick up a recently made copy, you're likely to see Roy Rogers with equal billing on the video or DVD sleeve.
It was only one of two times that the cowboy stars appeared in a film together, and since it was Gene's picture for Republic Studios, Roy appears uncredited as one of the Sons of the Pioneers.
Born Leonard Slye, his name with the Pioneers was Dick Weston before he became Gene's replacement at Republic as Roy Rogers.Smiley Burnette is on hand as Autry's sidekick here as he often was, his character was named Frog owing to that deep, low falsetto he sometimes uses.
Perhaps the most unique casting decision of the film, after the fact of course, was that of Lon Chaney Jr. as a henchman for Martin Simms (Cornelius Keefe).
It would be another five years or so before "The Wolf Man" would establish Chaney's name as a horror icon, but you know, he appeared in quite a few Westerns in his career, and some quite good ones at that, including 1952's "High Noon".
You'll also catch him as a guest in a handful of classic TV Westerns as his career was winding down.As far as the story goes, "The Old Corral" is one of those modern Westerns where the Old West meets a developing America with automobiles and electrical appliances in plain sight; I thought it was pretty cool to see a General Electric marquee during an opening traffic scene.
I wonder if that was a little bit of early product placement, or just a consequence of being in the right place at the right time.The plot has a story loosely built around a witness to a murder back East, with singer Eleanor Spencer (Hope Manning) attempting to maintain a low profile in an out of the way town called Turquoise City where Gene is sheriff.
Actually, there are two sets of bad guys in the picture, with gangster Scarlotti (John Bradford) chasing Spencer cross country to eliminate her as a witness, while Simms and Garland (Chaney) try to ingratiate themselves with the singer in order to cash in with Scarlotti.You know, I'll never be able to figure out why the shooting starts in a lot of these early 'B' oaters.
For example, when Scarlotti's gang takes off in their car chasing Simms and Spencer, one of the gangsters turns and shoots at Gene during the Turquoise Day festivities.
When Scarlotti arrived at Turquoise City, he had five henchmen along with him.
During the final confrontation with the good guys, Smiley shoots the driver, one is run over by the cattle stampede, and another is shown being shot and falling down (Smiley again).
Presumably, those villains are as good as dead, but at the very end, all six are shown in jail together!
No math majors on this set.But I guess that's what made up the fun in these early films, with not much thought given to logic and reasoning.
Gene was actually pretty generous in sharing the singing assignments here.
While he handles his share, Roy and the Pioneers knock out a couple as well, and Smiley shows his versatility by playing an accordion and harmonica at the same time, while using his feet to bang a xylophone!
Oh yeah, Gene and Roy both yodel too!.
Just about all the fans will like this one!.
In "The Old Corral" (1936), Republic managed to assemble such a fine cast into the fast-moving yet laden-with-musical-numbers script that even director Joe Kane was inspired to contribute some unusually stylish and super-competent work.
Mind you, this is a favorite Autry vehicle not only with me but with Roy Rogers' fans (the scene in which Gene forces Roy to sing is a classic).
Lon Chaney, Junior's fans are cheering too, although in point of fact, Lon has actually little to do.
Although cramming an unusual number of songs into 56 minutes (fourteen to be precise), a fair bit of action is also center stage, featuring fast inserts and exciting stunt work.
Gangsters meet the singing Sheriff Gene Autry..
Chicago gangsters arrive in town in their limousine looking for songstress Eleanore Spenser(Hope Manning).
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.