Search - Gene Autry Collection - Call of the Canyon on DVD

Call of the Canyon

Mrs. J. Long | Kansas | 06/25/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gene Autry was my Hero! Call of the Canyon is one of my favorite of his movies. I have really enjoyed my DVD. We used to watch The Gene Autry show after school, but never had opportunity to see his movies. They are just wonderful!
Mrs. Long"

"Gene Autry B-Western Series ... Call of the Canyon (1942) .

J. Lovins | Missouri-USA | 08/15/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Republic Pictures present "CALL OF THE CANYON" (17 August 1942) (71 mins/B&W) (Fully Restored/Dolby Digitally Remastered) --- relive those thrilling days when the "First Singing Cowboy" Gene Autry took us down the dusty trails with hard riding and straight shooting hitting the bull's eye with excitement every time --- the Gene Autry series of B-Westerns were a staple of Saturday matinees in the 1930s and 1940s --- The Following Segments are from the "Melody Ranch Theater", which originally aired on the Nashville Network in 1987 --- Hosted by Gene and longtime sidekick Pat Buttram the program showcased many of Gene's classic motion pictures and featured personal anecdotes about how the films were made --- Information on costars and significant happenings in Gene's personal life and career. --- don't miss any of the Singing Cowboy's features loaded with action and songs that will leave you wanting more of Gene Autry's B-Western Adventures --- The sale of this DVD will further the educational and cultural mission of the renowned "Autry National Center in Los Angeles".

Under Joseph Santley (Director), Harry Grey (Producer), Olive Cooper (Screenwriter), Maurice Rapf (Short Story Author), Reggie Lanning (Cinematographer), Edward Mann (Editor) - - - - - - Our story line and plot, It seems a representative of the chief cattle buyer is shortchanging the cattlemen, headed by Gene, to pay off his gambling debts --- The chief cattle buyer, Grantley B. Johnson (Thurston Hall) goes incognito as a cattleman to find out why the ranchers are so disgruntled with his prices --- This leads to lots of action in trying to drive the cattle to market for a fair price ---When the representative Thomas McCoy (Edmund MacDonald) uses explosives to stop the drive, one of the cattlemen is killed --- The film has a subplot about a local band trying to make it big on the radio --- The lead singer is known as Kit Carson (Ruth Terry) and becomes unhappy when Gene gets more of the spotlight than she does, but there is still plenty of action --- Smiley Burnette is around for all the comedy --- This time he has a young sidekick who had appeared with him in earlier films, Tadpole Millhouse (Joe Strauch Jr.) --- Tadpole looks, acts, and talks like Frog --- The legendary Sons of the Pioneers are around to help with the music, making this only their third time to appear in a film with Gene --- Gene really didn't need the aid of the group, he could carry a picture quite well by himself ----- some wonderful tunes, "SOMEBODY ELSE IS TAKING MY PLACE" (Gene Autry and The Sons of the Pioneers), "TAKE ME BACK TO MY BOOTS & SADDLE Gene Autry), "MONTANA PLAINS" (Gene Autry and The Sons of the Pioneers), "WHEN IT'S CHILLY DOWN IN CHILE" (Ruth Terry), "CALL OF THE CANYON" (Gene Autry and Cast), MEDLEY - "MONTANA PLAINS", "HOME CORRAL", "WHEN IT'S CHILLY DOWN IN CHILE", "CALL OF THE CANYON" (Gene Autry, The Sons of the Pioneers, Ruth Terry, and Cast) - - - - - - some Autry fun facts, In 1940, and probably for several years before and after, the Gene Autry cap pistol was the main industry in Kenton, Ohio, a town of then 7,000.

the cast includes
Gene Autry ... Gene Autry
Smiley Burnette ... Frog Millhouse
Champion ... Champion, Gene's Horse
Sons of the Pioneers ... Musicians, cowhands
Pat Brady ... Musician, (member, Sons of the Pioneers)
Hugh Farr ... Musician, (member, Sons of the Pioneers)
Karl Farr ... Musician, (member, Sons of the Pioneers)
Bob Nolan ... Singer, (leader, Sons of the Pioneers)
Tim Spencer ... Musician, (member, Sons of the Pioneers)
Lloyd Perryman ... Musician (Sons of the Pioneers)
Ruth Terry ... Katherine 'Kit' Carson
Thurston Hall ... Grantley B. Johnson
Joe Strauch Jr. ... Tadpole Millhouse
Cliff Nazarro ... Pete Murphy
Dorothea Kent ... Jane Oakley
Edmund MacDonald ... Thomas McCoy
Marc Lawrence ... Horace Dunston
John Harmon ... The Pigeon
John Holland ... Willy Hitchcock
Earle Hodgins ... Pie Eating Referee
Al Taylor ... Ranch hand Al
Eddy Waller ... Dave Crosby

BIOS:
1. Gene Autry
Date of Birth: 29 September 1907 - Near Tioga, Texas
Date of Death: 2 October 1998 - Studio City, Los Angeles, California

Special footnote, Orvon Gene Autry was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television --- Discovered by film producer Nat Levine in 1934, he and Burnette made their film debut for Mascot Pictures Corp. "In Old Santa Fe" as part of a singing cowboy quartet; he was then given the starring role by Levine in 1935 in the 12-part serial "The Phantom Empire" --- Shortly thereafter, Mascot was absorbed by the formation of Republic Pictures Corp. and Autry went along to make a further 44 films up to 1940, all B westerns in which he played under his own name, rode his horse Champion, had Burnette as his regular sidekick and had many opportunities to sing in each film --- Autry became the top Western star at the box-office by 1937, reaching his national peak of popularity from 1940 to 1942. His Gene Autry Flying "A" Ranch Rodeo show debuted in 1940 --- Gene Autry is the only celebrity to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one in each of the five categories maintained by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce --- Radio, Films, Recordings, Television and Live Theater.

2. Smiley Burnette (aka: Lester Alvin Burnette)
Date of Birth: 18 March 1911 - Summum, Illinois
Date of Death: 16 February 1967 - Encino, California

Second special footnote, Lester Alvin (Smiley) Burnette an American singer-songwriter who could play as many as 100 different musical instruments, was a successful comedy actor in Western films over three decades --- The popularity of Burnette's Frog Millhouse character, with his trademark floppy black hat, was such that when Autry left for World War II service he did sidekicks duties with Eddie Dew, Sunset Carson and Bob Livingston, plus nine other films with Roy Rogers. After leaving Republic Pictures in 1944, Burnette became the sidekick to Charles Starrett at Columbia Pictures in the long Durango Kid series. Starrett starred in the series from 1944 until 1952, and that pairing resulted in more than 50 films. After the Starrett series was over, Burnette joined Autry for his final six films, all released by Columbia Pictures in 1953.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
1. Reminiscing with Gene Autry and Pat Buttram at the "Melody Ranch Theater"
2. "Don't Touch That Dial", Gene Autry is on the air - excerpts from the Original "Melody Ranch Radio Show"
3. Production and Publicity Stills
4. Horseplay
5. Poster and lobby Card Art
6. Trivia and Movie Facts
7. Original Press Kit Material

Check out a new book from Empire Publishing - "GENE AUTRY WESTERNS" (Hardcover) - by author Boyd Magers, like no other book on Gene Autry --- all of Gene's Mascot, Republic and Columbia westerns included, as well as his half-hour TV Episodes --- each segment contains the release date on each film ... major production credits ... complete cast (including character played) ... all songs included, songwriter and who performed them in the film ... running time of each film ... dates of the filming ... bios on the cast and major players (Smiley, Pat Buttram, Cass County Boys, Herbert J. Yates, directors, leading ladies, songwriters and various heavies, etc.) ... locations that were used ... budgets and negative cost ... stunt people involved ... analysis and synopsis on each film ... notes and comments (including film and cast background info, salaries paid, working titles, etc) ... comments from Gene and many other cast members on each film ... theater exhibitors comments at the time of the films release ...this tribute was written from the heart and it shows.

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc), Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") and Trevor Scott (Down Under DVD Com) as they have rekindled my interest once again for Film Noir, B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on DVD --- stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out Image Entertainment where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 71 min on DVD ~ Image Video #2180 ~ (11/28/2006)"