Search - Gene Autry Collection: Home in Wyomin on DVD

GREAT ENTERTAINMENT

Kay's Husband | Virginia, U.S.A. | 12/18/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"
This movie was made a year prior to my birth, 1942, and it is full of entertainment. Don't know that Gene ever made any true westerns as such, but his films with 600 songs in them are very entertaining. And two of them, among others, are standouts in this film: Tweedle-O-Twill, and Clementine. I have always recalled Tweedle-O-Twill from my young days hearing it on the radio, but did not recall from what movie it came until I saw this film again on Encore Westerns the other day.

And for someone my age, who grew up on a steady diet of Roy Rogers, the Cisco Kid, and Gene Autry, it is nostalgia at its best. What a trick to mix gangsters in touring cars with rodeo, gold mines, ladies in dresses and hose, with old west horses and cowboys. Plenty of gunsmoke too. But it worked for both Roy and Gene, with their movies remaining very enjoyable down to this very day.

Cannot speak about the DVD quality, for I saw this on Encore Westerns and the digital presentation was excellent, assume that holds true for the DVD as well. One thing about this film is the presence of Smiley with his sidekick 'Tadpole', I've always liked ole Smiley in the Gene Autry shows, recalling the summer evening I spent with him at one of our local drive-in movie theaters in the mid-1950s as he swung through Ohio for personal appearances. Close to the summer I went to Troy, Ohio, at Hobart Arena to see Roy, Dale, and Trigger as they usually returned once again, to Ohio during summer's break. These folks were the real thing, and it very much comes through in their screen performances. Growing up on this stuff sticks with me even as a 'senior', hoping you too enjoy good, clean western humor and entertainment at its best.

Best, pards.

Semper Fi."

"Gene Autry B-Western Series ... Home In Wyomin' (1942) ...

J. Lovins | Missouri-USA | 08/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Republic Pictures present "HOME IN WYOMIN" (29 April 1942) (68 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 William Morgan (Director), Harry Grey (Producer), Robert Tasker (Screenwriter), M. Coates Webster (Screenwriter), Ernest W. Miller (Cinematographer), Raoul Kraushaar (Musical Direction/Supervision), Edward Mann (Editor), Russell Kimball (Art Director) - - - - - - Our story line and plot, There are only two major action sequences in "Home in Wyomin", but they're both humdingers --- One involves a wild car chase with Gene and Champion in hot pursuit, the other a wild wagon chase with Gene and Champion in full gallup --- watch the stunt work in the latter by Joe Yrigoyen (Gene's double, Tex Terry (Smiley's double), Evelyn Finley (Fay's double) plus Jack Robbins and Bill Yrigoyen is spine tingling --- radio star Gene Autry returns to his hometown to straighten out an old friend's wayward son --- Gene after a series of difficulties with the badmen, solves all the murders and mysteries within a nightmarish old gold mine --- by singing noted songwriter Irving Berlin's "ANY BONDS TODAY" in the film, Gene was the first motion picture star to aid the U.S. Defense Bond campaign by highlighting the official song of the campaign --- Smiley Burnette once again employs a "Jassackaphone", a weird multi-instrument strapped to a mule, something like he'd previously employd in "The Singing Cowboy" (1936) ----- some wonderful tunes, "BE HONEST WITH ME" (Gene Autry), "ANY BONDS TODAY" (Gene Autry), "BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN" (Gene Autry), "TWEEDLE-O-TWILL" (Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette), "MODERN DESIGN" (Smiley Burnette
"I'M THINKING TONIGHT OF MY BLUE EYES" (Gene Autry), "TWILIGHT IN OLD WYOMING" (Gene Autry), "CLEMENTINE" (Gene Autry), "TWEEDLE-O-TWILL" (Gene Autry) - - - - - - 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 ... Gene's Horse
Fay McKenzie ... Clementine (Clem) Benson
Olin Howland ... Sunrise (as Olin Howlin)
Chick Chandler ... 'Hack' Hackett
Joe Strauch Jr. ... 'Tadpole' Millhouse
Forrest Taylor ... Pop Harrison
James Seay ... Tex Harrison
George Douglas ... Luigi Scalese aka Crowley
Charles Lane ... Newspaper Editor
Hal Price ... Sheriff
Spade Cooley ... Fiddle Player
Art Dillard ... Rodeo Hand
Bud Geary ... Henchman
Jack Kirk ... Cowboy
Rex Lease ... Gambler
Cactus Mack ... Cowhand
Ted Mapes ... Rodeo Hand
Kermit Maynard ... Sam Hatcher

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: 68 min on DVD ~ Image Video #3470 ~ (4/03/2007)"