5/5 "Gene Autry B-Western Series ... Twilight on the Rio Grande (1947) (New Version) ... Image Ent. (2004)"
  by J. Lovins (Missouri-USA)
Republic Pictures present "TWILIGHT ON THE RIO GRANDE" (New Version) (1 April 1947) (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 Frank McDonald (Director), Armand Schaefer (Producer), Dorrell McGowan (Screenwriter), Stuart E. McGowan (Screenwriter), William Bradford (Cinematographer), Smiley Burnette (Songwriter), Dick Charles (Songwriter), Jack Elliott (Songwriter), Larry Marks (Songwriter), Morton Scott (Musical Direction/Supervision), Nat Simon (Songwriter), Charles Tobias (Songwriter), Harry Keller (Editor), Frank Hotaling (Art Director), Helen Hansard (Set Designer), John McCarthy (Set Designer)- - - - - our story line and plot, Gene Autry's third post war Republic feature was actually a range land whodunit with film noirish overtones, one of Gene's best entry's --- Gene and Pike (Sterling Holloway) saddle up for Mexico in a gay fiesta of flying fists and sparkling tunes the way only Gene can sing them --- Gene is being chased out of town and Sterling Holloway (Pokie) is driving a vehicle in hot pursuit to help Gene --- Pokie honks his way to the front of the chase --- Gene and Champion come aboard by leaping at full gallop onto the bed of the trailer --- Yakima Canutt ably assisted cinematographer William Bradford to get the full effects of this scene --- Gene is following a mysterious path of smuggling and espionage, eventually clears his partner's (Bob Steele) name and avenges his murder --- Sterling Holloway was the comic relief in this post-war western, made five appearances with Gene in his films --- with these five post war Republics, Gene was only biding his time until he could have his own production set up for release through Columbia Pictures ----- some wonderful tunes, IT'S MY LAZY DAY (Cass County Boys), THE PRETTY KNIFE GRINDER (Adele Mara), I TIPPED MY HAT AND SLOWLY RODE AWAY (Gene Autry, Sterling Holloway and Cass County Boys), TWILIGHT ON THE RIO GRANDE (Gene Autry), THE OLD LAMPLIGHTER (Gene Autry), GREAT GRAND DAD (Sterling Holloway and Cass County Boys), THE PRETTY KNIFE GRINDER (Gene Autry and Adele Mara), TWILIGHT ON THE RIO GRANDE (Gene Autry and Adele Mara) - - - - - - some Autry fun facts, Gene always preferred his sponsor's product, Wrigley's Doublemint Gum, to smoking.

the cast includes
Gene Autry ... Gene Autry
Sterling Holloway ... Pokie
Adele Mara ... Elena Del Rio
Bob Steele ... Dusty Morgan
Charles Evans ... Henry Blackstone
Martin Garralaga ... Mucho
Howard Negley ... Jake (as Howard J. Negley)
George J. Lewis ... Captain Gonzáles
Nacho Galindo ... Torres
Tex Terry ... Henchman Joe
The Cass County Boys ... Musicians, Ranch hands
Kenne Duncan ... Lou Evers, U.S. Customs agent
Tom London ... Tom, U.S. Customs agent
Bud Osborne ... Brings Dusty's horse
Jack O'Shea ... Mike the Bartender
Robert J. Wilke ... Cowboy

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.

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) and Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") as they have rekindled my interest once again for 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 musical songs and 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 Entertainment ~ (11/20/2007)