Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.
Showing posts with label Andrew Tombes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Andrew Tombes. Show all posts

Thursday, May 25, 2023

SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

SAN FERNANDO VALLEY (1944). Director: John English. 

At his ranch in the San Fernando Valley, crusty old Cyclone (Andrew Tombes of Meet the Boyfriend) finds his cowboys goofing off again to hang out and sing with his grand-daughter, Betty Lou (Jean Porter of Cry Danger). Disgusted, Betty Lou's older sister, Dale (Dale Evans), fires them all and replaces them with women, figuring Betty Lou will no longer hang around and distract the ranch hands. Dale nearly runs Roy Rogers (Roy Rogers) over with her car -- this take place in "modern" times -- and he tries to get a date to no avail. However, when Betty Lou, a mere child, gets a crush on Roy, Dale decides to have Roy romance her so that she will get over it. Naturally, the two fall in love. 

Meanwhile poor Oliver (Charles Smith) hopes to have Betty Lou fall in love with him, and the equally crusty Hattie (Dot Farley), sort of a den mother to the cowgirls, just might develop a yen for Cyclone. Roy and Dale, along with Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers, sing a few numbers, including the catchy title tune and "You're Too Good to be True." Oh yes, there's a plot of sorts when fired cowboy Matt (LeRoy Mason) and a buddy "borrow" some of Cyclone's valuable horses supposedly to get their jobs back but actually to get a lot of cash. Speaking of cash Roy's friend Keno (Edward Gargan of Behind the Mask) also wants to recover some money that was stolen from him, also by Matt. 

San Fernando Valley is amiable enough. It's more of a musical comedy than a western, although it does have some horse chases and gunplay and a couple of fistfights. It's funny that Roy and his horse Trigger are billed above the title but Dale Evans isn't. That would change in the future. As for Roy, his natural charm always helped carry his movies be they fair or foul. 

Verdict: Modestly entertaining Roy Rogers Movie. **3/4. 

Thursday, January 29, 2015

MEET THE BOYFRIEND

Pretty as a picture: Carol Hughes
MEET THE BOYFRIEND (1937). Director: Ralph Staub.

Radio crooner Tony Page (David Carlyle) is "America's boyfriend," but his manager, J. Ardmore Potts (Andrew Tombes), is horrified at the thought that he might marry aspiring Swedish actress Vilma Vlare (Gwili Andre). Potts wants an insurance firm to pay him a huge sum if Page gets married, so the daughter, June (Carol Hughes), of the firm's owner determines to break up the romance between Tony and Vilma. This all leads to the expected complications along with a kidnapping and certain romantic misadventures, none of which are especially amusing. "David Carlyle," who plays Tony, is actually Robert Paige, who appeared in plenty of these semi-musical movies as well as Flying G-Men, Son of Dracula, and Fired Wife. He has a nice voice. Pert Kelton almost steals the picture as Pott's wife and is the funniest thing in the movie. Hughes [Jungle Raiders] is pretty, charming, and adept -- she also played Dale Arden in Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe -- and Paige is fine as well. Cy Kendall is also in the film, as well as Warren Hymer,

Verdict: Ho-hum comedy with songs. **.