"Gene Autry Series ... Radio Ranch (1940) ... Sinister Cinema (2008)"
Mascot Pictures presents "RADIO RANCH" (2 May 1940) (69 mins/B&W) (Fully Restored/Dolby Digitally Remastered) --- 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. Under the production staff of: Otto Brower - Director B. Reeves "Breezy" Eason - Director Nat Levine - Producer H. Freedman - Screenwriter Gerald Geraghty - Screen Story / Screenwriter Maurice Geraghty - Screen Story Wallace MacDonald - Screen Story / Screenwriter John Rathmell - Screenwriter / Continuity Armand Schaefer - Supervisor/Manager / Screenwriter William Bradford - Cinematographer Ernest W. Miller - Cinematographer William Noble - Cinematographer William Nobles - Cinematographer Gene Autry - Songwriter Smiley Burnette - Songwriter Jimmy Long - Songwriter Lee Zahler - Composer (Music Score) Earl Turner - Editor Armand Shaeffer - Supervising Producer / Continuity Jack Coyle - Special Effects / Set Designer Mark D'Agostino - Set Designer Ralph M. DeLacey - Set Designer Iris Burns - Costume Designer Terry Kellum - Sound/Sound Designer Howard Lydecker - Special Effects Theodore Lydecker - Special Effects William Witney - First Assistant Director Our story line and plot, This was Gene Autry's first starring role --- Autry plays a singing cowboy named Gene Autry, who runs Radio Ranch, a dude ranch from which he makes a daily live radio broadcast --- Gene has two kid sidekicks, Frankie Darro and Betsy King Ross, who lead a club, the "Junior Thunder Riders," in which the kids play at being armored knights of an unknown civilization, the mysterious Thunder Riders --- The kids, dressing up in capes and water bucket helmets, play at riding "to the rescue!" --- A chance to be real heroes occurs when Betsy, Frankie and Gene are kidnapped by the real Thunder Riders, from the super scientific underground empire of Murania, complete with towering skyscrapers, robots, ray guns, elevators that extend miles from the surface, and an icy, evil blonde Queen, Tika --- On the surface, a group of crooks plan to invade Murania and seize its mineral wealth, while in Murania, a group of revolutionaries plot to overthrow Queen Tika --- "The Phantom Empire" wss released in 1940 as a full feature, "Men With Steel Faces", distributed by Times Pictures, and "Radio Ranch", distributed by Nat Levine and carrying the now defunct Mascot label - - - - - - some Autry fun facts, Gene always preferred his sponsor's product, Wrigley's Doublemint Gum, to smoking. the cast includes Gene Autry ... Gene Autry Frankie Darro ... Frankie Baxter Betsy King Ross ... Betsy Baxter Dorothy Christy ... Queen Tika Wheeler Oakman ... Argo, the High Priest Warner Richmond ... Rab, Muranian Ray Inventor Smiley Burnette ... Oscar Peter Potter ... Mike BIOS: 1. Gene Autry Date of Birth: 29 September 1907 - Near Tioga, Texas Date of Death: 2 October 1998 - Studio City, Los Angeles, California 2. Frankie Darro Date of Birth: 22 December 1917 - Chicago, Illinois Date of Death: 25 December 1976 - Huntington Beach, California 3. Betsy King Ross Date of Birth: 14 March 1921 - St. Paul, Minnesota Date of Death: 4 October 1989 - Los Angeles, California 4. Smiley Burnette (aka: Lester Alvin Burnette) Date of Birth: 18 March 1911 - Summum, Illinois Date of Death: 16 February 1967 - Encino, California SPECIAL BONUS FEATURES: 1. Phantom Empire - Coming attractions and previews. 2. Introduction at the theatre during those early years of the cinema. If you crave action, drama and plenty of adventure check out other western features --- Ask Amazon.Com to carry the volumes as some are not available on Amazon as of yet --- you can order and pick up your copy now from Sinister Cinema. GENE AUTRY WESTERN FEATURES - Sinister Cinema. 1. IN OLD SANTA FE (1934, Mascot) 2. THE PHANTOM EMPIRE (1935, Mascot) 3. RADIO RANCH (1935, Mascot) 4. OH! SUSANNA! (1936, Republic) 5. RED RIVER VALLEY (1936, Rpublic--Uncut) 6. ROOTIN' TOOTIN' RHYTHM (1937, Republic) 7. GIT ALONG LITTLE DOGIES (1937, Republic) 8. PUBLIC COWBOY NO. 1 (1937, Republic) 9. YODELIN' KID FROM PINE RIDGE (1937, Republic) 10.BOOTS AND SADDLES (1938, Republic) 11.MAN FROM MUSIC MOUNTAIN (1938, Republic) 12.THE OLD CORRAL (1938, Republic) 13.RIDERS OF THE WHISTLING PINES (1948, Columbia) Combination of Western, Musical, Sci-Fi, Comedy and Adventure --- Truly imaginative --- Gene Autry's first starring vehicle -- It predates Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers and all the other sci-fi Serials of the '30s and '40s --- Republic Pictures stuck to the sci-fi theme in most of their cliffhangers through to the end of their existence --- An inside joke appeared in Gene Autry's 1941 feature "Sierra Sue" wherein character actress Dorothy Christy, who plays Queen Tika in this serial, says to Autry "I have the feeling we have met somewhere before, maybe in another world" --- A true must see for film historians and fans of all ages. 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 Greg Luce of Sinister Cinema and his staff ---They have one of the best selections of obscure B-Films on home video --- Check out the titles they specialize in --- If you're looking for rare, nostalgic titles in genres like B- Westerns, film noir, horror, sci-fi, sword & sandal look no further --- Western Classics -- all my heroes have been cowboys! Total Time: 69 min on DVD ~ Mascot Pictures ~ (5/27/2008) Read more