Ridin' on a Rainbow

Pleasing western fare has Autry and "Frog" holded up in a showboat (a change of scene, which seems to have been the key to Republic's mid period Autrys). They're trying to discover who robbed the bank with all their money in it -- the girl singer (Lee, enchanting as usual) whose father helped the robbers is their only lead, and she's reluctant to help. Some good songs, including the title song by Jule Styne, and some fairly authentic showboat sets liven things up with the usual chases and fistfights.

Ridin' The Rainbow you'll find plenty of great tunes by Gene Autry and Mary Lee. Ol' Frog and Jimmy Conlin give the great comic relief and Carol Adams showcases her song and dance skills with amazing tapdancing. The action starts when the villains rob the bank with the show's clown, who is prolific performer Byron Foulger. Autry is in hot pursuit from the range to the showboat. The action heats up with George M. Cohan's favorite, Georgia Caine and Captain 'Lijah Bartlett (Ferris Taylor). As the plot thickens, there's wonderful music and dance numbers which makes a very entertaining show.

After watching "Ridin' on a Rainbow" , I felt a bit disappointed. While I liked the change of venue you get in the film, I felt there were just too many songs and the female lead a bit hard to understand. Perhaps it's just me...but I wasn't very impressed by this one.

The story begins with some crooks robbing a bank and killing the bank president. They did this during a show being put on by a showboat and they chose this time for their villainy because so many people in town were at the event. Their accomplice is Pop Evans...and because he lives on the showboat, they give him the money to hold. As for Gene (Gene Autry), he nearly catches the two killers. But he's not going to give up an he decides to join the showboat in order to keep an eye on Evans' annoying daughter (Mary Lee)...as it's obvious she knows more than she's admitting.

There were two major problems with the film. While I enjoy listening to Gene Autry sing, there were just to many other songs by folks on the showboat...such that it felt more like a musical than a western. Second, Mary Lee was often very good in these films (she made quite a few with Autry), here she is confusing....acting petulant and annoying when her father was responsible for a lot of misery. Making her a bit of a sociopath was, in hindsight, a mistake. Overall, not a bad film but clearly a second or third-rate film from Gene...watchable but disappointing.

This isn't your typical Autry movie. This one focuses more on music, comedy, and characterization than on action. The storyline/plot is scant and only makes an occasional appearance to justify its existence; it's there mainly to provide a framework in which to fit everything else. The movie doesn't feature as much action as most of the other Autry offerings; it focuses more on entertainment.

The movie offers plenty of entertainment. There are healthy servings of several songs, the usual Smiley Burnette comedic relief, and even a tap sequence by the talented Carol Adams.

What sets this movie apart from the others is that Mary Lee is given more opportunity to showcase both her singing and acting talents, and she does well with those. If you're a Mary Lee fan, this is the movie you want to see.

This movie is shown occasionally on the Encore Western channel, and you can also find it on Tubi. It's a must-see for Autry fans.