recommended

Instant Favorite.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Lively programmer thanks to hard riding, acrobatic fisticuffs, and energetic performances. Jones makes an excellent headstrong kid, while Gail Davis shows why she was an Autry favorite in more ways than one. The plot's more complex than usual. Gene has to help the corps of NMMI cadets straighten out Jones before the bad guys cheat him out of the ranch.There're more speaking parts than usual, spread out among a notable supporting cast—King Kong's Robert Armstrong, 1930's bad boy Frankie Darro, and the Lone Ranger himself Clayton Moore. Throw in Your Hit Parade's Russell Arms and NMMI's corps of cadets and you've got a more colorful array than usual for an oater. Also, there's little expected comic relief and what there is comes across as more gruff than silly. For me, the only real drawback echoes that of reviewer Carl 70—the editing room did a poor job of merging New Mexico flatland with SoCal scrublands, in addition to obvious process shots with the Hollywood cast standing in front of a back-screen. Too bad these technical aspects don't rise to the level of the movie as a whole.Nonetheless, with a better than average cast and script, plus New Mexico locations, it looks like Gene was reaching for more than the ordinary and generally speaking, he got it.(In passing—By the time I was a cadet at NMMI in the late 50's, the cavalry format had been eliminated. No more horses or championship polo. Instead, we were trained in tank warfare, the more modern equivalent. Seeing the movie now, I'm sort of sorry I wasn't there ten years earlier.)

Other than the scenes of the NMMI mounted corps and polo teams, this is just one more of the same cookie cutter movies Gene cranked out. It is interesting to note how the film was edited, switching you back and forth from the movie ranch in southern Cali to the plains, dust and cottonwoods of southeast NM. Gene didn't shoot so much as one scene in NM; he did go to Roswell for the premier, though. Wish I could have been there for that.

Recently restored later Gene Autry film about his efforts to save the son of his deceased best friend from the evils of gambling. Protagonist is trying to pay back his former friend who turned him in and married his girl -- hence the attempt to corrupt the son. Perhaps the best part of this otherwise lackluster film is to see shots of cadets at the New Mexico Military Institute and their post-World War II horsemanship. This must have recorded one of the last cavalry charges in the US. Recommended only for die-hard fans or alumni.

Robert Armstrong from King Kong and Clayton Moore, soon to be The Lone Ranger, add a bit to this mediocre late Autry product. The kid is insufferable and his worried sister not much better. Armstrong is a truly rotten villain, however.