The Old Barn Dance

Last updated

The Old Barn Dance
The Old Barn Dance.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Joseph Kane
Written by
Produced by Sol C. Siegel (associate)
Starring
Cinematography Ernest Miller
Edited by Lester Orlebeck
Music by Alberto Colombo
Production
company
Distributed byRepublic Pictures
Release date
  • January 29, 1938 (1938-01-29)(U.S.)
Running time
60 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$49,191 [1]

The Old Barn Dance is a 1938 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Joan Valerie, and written by Bernard McConville and Charles F. Royal.

Contents

Plot

A horse trader named Gene Autry (Gene Autry) arrives in Grainville with his horses and outfit prepared to put on a barn dance to attract potential horse buyers to an auction. The horse trading business has been affected lately by the increased use of tractors to replace horses for farm work. Radio station owner Sally Dawson (Joan Valerie) approaches Gene and offers him a contract to sing on a program sponsored by Thornton Farming Equipment, the area's leading manufacturer of tractors. Unconvinced that tractors could ever replace horses, Gene refuses her offer, but is still attracted to her and invites her to his barn dance that night.

Unknown to Gene, Sally is facing bankruptcy and needs to find a way to save the radio station. Knowing that Mr. Thornton (Ivan Miller), the tractor company owner, would sign a contract with her station if Gene would promote his product, Sally and her kid brother Johnny secretly broadcast Gene's show under the sponsorship of Thornton Farming Equipment. After hearing the broadcast and the audience reaction, Thornton agrees to give Sally an advance for Gene's upcoming shows, thereby saving the radion station. Later she tells Gene that if he signs a general contract with her, he would make enough money to offset his poor horse sales.

In the coming weeks, Sally broadcasts Gene's barn dances via remote control hook-ups, presenting them as promotions for the tractor company. The farmers of the area, believing that Gene is endorsing the use of tractors, begin to purchase them using loans from a finance company. As harvest time approaches, however, many of the farmers are unable to make their payments on time, and the finance company, conspiring with Thornton, threatens to repossess the tractors unless the farmers sign over a percentage of their harvest profits. The farmers are given less than a week to decide.

Believing that Gene is involved in the finance company's scheme, the farmers confront him at a barn dance and a major fight breaks out. Afterwards, when Gene learns the truth from Sally about how he has been used to promote tractor sales, he promises the farmers that he will provide horses to all of them to get them through the harvest. Meanwhile, Thornton demands that Sally return his advance payment since Gene will no longer be performing on the radio show. Fearing for her father's health and with no other option available, Sally agrees to broadcast recordings of Gene's barn dances to continue promoting the tractor company.

When Thornton learns that Gene and his men are rounding up horses for the farmers, he orders his henchmen to stampede the herd. During the stampede, a cowboy is seriously injured. Later, when the farmers hear Gene's voice on Sally's radio station, they suspect he has betrayed them, but when Gene arrives, they all realize they are listening to a recording. Angered by the deception, Gene heads over to the radio station with his sidekick Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) and destroy the records, leaving the station in ruins. Later, Sally's kid brother Johnny is able to restore a record he made of Thornton discussing the stampede.

At the county fair, Gene arrives with his horses, but the sheriff seizes them based on Thornton's claim for damages to the radio station. While Frog uses a tractor to destroy Thornton's platform, Sally and Johnny broadcast the incriminating record of Thornton discussing the stampede over the public address system. When Thornton and his men arrive at the station, Sally and Johnny drive off, with Thornton in hot pursuit. Gene chases after the cars on horseback, shoots one of the henchmen, and captures Thornton. Afterwards, Gene and Sally head back to town together on horseback.

Cast

Production

Filming and budget

The Old Barn Dance was filmed from November 27 to December 9, 1937. The film had an operating budget of $49,191 (equal to $1,022,661 today). [1] The film had a negative cost of $50,179 (equal to $1,043,201 today). [1]

The Old Barn Dance was filmed on location in the Alabama Hills of Lone Pine, California, Kernville, California, and Red Rock Canyon State Park on Highway 14 near Cantil, California. [1]

Stuntwork

Soundtrack

Related Research Articles

<i>The Old Corral</i> 1936 film

The Old Corral is a 1936 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Irene Manning. Based on a story by Bernard McConville, the film is about a sheriff of a small western town who sings his way into a relationship with a singer from a Chicago nightclub who earlier witnessed a murder. The supporting cast features Lon Chaney Jr. and Roy Rogers.

Round-Up Time in Texas is a 1937 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and written by Oliver Drake. The film stars Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Maxine Doyle. Despite its title, the majority of the film takes place in South Africa.

<i>Man from Music Mountain</i> (1938 film) 1938 film by Joseph Kane, Betty Burbridge, Charles E. Ford

Man from Music Mountain is a 1938 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Carol Hughes. Written by Betty Burbridge and Luci Ward, based on a story by Bernard McConville, the film is about a singing cowboy who fights corrupt land developers who try to cheat honest ranchers who are unaware of the gold lying beneath their land.

<i>Gold Mine in the Sky</i> 1938 film by Joseph Kane, Betty Burbridge

Gold Mine in the Sky is a 1938 Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Carol Hughes. Based on a story by Betty Burbridge, the film is about a singing cowboy and ranch foreman who, as executor of the owner's will, must see that the daughter and heiress does not marry without his approval.

<i>Down Mexico Way</i> 1941 film

Down Mexico Way is a 1941 American Western film directed by Joseph Santley and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Fay McKenzie. Based on a story by Dorrell and Stuart E. McGowan, the film is about a singing cowboy who comes to the aid of the townspeople of Sage City who are victims of a nefarious scam.

<i>Rhythm of the Saddle</i> 1938 film by George Sherman

Rhythm of the Saddle is a 1938 American Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Pert Kelton. Written by Paul Franklin, the film is about the foreman at a ranch owned by a wealthy rodeo owner who will lose her rodeo contract unless sales improve.

<i>Home on the Prairie</i> 1939 American film

Home on the Prairie is a 1939 American Western film directed by Jack Townley and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and June Storey. Written by Charles Arthur Powell and Paul Franklin, the film is about a cattle inspector's efforts to prevent a corrupt cattle rancher from shipping to market a herd of cattle infected with hoof and mouth disease.

<i>Melody Trail</i> 1935 film by Joseph Kane

Melody Trail is a 1935 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring Gene Autry, Ann Rutherford, and Smiley Burnette. Written by Sherman L. Lowe and Betty Burbridge, the film is about a singing cowboy who goes after the men who kidnapped the baby he should have been babysitting. The film features the songs "On the Melody Trail", "A Lone Cowboy on the Lone Prairie", and "Western Lullaby".

<i>The Sagebrush Troubadour</i> 1935 film by Joseph Kane

The Sagebrush Troubadour is a 1935 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring Gene Autry, Barbara Pepper, and Smiley Burnette. Written by Oliver Drake and Joseph F. Poland, the film is about two Texas Rangers traveling undercover as western troubadours in search of the killer of an old, half-blind man.

<i>The Singing Cowboy</i> (film) 1936 film by Mack V. Wright

The Singing Cowboy is a 1936 American Western film directed by Mack V. Wright and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Lois Wilde and Lon Chaney Jr. Based on a story by Tom Gibson, the film is about a cowboy who decides to sing on television in order to raise money for the orphaned daughter of his former boss who was murdered.

<i>Mexicali Rose</i> (1939 film) 1939 film by George Sherman

Mexicali Rose is a 1939 American Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Noah Beery. Based on a story by Luci Ward and Connie Lee, the film is about a singing cowboy who fights corrupt oil men selling worthless stock from a non-existent well located on land belonging to a poor Mexican orphanage.

<i>Prairie Moon</i> 1938 film by Ralph Staub

Prairie Moon is a 1938 American Western film directed by Ralph Staub and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Shirley Deane. Written by Betty Burbridge and Stanley Roberts, the film is about a singing cowboy who takes care of three tough boys sent west from Chicago after their father dies and leaves them a cattle ranch.

<i>Blue Montana Skies</i> 1939 film by B. Reeves Eason

Blue Montana Skies is a 1939 American Western film directed by B. Reeves Eason and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and June Storey. Based on a story by Norman S. Hall and Paul Franklin, the film is about a singing cowboy who goes up against a gang of fur smugglers operating near the Canada–United States border.

<i>Mountain Rhythm</i> (1939 film) 1939 American film

Mountain Rhythm is a 1939 American Western film directed by B. Reeves Eason and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and June Storey. Based on a story by Connie Lee, the film is about a cowboy who organizes his fellow ranchers to oppose an Eastern promoter's land grab scheme.

<i>Colorado Sunset</i> 1939 film by George Sherman

Colorado Sunset is a 1939 American Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and June Storey. Written by Betty Burbridge and Stanley Roberts, based on a story by Luci Ward and Jack Natteford, the film is about a singing cowboy and his buddies who discover that the ranch they bought is really a dairy farm—and worse, it's subject to intimidation from a protection racket that prevents dairy products from safely reaching the market.

<i>Rovin Tumbleweeds</i> 1939 American film

Rovin' Tumbleweeds is a 1939 American Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette and Mary Carlisle. Written by Betty Burbridge, Dorrell McGowan, and Stuart E. McGowan, the film is about a cowboy congressman who exposes a crooked politician who is delaying passage of a flood control bill.

<i>South of the Border</i> (1939 film) 1939 American film

South of the Border is a 1939 Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and June Storey. Written by Betty Burbridge and Gerald Geraghty, based on a story by Dorrell and Stuart E. McGowan, the film is about a federal agent who is sent to Mexico to prevent foreign powers from gaining control of Mexican oil refineries and fomenting revolution among the Mexican people.

<i>Gaucho Serenade</i> 1940 American film

Gaucho Serenade is a 1940 American Western film directed by Frank McDonald and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and June Storey. Written by Betty Burbridge and Bradford Ropes, the film is about a singing cowboy who goes up against a group of businessmen who plot to kidnap the son of a former partner so he won't testify against them.

<i>The Singing Hill</i> 1941 film by Lew Landers

The Singing Hill is a 1941 American Western film directed by Lew Landers and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Virginia Dale. Based on a story by Jesse Lasky Jr. and Richard Murphy, the film is about a singing cowboy and foreman of a ranch that may be sold to an unscrupulous banker by the young madcap heiress who is unaware that the sale will result in the local ranchers losing their free grazing land and their ranches. In the film, Autry performed the 1940 song "Blueberry Hill", first recorded by Sammy Kaye, which would become a standard recorded by such artists as Louis Armstrong (1949), Fats Domino (1956), and Elvis Presley (1957). The song became one of Autry's best-selling recordings. In 1987, "Blueberry Hill" received an ASCAP Award for Most Performed Feature Film Standards on TV.

<i>Call of the Canyon</i> 1942 film by Joseph Santley

Call of the Canyon is a 1942 American Western film directed by Joseph Santley and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, the Sons of the Pioneers, and Ruth Terry. Based on a story by Maurice Rapf and Olive Cooper, the film is about a singing cowboy who leads a group of cattlemen against the corrupt agent of a large packing company looking to swindle them by undercutting the buying price for beef. The film features three songs by Autry and the Sons of the Pioneers, including the classic "Take Me Back to My Boots and Saddle".

References

Citations
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Magers, p. 102.
  2. Magers, pp. 102–103.
  3. Magers, p. 103.
Bibliography