"Prairie Thunder" was the 12th and final entry in the Warner Bros. Singing Cowboy series starring Dick Foran. It must have had a miniscule budget because most of the action scenes involving Indian attacks are clearly from stock footage from God knows where.
Rod Farrell (Foran) is "a lineman for the county" or a cavalry scout who looks out for the new telegraph wire and railway workers along with his pal Wichita (Frank Orth). Lynch (Albert J. Smith) owns a freight line and fears a loss in business if the telegraph and rail line go through. To prevent this he is selling guns to the Indians led by Chief High Wolf (Yakima Canutt). Along the way, we meet the child like Joan Temple (Ellen Clancy with whom Farrell is in love...awwwww.
Farrell captures Lynch and his gang and has them locked up at the Temple ranch. Lynch's cohort Marson (George Chesebro) who was not captured, goes to Chief High Wolf and has him send his stock footage Indians to release Lynch and his gang. Later when Farrell goes to the Chief to try and talk peace, he himself is captured and is tied to a stake. Rather than finish Farrell off, Lynch convinces High Wolf to send his stock footage Indians to attack the line and rail camps. How Wichita manages to free Farrell has to be seen to be believed.
Well anyway the Indians attack and Farrell circles the stock footage wagons to fend them off. Will Col. Stanton (J.P. McGowan) and the stock footage soldiers get there in time?
You would think that having Yakima Canutt in the cast, there would have been some of his signature stunts on display. But with the over use of stock footage, he never got the chance. Instead, we were treated to his "acting" talents.
Foran as usual gets to sing his three songs and ride off with the heroine. I always thought that his rich baritone was a little too much for a singing cowboy. His was more in the Nelson Eddy style. It is curious as to why Warner Bros. didn't capitalize on this.
The over all series was better than average and the singing usually didn't get in the way of the story. They utilized Warner's vast closet of stock footage many times throughout the series. I would have thought that they might have used more of the Warner Bros. recognizable character actors and up and comers than they did. This turned out to be Warner Bros. final "B" western series. Dick Foran would go on to a lengthy career playing mostly supporting roles lasting into the 60s.
Rod Farrell (Foran) is "a lineman for the county" or a cavalry scout who looks out for the new telegraph wire and railway workers along with his pal Wichita (Frank Orth). Lynch (Albert J. Smith) owns a freight line and fears a loss in business if the telegraph and rail line go through. To prevent this he is selling guns to the Indians led by Chief High Wolf (Yakima Canutt). Along the way, we meet the child like Joan Temple (Ellen Clancy with whom Farrell is in love...awwwww.
Farrell captures Lynch and his gang and has them locked up at the Temple ranch. Lynch's cohort Marson (George Chesebro) who was not captured, goes to Chief High Wolf and has him send his stock footage Indians to release Lynch and his gang. Later when Farrell goes to the Chief to try and talk peace, he himself is captured and is tied to a stake. Rather than finish Farrell off, Lynch convinces High Wolf to send his stock footage Indians to attack the line and rail camps. How Wichita manages to free Farrell has to be seen to be believed.
Well anyway the Indians attack and Farrell circles the stock footage wagons to fend them off. Will Col. Stanton (J.P. McGowan) and the stock footage soldiers get there in time?
You would think that having Yakima Canutt in the cast, there would have been some of his signature stunts on display. But with the over use of stock footage, he never got the chance. Instead, we were treated to his "acting" talents.
Foran as usual gets to sing his three songs and ride off with the heroine. I always thought that his rich baritone was a little too much for a singing cowboy. His was more in the Nelson Eddy style. It is curious as to why Warner Bros. didn't capitalize on this.
The over all series was better than average and the singing usually didn't get in the way of the story. They utilized Warner's vast closet of stock footage many times throughout the series. I would have thought that they might have used more of the Warner Bros. recognizable character actors and up and comers than they did. This turned out to be Warner Bros. final "B" western series. Dick Foran would go on to a lengthy career playing mostly supporting roles lasting into the 60s.