Twilight on the Rio Grande (1947)

Director:

Frank McDonald

Writers:

Dorrell McGowan (original screenplay) and
Stuart E. McGowan (original screenplay)

Release Date:

1 April 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Gene and Pokie are on vacation in Mexico when they learn that their buddy Dusty has been bumped off.

Plot Keywords:

Interracial Romance | Mexico | Murder | Smuggling | Singing Cowboy

Cast

Gene Autry	...	Gene Autry
Sterling Holloway	...	Pokie
Adele Mara	...	Elena Del Rio
Bob Steele	...	Dusty Morgan
Charles Evans	...	Henry Blackstone
Martin Garralaga	...	Mucho
Howard Negley	...	Jake (as Howard J. Negley)
George J. Lewis	...	Captain Gonzáles
Nacho Galindo	...	Torres
Tex Terry	...	Henchman Joe
The Cass County Boys	...	Musicians, Ranch hands

Runtime:

54 min (edited version) | 71 min (original version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #12260)

Filming Locations:

Victorville, California, USA

Company:

Republic Pictures (I)

Quotes:

[first lines]
First Flower Girl: Welcome to the carnival, senor.
Gene Autry: Thanks. Viva Mexico!
Second Flower Girl: Viva United States!
Pokie: Yeah. Viva pretty girls!

Gene Meets up with Film Noir

Oddball entry in the Autry cowboy cycle. The year is 1947, perhaps the peak year for film noir in Hollywood. The presence of shadowy lighting, darkened streets, and ambiguous characters in "Twilight..." shows how the European film style reached into even the unlikeliest of genres, the matinée Western. About a third of the way through, the movie takes a really surprising turn since Bob Steele was then a cowboy star in his own right. How he came to take this role which could have gone to dozens of non-star supporting players is a mystery to me (I don't want to give away the surprise). But it does seem a curious piece of casting.

The plot is also unusual for a Western-- it's a not-very-well-hidden "who dun' it ?" -- a novel idea, but with a plot too complicated and a mystery too meandering to work very well. There are a few character surprises, along with some mangled Spanish accents. Don't expect much gun play or hard riding, but there is enough knife throwing to satisfy a Ninja warrior. As I recall, the central song "The Old Lamplighter" was a huge popular hit of that day and is nicely staged here. Anyway, the film amounts to something of a curiosity among the Autry Westerns, so the hour should be worth a tune-in..