Songs (all rendered by Burl Ives): "Way Down Yonder in the Paw-Paw Patch"; "I Wish I Were Single Again"; "A Little Stranger". Sound recording: Bernard Freericks and Harry M. Leonard. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Robert Bassler.
Copyright 16 May 1948 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 9 June 1948. U.S. release: 20 April 1948. U.K. release: 21 February 1949. Australian release: 26 August 1948. Lengths: 8,166 feet, 90½ minutes (Australia); 89 minutes (U.S.A.); 85 minutes (U.K.).
SYNOPSIS: Two Wyoming ranchers vie for honors at a trotting-race.
NOTES: Clarke was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Color Cinematography (won by Joan of Arc). Green Grass of Wyoming is a sequel to Thunderhead, Son of Flicka (which itself is a sequel to My Friend Flicka).
COMMENT: Third and final film in the Flicka series. Oddly enough, most of the main technicians from Thunderhead re-unite for this effort but this time the players are completely different. Even the Swedish man-of-all-work has been changed to an American Gus that will accommodate Burl Ives who is virtually repeating his characterization from Will James' Smoky (on which Bassler, King, Clarke and De Maggio also worked).
There is a reason for the complete change of cast in that the McLaughlins are no longer the center of attention but are forced to share the limelight with two new characters played by Charles Coburn and Peggy Cummins. Just as well, for Master Arthur is no substitute for Roddy McDowall and even Lloyd Nolan fits indifferently into Preston Foster's shoes.
Mr Ives, however, is a vastly more entertaining Gus - even if he has little to do in the action (his part in the climax is limited to a single camera set-up spliced into the proceedings at regular intervals). He does have two or three songs (wish there were more!) which he puts across with his usual delightful artistry.
Charles Coburn plays what is virtually the lead role with ingratiating sympathy, but Peggy Cummins seems slightly ill-at-ease and miscast. She does her best, but her accent is all wrong too (even if the script does give her an Irish mother). Lloyd Nolan manages little more than to rattle off his lines but Will Wright is surprisingly effective in a much larger role than he is normally assigned. He does his own riding too - as does Coburn (except of course in the long shots of the race where it is skillfully doubled).
Mr King's direction is a couple of notches above his usual pedestrian level, the locations are nothing short of breathtaking, and the film packs in more incident than Flicka and Thunderhead combined. The climactic race with its ingeniously suspenseful three heats is especially exciting (even if it does fall short of the thrilling conclusion of Home in Indiana}.
Technical credits are Fox smooth. Mockridge has now mastered Alfred Newman's Flicka themes and although they are not as robustly delivered, they are more pleasantly and deftly handled than in Thunderhead. Which brings us to the one feature not mentioned till now: the horses. Animal and horse-lovers will find plenty to rejoice about. The picture even ends with an albino foal promising yet another sequel - although this did not eventuate. (Aside from the Flicka trilogy, the only other novel I have for Mrs Sture-Vasa is "The Catch Colt", published in 1978.)
Copyright 16 May 1948 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 9 June 1948. U.S. release: 20 April 1948. U.K. release: 21 February 1949. Australian release: 26 August 1948. Lengths: 8,166 feet, 90½ minutes (Australia); 89 minutes (U.S.A.); 85 minutes (U.K.).
SYNOPSIS: Two Wyoming ranchers vie for honors at a trotting-race.
NOTES: Clarke was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Color Cinematography (won by Joan of Arc). Green Grass of Wyoming is a sequel to Thunderhead, Son of Flicka (which itself is a sequel to My Friend Flicka).
COMMENT: Third and final film in the Flicka series. Oddly enough, most of the main technicians from Thunderhead re-unite for this effort but this time the players are completely different. Even the Swedish man-of-all-work has been changed to an American Gus that will accommodate Burl Ives who is virtually repeating his characterization from Will James' Smoky (on which Bassler, King, Clarke and De Maggio also worked).
There is a reason for the complete change of cast in that the McLaughlins are no longer the center of attention but are forced to share the limelight with two new characters played by Charles Coburn and Peggy Cummins. Just as well, for Master Arthur is no substitute for Roddy McDowall and even Lloyd Nolan fits indifferently into Preston Foster's shoes.
Mr Ives, however, is a vastly more entertaining Gus - even if he has little to do in the action (his part in the climax is limited to a single camera set-up spliced into the proceedings at regular intervals). He does have two or three songs (wish there were more!) which he puts across with his usual delightful artistry.
Charles Coburn plays what is virtually the lead role with ingratiating sympathy, but Peggy Cummins seems slightly ill-at-ease and miscast. She does her best, but her accent is all wrong too (even if the script does give her an Irish mother). Lloyd Nolan manages little more than to rattle off his lines but Will Wright is surprisingly effective in a much larger role than he is normally assigned. He does his own riding too - as does Coburn (except of course in the long shots of the race where it is skillfully doubled).
Mr King's direction is a couple of notches above his usual pedestrian level, the locations are nothing short of breathtaking, and the film packs in more incident than Flicka and Thunderhead combined. The climactic race with its ingeniously suspenseful three heats is especially exciting (even if it does fall short of the thrilling conclusion of Home in Indiana}.
Technical credits are Fox smooth. Mockridge has now mastered Alfred Newman's Flicka themes and although they are not as robustly delivered, they are more pleasantly and deftly handled than in Thunderhead. Which brings us to the one feature not mentioned till now: the horses. Animal and horse-lovers will find plenty to rejoice about. The picture even ends with an albino foal promising yet another sequel - although this did not eventuate. (Aside from the Flicka trilogy, the only other novel I have for Mrs Sture-Vasa is "The Catch Colt", published in 1978.)