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Author
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Topic: Gene Autry Sings
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted November 17, 2013 02:56 PM
Gene Autry Sings
1 x 200ft B/W
This black and white 200 footer was I believe released by Niles or ReelImage.
There is no story, just three of Gene's best selling songs from his Western short films.
Mexicali Rose shows Gene singing to a pretty girl, or his horse, I'm not sure which!
Home on the Range has Gene relaxing under a tree strumming his guitar, with some shots of cattle round ups.
Back in the Saddle, Gene's signiature tune, has some nice shots of Gene and Champion.
No one ever said Gene was a great singer, he manages to hit quite a few flat notes in Mexicali Rose, but he was very pleasant to listen to, and definately a good looking guy with a lot of charm, which comes through in this short. Many of his Christmas songs, including Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, which he wrote, are as popular today as when they first came out over 60 years ago.
If you remember the old movie days when Gene and Roy would solve the problems of the world without killing anyone or uttering one foul word, then you will like this reel.
Loaded with nostalgia, a nice little souvenir of Gene.
Print quality - sharp with good blacks and contrast.
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Gerald Santana
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1060
From: Cottage Grove OR
Registered: Dec 2010
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posted November 24, 2013 05:59 PM
From the materials that I have and what I've read, Soundies came in to existence in 1940 so, Gene Autry's films pre-date Soundies. Much later, Official Films bought most or all of the Soundies stock, later retitling them and making compilations as well with three or four songs on one 400' roll.
Gene Autry's films were not included in those Castle, Offical and retitles that I can think of. He owned copyright to all of his material, that's where he began his fortune. I have Mexicali Rose and a couple others so I'll take a look at who released those when I get the film from storage.
Chances are they were probably pirate dupes but, people like Gene never went after those guys because, those pirate copies would bring in more business and keep him in the public eye. Snader Telescriptions and Studio Films, came in later to offer their own assortment of "new" country stars like Bob Wills, who were paving the way for Rockabilly, later rock music.
Gene was the first performer to make country music classy to a large public. For many years before hand, it was considered hillbilly and stereotyped as unsophisticated. All of that changed when he came on to the scene, he revolutionized film and music. Take a look at The Phantom Empire and see how he also added science fiction to the mix. I could see a young George Lucas and Steven Spielberg watching this series repeatedly as they planned Star Wars and the Indiana Jones movies...minus the singing cowboy!
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http://lostandoutofprintfilms.blogspot.com/
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Gerald Santana
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1060
From: Cottage Grove OR
Registered: Dec 2010
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posted November 25, 2013 03:59 AM
Yes Oemer, Jimmie was great, no doubt a major influence for many country western artists. And I agree Paul, he's the hero in all of his films and one of mine as well. Another source for great country music in it's transition into rock n' roll is an obscure show produced by the U.S. Army used to promote "Choice Not Chance" new military recruits.
I have nearly a full run of all of the Bradley Studios television and radio program Country Style U.S.A and another called Hometown Jamboree or Community Jamboree, and wow--what a line-up of stars. Johnny Cash, Eddy Arnold, Patsy Cline, Hank Snow, Chet Atkins...the list goes on. Sadly, Gene is missing from the bunch, since he never recorded at the Bradley Studios. Eventually I'll upload clips of the program to you tube.
So, I went into the archive and pulled out the same 200' (400' on 16mm) as Paul's and I took some shots of Mexicali Rose (retitled 'Mexicali') . Like I thought, it was a pirate dupe with good contrast. And I defiantly agree, I'm not entirely sure who he is singing the song to but, the final shot may provide a little clue...
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http://lostandoutofprintfilms.blogspot.com/
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted November 25, 2013 10:58 AM
For anyone interested in reading about Gene's amazing life, including great photo's and beautiful color prints of Gene's Western film posters, this recently published book by Holly George-Warren is the definitive biography:
Publisher is Oxford University Press
Incidentally, Gene was the only performer to ever earn 5 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Johnny Cash said " Reflecting upon the great people I have known, as an all American image of goodness, justice, good over bad, nothing or no one comes closer than Gene Autry. He made the world look better to me ".
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Jeff Missinne
Film Handler
Posts: 69
From: Superior, WI USA
Registered: Nov 2012
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posted November 21, 2014 10:38 PM
Carmel-Hollywood Films was another name for Hollywood Film Enterprises, the laboratory and distributor that for decades manufactured 8mm and 16mm home movie editions of Walt Disney's cartoons. It's safe to assume this was not a pirated item.
It appears to me this short, and another reel titled "Horses and Guns," were made specifically for the home market. Carmel-Hollywood had some kind of deal with Autry himself, through which they also offered excerpts from some of his Columbia features, which Autry's Flying A company produced and owned.
"Western Songs" is pretty crude production-wise; it's obviously lip-synched to existing records, and has visible editing splices in the negative (Bell & Howell diagonal splices, which indicates it was probably originally shot in 16mm. Splices of that type appear in some other Carmel releases.) This and "Horses and Guns" both contain some overlapping footage, indicating they were both shot at the same time. (Possibly the same day!)
Hollywood Film Enterprises later released several home movie editions of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, adapted from TV episodes of "The Roy Rogers Show," rather than Rogers' feature films.
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