"The Man from Music Mountain" (1938) is available on Platinum Disc in a rather dark print copied from 16mm TV. Athough Gene is prominently featured on ads and credits, the movie actually stars Smiley Burnette, who not only has a slightly larger role - he even partners Gene at the action climax - but the best of the musical numbers, namely "She Works Third Tub at the Laundry" (one of Smiley's own compositions). What's worse for Autry fans is that Gene is very obviously doubled by a stunt expert zipping through the action at the start and at the finish. With all the songs and the comedy involving Smiley, Carol Hughes, Sally Payne, and a "cute" boy with buck teeth, the plot doesn't really get underway until ten minutes before the end title. At this breathless point, the heavies who have very cunningly presented themselves as Mr Nice Guys, suddenly fall out of character and commit a motiveless act of murder. Not one of Gene's best Republic outings by any means, yet it's one that most people remember. You have only to say, "Boulder Dam", and people instantly recall the revived ghost town, where cashed-up but feeble-brained homesteaders buy worthless land plots from a sleazy duo of obvious confidence men, who promise a bonanza when electricity and water are connected from the Dam - in the never-never!

A group of scoundrels decide to sell worthless land to naive settlers with promises that the land would be electrified and they'd make tons of money with their businesses. Instead, they know the new dam won't bring electricity there and the mine they sell them is worthless. When Gene Autry discovers this, he tries to help--but no one believes him.There were a ton of B-westerns made in the 40s and 50s, so it shouldn't be any surprise that the plot to 'Man From Music Mountain" was VERY familiar. In fact, it had been used a year earlier in "Gunsmoke Ranch" and a few years later in "Pioneers of the West"--both Three Mesquiteer films and all three films from Republic Pictures. Still, this Gene Autry outing is quite good and worth seeing.In this installment, Gene is joined by Smiley Burnett--one of the few sidekicks who could and would often sing in the films as well as the leading man. Smiley's comic songs are nice and I was strangely intrigued by the couple who made music using bells--you just have to hear it for yourself. Additionally, Gene is in his element and it's hard not to enjoy yourself when watching this film.

If you see enough Gene Autry films, eventually you'll catch the same themes recycled from one picture to another. I don't know if the ghost town gold swindle was utilized in one of Gene's earlier films, but the idea was played out again in 1941's "Under Fiesta Stars" (using a silver mine), and then again in 1942's "Stardust on the Sage". No matter who the leading cowboy was, virtually all of these early oaters were written strictly to formula, and the fans loved it because they kept coming back for more.This time out, villains Scanlon (Ivan Miller) and Brady (Ed Cassidy) look to make a quick buck by enticing investors in Gold River property with the promise of electricity and water provided by the recently built Boulder Dam. To help the hoodwinked land buyers, Gene and Smiley conspire to trick the baddies into believing that there's newly discovered gold in the once tapped out Betsy Lee mine nearby so that they'll offer to buy the land shares back. In a reversal of fortune, the mine really DOES have an undiscovered vein running through it, and it's a down to the wire race against time for Gene to make the save for the locals.I have to say, I got a kick out of a cool move that I haven't seen done in a Western before. When a couple of Scanlon's henchmen light out after Gene, he makes his way up into a tree branch and lassos them both off their horses with a single rope! The odds against that have to be astronomical, but Gene's a pretty remarkable guy and he makes it look easy.There's another interesting visual treat later on in the story when Smiley's sweetheart Patsy (Sally Payne) shows off a new electric powered washing machine. Right there in bold letters is the name of the manufacturer - Maytag! At this stage of the game, I don't think there was a repair man yet.As usual, there's a nice helping of musical offerings throughout the story, including a real catchy rendition of the title tune to open the picture. Then there's Smiley having some fun with a novelty song called 'She Works Third Tub at the Laundry'. However the one thing that caused me to rewind the film had to do with a line Gene delivered when Smiley questioned him about hydraulics. Smiley not knowing what the term could possibly mean, Gene offers this sage description - 'a shahoo with a hanalon bo-dan'. I couldn't have said it better myself.

This Gene Autry western, Man From Music Mountain uses the opening of Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam as the springboard for the story of this B film. The dam will now provide electric power for the residents of three states and some sharp operators are going to take advantage.As this film is set in the modern west, it's a 20th century plot we're dealing with. Ivan Miller is the chief villain and he's selling real estate, lots in a ghost town to be precise. But the scam he's working is that with Boulder Dam in operation there will be power lines coming soon and there is a gold mine nearby. Oh, Miller's selling shares in that as well.As Gene and Smiley Burnette have dealt with Miller before, they smell a rat. But in trying to outsmart him, they nearly outsmart themselves. You'll have to see Man From Music Mountain to know what I mean.The feminine leads are Carol Hughes and Sally Payne who have traveled west and bought those lots to open a beauty salon. It was nice that Republic Pictures thought of giving Smiley Burnette a girl as well for a change.The title song is the only new song in the film that was not written by Gene Autry, but it's the best number in the film. It's not a bad B western with a topical event to center the plot around.