A passable western. I take that back. If you like mildly pleasant songs, and Miss Rodriguez occasionally shooting off her mouth, and Mr. Garralaga's mildly tedious attempts at comic relief, plus a bit of mild action against some mildly attractive background scenery, you'll enjoy Susanna Pass. True, for the rest of us, there are some rousing bits of stunt-work from Dave Sharpe (who has an on-screen role as well), but Douglas Fowley overplays the heavy and the climax seems somewhat short on action. Nonetheless, there is a fair brawl between Rogers's obvious stuntman and Sharpe at Keane's newspaper office. However, the best stunt has Sharpe doubling for Rogers transferring himself from a less noble steed to Trigger in mid-gallop during the final chase. Miss Evans, here making a return to the series, has a lively enough role, though she is none too attractively photographed. On the whole, this entry stacks up as pretty fair entertainment if your expectations are not too high — and you're a rabid Rogers fan.

I love the movie, and especially Dale's character, "Doc" Parker, the Ph.D.-toting, martial-arts trained ex-Marine who only needs Roy because he's got the guitar! By 1949, we think "Rosie the Riveter" and other women were uniformly back in the kitchen, but boys and girls were watching this. No wonder the girls wanted to grow up to be women, not drudges! The film makers' seriousness about such issues is shown by the extended sequence in which Doc explains the hatchery's operations to Roy. This portrays her, not as some kind of oddity, but as an informed, highly educated woman in an instructive, not subordinate, relationship with Roy. Meanwhile, his interest is romantic, sure, but he is also clearly "teachable" and interested, not cowed or mocking regarding her leadership.

The later Roy Rogers movies tended to have a conservation and education message. In the case of Susanna Pass the plot is built around a feud between two brothers with differing ideas on how a piece of land should be used. One brother wants to use the land for a fish hatchery while the other wants to drain the lake and drill for oil. Roy's movies were strong in their message to carefully manage wildlife for hunting and fishing, and some of what is said in Susanna Pass would easily fit into a short film on raising fish for recreational and commercial fishing.Russell Masters (Lucien Littlefield) who seeks to make life better for everyone with a fish hatchery. He is joined by Doc Parker (Dale Evans) in his venture. Dale Evans was always feisty toward any villain and usually kept Roy in check whenever he became mischievous. This time around she pulls no punches, literally speaking, because she plays the part of a marine! As far fetched as it may sound for tiny Dale, she is dead serious and no-nonsense in her role.Newspaperman Martin Masters (Robert Emmett Keane) has to find a way to ruin the fish hatchery and eliminate his brother so that he may take the oil from underneath the lake. He and his hired thugs nearly succeed, but when facing Roy Rogers and a marine the task becomes difficult.Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage were doing their own western adventures on their radio program, so they certainly were no strangers to acting. While they do get to partake of the action in Susanna Pass, they just do not have the flair of the Sons of the Pioneers. Perhaps it is because they were not as comfortable on screen, or it may be a nostalgia for seeing Roy with his original group.There is a different feel to the polished production of Roy's last years of B westerns. In some ways it takes away from the "shoot 'em up" aspect that was so much fun, but it establishes a strong sense of right and wrong. Roy was no longer the cowboy who did good deeds; he had a purpose that was made clear to everyone.

Pretty good Roy Rogers. Bad guy newspaperman played by Robert Emmett Keane is out to take over his brother's (Lucien Littlefield) fish hatchery to cash in on the oilfield below the lake. Recently escaped convict Del Roberts (perennial bad guy Douglas Fowley) gloms on to the shakedown and wants a cut of the action. Roy and Doc Parker (Dale Evans) find themselves in the middle of the chicanery. Murder and mayhem ensues. This has better than average songs performed by Roy and Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage as well as Roy Rogers' regular Estelita Rodriguez. "Brush Those Tears From Your Eyes", and tile tune "Susanna Pass" are particularly good.It seems that Roy's movies could be divided into three categories. The early films directed by Joseph Kane which had a grittier feel, the middle musical Lallapalooza's, and the later action oriented films directed by William Witney. To me the best are the later films by Witney. Almost all of the Witney films feature lavish exteriors and better than average scripts. Susanna Pass is no exception. Filmed in "TruColor" it is a cut above the average B-Western. While Roy has always been considered a B-Movie star the truth is is, his later Westerns could really be considered A minus.Good songs, good action, Roy at the top of his game. Definitely worth a watch.