Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

weezeralfalfa Comes across as a musical screwball comedy follow up on the wildly popular "It Happened One Night", of two years earlier. To me, if not everyone, it's as least as interesting. Bing Crosby is the star, posing as a cowhand on an Arizona ranch, whose boss, Penelope, played by the forceful Lucile Gleason, has brought her top cowhands to Madison Square Garden, to compete in a rodeo. Bing(as Jeff) is her best hope(actually, Bing's stunt doubles). Stout rustic comedian Bob Burns(Buck) is Bing's best buddy, but seems totally out of his tree as a rodeo contestant. Serendipitously, Penelope's niece, Doris(Francis Farmer) is participating in the rehearsal for her next day wedding. It's essentially a marriage arranged by her very wealthy father(played by Sam Hinds) to a Wall Street executive, designed to further increase the wealth of the family. The previously married groom didn't bother to show up for the rehearsal, and Penelope discovers that Doris isn't very excited about her perspective husband. Thus, while watching the rodeo, Penelope suggests to her brother that they cancel the wedding and allow Doris to spend some time on her ranch to acquire some earthy character. He doesn't agree, but Doris likes the idea and runs off to the train station to hide in one of the ranch box cars. Bing herds his prize bull Cuddles into this boxcar, then later discovers Doris asleep under some hay. He's not pleased at her presence, and orders her off at the next stop, unaware of who she is. But, it's pouring rain and the station is 10 miles away, so he allows her back in for the next stop. While Bing leaves for a short while, Cuddles chases Doris out of the car into a meadow, and Bing has to rescue her. Meanwhile, the train leaves, and they split ways temporarily. But Doris soon steals a car with wagon attached, and finally convinces an objecting Bing to join her, with Cuddles in the wagon. They camp in a woods that night, and get a little better acquainted. The next night, they try to spend the night in a random barn, but they are locked in by the 3 hobos trailing them, hoping to collect a reward for the safe return of Doris. Cuddles gets mad and knocks the door down, after the 3 conveniently leave for the night They continue on until their car gets stuck during a violent nighttime rainstorm. Bing discovers that they are in front of his ranch house, he shares with Buck! Inside, he finds Buck, with a woman(Martha Raye, as Emma) he met on the train, who is also headed for Penelope's ranch, where her brother works. They travel on to Penelope's ranch, with talk of possible marriages beginning to surface, further developed at the ranch. Meanwhile, the 3 hobos have somehow managed to stay on their trail, not knowing that Doris's father will soon arrive at the ranch with Penelope. During a ranch party, they empty the gas tanks of all vehicles except their chosen get away car. Penelope accuses Bing of being a gold digger, so he rides his horse to his ranch, upset. Doris bribes the 3 hobos to take her in 'their' car after Bing. At his ranch, after a hesitant moment, Cuddles pushes Bing into Doris, and they kiss to end the film(Something you might expect in a John Wayne western!).Currently, there are only 8 IMDb user reviews for this film, vs. more than 200 for "It Happened One Night"! Why? I can't offer a full explanation. Although Frances was well cast as a sheltered NYC debutante, she lacked the charm and cute face of Claudette Colbert, who took her role in the earlier film. Bing lacked the masculine sex appeal of Gable, and his romantic conversion was much more tenuous, even at the end. Their supposed journey from NYC to AZ is way too truncated to be believable, among many unbelievable coincidences in the plot. How did the hobos manage to keep up with them, with no apparent means of transport away from the box car? Long time vaudevillian and sometimes band singer Martha Raye is in her feature film debut, where she demonstrates both talents. We first meet her at a train station, where she runs up and kisses Burns as a supposed lost lover. She would often portray herself as homely and clumsy, thus necessitating aggressiveness in man pursuit. Drunk scenes were another favorite of hers, as all too graphically demonstrated in her embarrassing last scene, when she is falling down drunk, trying to flirt with Doris's gray-haired father! In between these scenes, she livens things up with her frequent hysterical antics, in marked contrast to her laconic costars. She would rise quickly to star billing for a few films, then fade from films during and after WWII.....Bob Burns somewhat reminds us of Will Rogers, with his down home comments and humor. Only in the '30s could he get away with making a name with his very crude, very limited utility, musical instrument, dubbed the bazooka.In the music department, Bing wins the rodeo singing contest with "Empty Saddles", then sings the traditional"Roundup Lullaby" in the box car, to hopefully calm Cuddles and Doris. Around the camp fire, he sings the appropriate "I Can't Escape From You". At the ranch party, all participate in Johnny Mercer's "I'm an Old Cowhand", and Martha does her signature "Mr. Paganini" song and dance with great idiosyncratic gusto. In all, a much better musical program than usually given credit for, with several composed for this film. Ella Fitzgerald also recorded "Mr. Paganini" that year. Clearly, some of the outdoors scenes were shot in the unique Alabama Hills region, with the Sierras in the background, as seen in many a western.

drednm Pleasant musical with several great spots. Rhythm on the Range stars Bing Crosby as a rodeo star and Frances Farmer as a debutante. Yes, that's right. They share a box car heading to Arizona and fall in love. Along for the ride are Martha Raye and Bob Burns. Bizarro plot, but it all works. Crosby and Raye are just terrific. Crosby debuts "I'm an Old Cow Hand" with help from Raye, Burns, Louis Prima, Leonid Kinsky, and Roy Rogers! And Raye sings her signature tune, "Mr. Paganini"--the show stopper. Farmer is gorgeous, Crosby is smooth, and Raye is hilarious. You gotta see this film. Also in it are Martha Sleeper as the catty bride's maid, Lucille Gleason as Penny, Samuel S. Hinds, and a trio of hapless thugs: James Burke, Warren Hymer, and George E. Stone. Lots of fun. And Martha Raye should have been a much bigger movie star!

jmk56 Several of the preceding comments have gone into great detail about the film and its pleasures. "Rhythm on the Range" is, to our modern jaded eyes and ears, obviously dated, but it has a charm and sly humor that are abundant enough that even 21st century sophisticates can enjoy it. I concur that the major reason to watch the film is for the wonderful performance of Frances Farmer, here somewhat eschewing her early haughty characterizations for an almost subversive comedic performance. This was Frances' first "A" production, after receiving top billing in two very well received Paramount "B"'s, "Too Many Parents" and "Border Flight." Frances went straight from this film to her legendary role(s) in Goldwyn's "Come and Get It," so from late summer, when "Rhythm" was released, through the end of 1936, when "Come and Get It" premiered, she was arguably the hottest, and certainly one of the most talked about, new stars of that era.The duet one of the previous commenters mentioned, "The House Jack Built for Jill," was in fact filmed but was not, as that commenter stated, slated for the end of the film, but rather for the scene where Bing and Frances escape the rainstorm and find shelter in the farmhouse. I have Norman Taurog's original shooting script and the scene is still extant in the script, including Taurog's blue line through the pages indicating it was filmed.One of the previous commenters repeated some unfortunately commonly believed misinformation about Frances. Though Frances' institutionalization was certainly no picnic (to say the least), the most horrifyingly sensationalized allegations about her treatment (found in both her ghost-written autobiography and the largely fictionalized "Shadowland") never happened, including the spurious claim that she was lobotomized. My article detailing the truth about these allegations, "Shedding Light on Shadowland," is linked under the Miscellaneous section on the IMDb listing for Frances Farmer. Or you can find it by using a search engine and searching for "Shedding Light on Shadowland."

lugonian RHYTHM ON THE RANGE (Paramount, 1936), directed by Norman Taurog, stars none other than Bing Crosby in a change of pace where he saddles up in western attire playing a singing cowboy, or by profession, a cattleman. In spite of his starring status, the scenario actually focuses more on Frances Farmer in her third feature film performance and rising to star prominence.Those familiar with the Academy Award winning Frank Capra directorial 1934 comedy of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, (runaway heiress meeting ordinary guy on a bus from Miami to New York), or others like it, will take notice in some similarities here (runaway heiress meeting ordinary guy on freight train from New York to Arizona), with of course, some revisions: Doris (Frances Farmer), a Park Avenue heiress, daughter to Robert Holloway (Samuel S. Hinds), the richest banker of New York, is making arrangements for her upcoming wedding to the wealthy Wall Street financial vice president and polo player named John Ashley Dolby III (a character never seen, except through a still photograph). Penelopie Ryland, "a true pioneer woman" (Lucille Webster-Gleason), her visiting aunt from Green Pastures, Arizona, realizes immediately that her niece is not marrying for love and tells her so. Later that night, Penelopie, who is sponsoring a rodeo contest at Madison Square Garden, makes an accusation to the crowd that embarrasses Doris enough to leave the stadium before things get underway. At the rodeo, Jeff Larrabee (Bing Crosby), assisted by his sidekick, Buck Eaton (Bob Burns), participates himself in every event in order to win the grand prize, the 2,000 pound champion bull named Cuddles. Following the event, Jeff arrives at his box car with Cuddles on time, while Buck and their boss, Penelopie, miss the train. As for Jeff, he find he's not traveling entirely alone when he notices Doris (under the guise of Lois Hall), which turns to a series of arguments between them. As for Buck, he encounters the daffy Emma Madison (Martha Raye), a Macy's shop girl taking a vacation to visit her brother.On the musical program, songs include: "Empty Saddles" (by Billy Hill and J. Kiern Brennan); "Sundown" (by Walter Bullock and Richard Whiting); "I Can't Escape From You" (by Leo Robin and Richard Whiting/ all sung by Bing Crosby); "Mr. Pagagini" (by Sam Coslow/ sung by Martha Raye); "Drink It Down" (by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger/ sung by Leonid Kinskey and cowboys); and "I'm an Old Cowhand From the Rio Grande" (by Johnny Mercer/ sung by The Sons of the Pioneers, Bing Crosby, Bob Burns, and cast). While "I'm an Old Cowhand" is the most memorable song in this production, "Empty Saddles" and "I Can't Escape From You" are also as good as it gets. On a slower tempo is "Sundown," which Crosby sings to the bull to calm down and go to sleep on the freight train. So soothing is his vocalizing that he even succeeds in giving Frances Farmer her lullaby of rest as she lays up in a pile of hay for the night.Making her movie debut in RHYTHM ON THE RANGE is Martha Raye. Arriving a bit late into the story, her familiar mannerisms and screwball antics help give the movie some uplifting moments. In spite the fact that Raye's style of comedy may or may not influence the younger generation of it's interesting to point out that in her day, the lady with the wide Joe E. Brown-type mouth was hailed as one of the funnier of the slapstick comediennes. Aside from a drunken scene where she sings a portion of "Love in Bloom" (a little inside humor since this popular song was initially introduced by Bing Crosby in the college musical, SHE LOVES ME NOT, in 1934) to Samuel S. Hinds, Raye even sings her signature number of "Mr. Pagagini" while sober. Bob Burns, the slow-witted philosopher who enjoys himself by playing his own musical instrument called the "bazooka," makes good comic foil to Raye, and would work together again in other feature comedies. Others in the supporting cast include: Martha Sleeper, George E. Stone, James Burke, Warren Hymer and Clem Bevans.As much as the runaway heiress theme has become common place in many 1930s comedies, RHYTHM ON THE RANGE comes across quite well with its predictability. Crosby is no stranger in encountering troublesome heiresses on screen. With Frances Farmer (1914-1970) being one of the most attractive of his co-stars, he did come across the spitfire of Carole Lombard in WE'RE NOT DRESSING (1934). Even some of the dialogue "I've never been so serious in all my life," used here is echoed from WE'RE NOT DRESSING. There is even some fine western scenery during its second half making one wish the film were produced in Technicolor. Overall, RHYTHM ON THE RANGE makes satisfying viewing during its 87 minutes of screen nonsense.Out of circulation from the commercial late night television markets for since the early 1980s, RHYTHM ON THE RANGE will never cease to be out of view due to its current availability on either home video (distributed in 1995, preceded by a theatrical trailer) or DVD (double featured with Crosby's 1940 release of RHYTHM ON THE RIVER) or broadcast of Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: August 3, 2016) and the Encore Western Channel. In conclusion, Look fast for a young Roy Rogers, future star in Republic Studios "B" westerns of the 1940s and 50s, appearing briefly in the "I'm an Old Cowhand" festivity sequence. (***).