The Civil War, so narrator Paul Frees tells us, has begun. Gene Autry and Pat Buttram have joined up on the Union side. Autry is assigned as a local scout to deal with Jim Davis and his men; Davis is behaving like a Quantrill knockoff. The plot moves to a fort commanded by Colonel Edgar Dearing, which has been denuded of troops. Davis and his men, wearing stolen Union uniforms, infiltrate the fort, and make a deal with Dearing's son, Bob Steele. Meanwhile, Dearing's daughter, Gail Davis, is trying to take care of her apoplectic father.
The narration and the pace of the movie are a bit sluggish, and Autry sings only a couple of songs and a bit of a third in this outing, but the finale, a shootout in a canyon, is pretty well done. Overall it's still well above average for B Westerns, but the necessity of narration makes it apparent that Gerald Geraghty and Alan James' script needed a bit more work before director John English got his hands on it.
The narration and the pace of the movie are a bit sluggish, and Autry sings only a couple of songs and a bit of a third in this outing, but the finale, a shootout in a canyon, is pretty well done. Overall it's still well above average for B Westerns, but the necessity of narration makes it apparent that Gerald Geraghty and Alan James' script needed a bit more work before director John English got his hands on it.