Movie Review: Springtime in the Sierras (1947)

Synopsis: While herding horses to Jean Loring's ranch and with plans to stay with his friend, Taffy Baker and her brother, Burt, Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers come across an orphaned fawn. Roy takes the animal to his friend, Captain "Cap" Foster and learns there is a group of professionally armed poachers in the area. When Cap is later murdered by the poachers, Roy begins to suspect Jean as being involved and thinks Burt knows something about it. However, when he attempts to investigate, he finds his own life in danger.

Who's in it? The movie stars Roy Rogers, Trigger, Andy Devine, Jane Frazee, Stephanie Bachelor and Harold Landon.

Review: I overslept this morning and was concerned I wouldn't have time to watch a movie. However, I managed to decide on Springtime in the Sierras with just enough time to spare. Overall, I have to say it was a Roy Rogers film that exceeded my expectations.

The thing that surprised me most about this movie is it wasn't anywhere near as predictable as I thought it would be. There wasn't any attempt to create a mystery about who was behind the poaching/murder, and I knew the movie wasn't going to end in a way that didn't make Rogers a hero. However, there were quite a few twists and turns involved, including a surprise death, that did keep the movie's happy ending at least partially in doubt, especially when Rogers willingly walked into a trap without having any sort of contingency plan.

I also found I liked the choice of villain in this movie. Jean (Bachelor) was beautiful but also cunning and ruthless. It made her a formidable opponent for Rogers, especially since she had a small army of well-armed men backing her up. Plus, since she was a woman and this was a Roy Rogers' western, it wasn't as though the hero was going to get an opportunity to shoot her or punch her out. The movie's only other female character, Taffy (Frazee), certainly didn't seem like someone who could hold her own in a Taffy vs. Jean fight.

The movie also does a good job of keeping things lighthearted despite some of the darker material in the film's story. Cookie (Devine) especially provides some well-timed comic relief while proving to be a hero in his own right toward the end, even though some of the fat jokes were a little dated.

The film does seem to force in a few too many song performances. There are singing cowboy films and then there are "oh my god, please stop singing, cowboy," films. This was the latter of those.

I probably wouldn't have minded this as much had the movie's ending not seemed a bit rushed. Rogers, of course, saves the day (no point in trying to keep that spoiler a secret) but glosses over the impact of a character's death and how the authorities are going to get anything more than a poaching conviction when the murder evidence isn't that strong. I'm not saying the movie had to go into a great amount of detail about that, but it might have been easier to at least attempt it if there was one or two less songs stealing runtime.

Final Opinion: It was a good classic western with plenty of action and a not-so-predictable plot. It might have been a last-second choice, but I enjoyed watching it.

My Grade: A

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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1947:

Movie Review: Yankee Fakir (1947)

Movie Review: Heartaches (1947)

Movie Review: Lighthouse (1947)

Movie Review: My Favorite Brunette (1947)