Tonight's Movie: Under Western Stars (1938) - A Film Masters Blu-ray Review

This spring I reviewed BOMBS OVER BURMA (1942) on DVD from Film Masters.

Film Masters continues to release interesting and desirable lesser-known titles, most recently this month's Blu-ray of UNDER WESTERN STARS (1938), newly restored in HD.

UNDER WESTERN STARS is significant to Western movie history as the film which made Roy Rogers a star. Rogers had previously sung in a number of films with the Sons of the Pioneers, and when singing cowboy star Gene Autry went on strike, Republic Pictures gave Roy his big break in the leading role.

The movie features an atypical "B" Western story, with Roy as a newly elected Congressman working to raise awareness of the plight of Dust Bowl farmers during the Depression.

In a key scene, Roy performs "Dust" for an audience of Washington lawmakers. The song, composed by Johnny Marvin, was nominated for the Oscar for Best Song.

Roy's acting is somewhat amateurish at this stage of his career, but his likeability carries the day, and he's well supported by Carol Hughes as a spunky young woman with Washington know-how who lends him a hand.

The supporting cast also includes Smiley Burnette, Guy Usher, Tom Chatterton, and Kenneth Harlan. The Maple City Four perform a couple of songs.

It's of note that Rogers' stunt double was the great Joe Yrigoyen, with future actors Richard Farnsworth and George Montgomery also among the movie's stunt team.

I first saw UNDER WESTERN STARS at the Lone Pine Film Festival in 2018. It was filmed in several local areas, most notably the Alabama Hills outside town.

The movie's reservoir scenes were shot at the Tinemaha Reservoir near Big Pine, and the scenes in front of a hotel were filmed at the Winnedumah Hotel in Independence. Big Pine and Independence are just north of Lone Pine on Highway 395.

The Winnedumah first opened in 1927. It was built by Walter Dow, who also opened the Dow Villa Hotel in Lone Pine in 1923. The Winnedumah still stands, looking just as it did in the movie, but it appears from various review sites that it is currently closed for business.

UNDER WESTERN STARS was directed by Joseph Kane and filmed by Jack A. Marta. It runs 65 minutes.

The Film Masters Blu-ray print looks quite nice, and it was a great discovering that the disc has subtitles, which was not the case with BOMBS OVER BURMA.

UNDER WESTERN STARS is also available from Film Masters in DVD format.

I really appreciate the work Film Masters is doing to make lesser-known films available and hope we see many more releases in the future.

Thanks to Allied Vaughn and Film Masters for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. It may be purchased via Amazon and other online retailers.

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