''The Blazing Sun'' is a 1950 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by John English and starring

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

, Lynne Roberts, and

Anne Gwynne Anne Gwynne (born Marguerite Gwynne Trice; December 10, 1918 – March 31, 2003) was an American actress who was known as one of the first scream queens because of her numerous appearances in horror films. Gwynne was also one of the most popular ...

Plot

Gene Autry is a private investigator for a banking association, on the trail of two bank robbers, Al Bartlett and Trot Lucas. Bartlett and Lucas waylay Larry Taylor, a doctor on his way to the town of White Water to treat a train engineer who was wounded by the bank robbers, and Taylor's assistant, Helen Ellis. Stealing the couple's horses, they leave them stranded. Autry rides out from White Water heading towards Los Robles, where the doctor was summoned from, to see what is keeping him. Coming upon the couple, he lets Larry ride Champion, Autry's horse, into White Water to get help, while he stays with Helen for protection. Larry returns shortly and the three ride into White Water. In Los Robles, Helen's father, a prospector, enlists the help of a local assayer, Ben Luber, to evaluate the quality of some ore he has extracted. Ben tells Tom Ellis that he will need mining equipment to mine the ore, and his willing to lend him the money for it, in exchange for an interest in the mine. Ben and his brother, Carl, are partners with Bartlett and Lucas. When they go up to the hideout of the two bank robbers, they see Autry approaching, trying to track down the two bandits. Ben releases the two horses which were stolen from Doc Taylor and Helen, which Autry takes off after. Ben and Carl follow, and overpower Autry, who they accuse of stealing the horses, and take him into Los Robles. Autry is quickly cleared, and enlists the help of an old friend, Mike, to continue the search outside of town for Bartlett and Lucas. While camping out that night, they see Ben driving back into town late at night. The following day, Autry publicly confronts Ben about his trip the previous night. Flustered, Ben makes up a story about two of his horses being stolen (which he has actually taken up to Lucas and Bartlett). When Sheriff Phillips raises a posse to go after the non-existent thieves, Ben sends them in the wrong direction. When Autry refuses to join the posse, Phillips has him put in jail for safe-keeping, until the posse returns. However, Bartlett robs the town's bank since the sheriff is away, and Helen witnesses it and follows him to his hideout in the hills. Autry is released from jail, so he can track the bank robber. He arrives at Bartlett's cabin in the hills just as Helen is discovered. In the ensuing gunfight Bartlett kills his brother and Lucas, thinking that his dead brother's body will pass for him. When Kitty shows up to identify Bartlett's body, claiming to be his wife, Autry figures out that the dead man is not Bartlett. Ben, knowing where Bartlett is now hiding out, offers to turn him in for the reward, but Bartlett figures out the doublecross and kills Ben. Autry and Tom Ellis ride after Bartlett, catching up to him as he boards a train in an attempt to escape. Bartlett is killed, and Autry allows Helen and Tom to have the reward money.

Cast

as Gene Autry *

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

* Lynne Roberts as Helen Ellis *

as Kitty *

Edward Norris Septimus Edward Norris (March 10, 1911 – December 18, 2002) was an American film actor. Early years Norris was born in 1911, the son of a prominent Philadelphia gynecologist, who was described in a newspaper article as "a famous surgeon and ...

as Doc Larry Taylor *

Kenne Duncan Kenne Duncan (February 17, 1903 – February 5, 1972) was a Canadian-born American B-movie character actor. Hyped professionally as "The Meanest Man in the Movies," the vast majority of his over 250 appearances on camera were Westerns, but ...

as Al Bartlett *

Alan Hale Jr. Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; March 8, 1921 – January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead ro ...

as Ben Luber *

Gregg Barton Gregg Barton (Born Harold Wilson Barker, June 5, 1912 – November 28, 2000 ) was an American actor, who played various roles in feature films and television series. Career Born in Oswego, New York, Barton is possibly best remembered for ...

as Trot Lucas * Steve Darrell as Sheriff Phillips *

Tom London Tom London (born Leonard T. Clapman; August 24, 1889 – December 5, 1963) was an American actor who played frequently in B-Westerns. According to ''The Guinness Book of Movie Records'', London is credited with appearing in the most films in ...

as Tom Ellis *

Pat Buttram Maxwell Emmett "Pat" Buttram (June 19, 1915 – January 8, 1994) was an American character actor. Buttram was known for playing the sidekick of Gene Autry and for playing the character of Mr. Haney in the television series ''Green Acres''. He had ...

as Mike * Sandy Sanders as Carl Luber

Production

On January 15, 1950, Gene Autry announced that he would begin filming the first of his scheduled six films for Columbia with ''The Blazing Sun'', commencing production on March 27. John Englund was given the nod to direct in April. Despite the earlier announcement, the filming did not begin until the end of April. After it opened, the

National Legion of Decency The National Legion of Decency, also known as the Catholic Legion of Decency, was an American Catholic group founded in 1934 by the Archbishop of Cincinnati, John T. McNicholas, as an organization dedicated to identifying objectionable content i ...

gave it an "A" rating: "morally unobjectionable for general patronage.

Reception

Motion Picture Daily ''Motion Picture Daily'' was an American daily magazine focusing on the film industry. It was published by Quigley Publishing Company, which also published the '' Motion Picture Herald''. The magazine was formed by the merging of three existing Q ...

'' (MPD) gave the film a somewhat favorable review, enjoying Autry's performance, and complimenting the rest of the cast on their acting. They felt it would please his fans, but was a bit short on action, however when the action did come it was well done and very realistic. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' enjoyed the film slightly more, saying it compared favorably with more run-of-the-mill "oaters" (a film industry term for

Westerns The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...

). Unlike MPD, they felt the picture stressed action more so than Autry's other films. They singled out the work of the supporting cast, in particular enjoying the performances of Kenne Duncan, Pat Buttram, Lynne Roberts, Edward Norris, and Alan Hale Jr.. They praised English's direction, complimenting his handling of the action, as well as the camerawork of William Bradford.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blazing Sun (1950 film), The American black-and-white films Columbia Pictures films American Western (genre) films 1950 Western (genre) films 1950 films Films directed by John English Films with screenplays by Jack Townley 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language Western (genre) films