Bells of San Angelo (1947)

Did you people see the same film I saw?

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

First of all, I wish that some of the contributors to these pages would learn to use spell check, spell names correctly and, in general stop bastardizing the English language. Sometimes it looks like maybe one of 10 graduated middle school.As for the 'bells' pic, I found it thoroughly enjoyable. It was Dale Evans at her best, cute, perky and, as it was proved in real life, an excellent partner for the Slye one.The plot did not tax the brain, the bad guys were particularly annoying (I mean that in a complimentary way) and, of course, The Sons of the Pioneers showed why they were one of the top western groups.I can't comment on the color since my version is in living black and white.This movie is a very pleasant way to spend time. Oh, and kudos to Andy Devine. He was all over the place in those days - so many movies and, of course, a semi-regular on Jack Benny's show. He is simply as his name implies.The most pleasant surprise in this movie was Dale Evans in a role that gave her more to do than usual.See the flick, review it and do so with some intelligence - even semi-intelligent would be welcome.

Roy Rogers and sheriff/sidekick Andy Devine investigate the death of an alleged thief, who was supposedly shot in the act of ripping off a villain's silver-mine. Meanwhile, western-fiction writer Dale Evans comes to town under an assumed name and has to deal with Roy's patronizing of her work.A mildly entertaining, loosely plotted Roy Rodgers picture, Bells Of San Angelo is good fun, with high production values (at least for a Republic Pictures Saturday matinée western).The well photographed desert landscapes look nice in exaggerated Technicolor, as do Dale and Roy's spiffy outfits and good songs are the perfect antidote for slow spots, with Roy, Dale, and Bob Nolan taking turns singing with The Sons Of The Pioneers.Here, a feistier than usual Dale Evans gives one of her best performances, stealing nearly every scene she's in! Playing the local priest is character actor Fritz Leiber, who's lookalike, also-named son was one of the great sci-fi writers of the twentieth-century!

I've never been a fan of Roy's, even while I watched his 1950s TVshow as a kid. I wanted to buy one RR movie, just to see if I hadchanged my mind about his films. I picked this one because acouple of sources had stated that this was his best film, & was"tougher" than most of his films. I don't like songs with mywesterns, so of course there was far too much music for my tastehere (I lost count at seven). The comedy, supplied by Andy Devine,was pretty good (& actually quite funny near the end of the film), abig improvement over Smiley Burnett, but nowhere near as goodas Gabby Hayes. Dale was OK as the heroine, & better than Ithought she would be, a better actor than her husband. Indeed,there were a couple of very gritty fight scenes where RR took abeating (& surprisingly, this was acknowledged in later sceneswhere he was seen with bruises). But overall, not an excitingexperience for me. The plot was weak & the music disconnectedwhat little action there was. For the sake of comparison, I'm goingto try a very small dose of Gene Autry before going back to thegreatest of all cowboy stars, William Boyd!

This is one of the last good Roy Rogers films, before they started recycling stories and churning them out a mile a minute. The plot is interesting and keeps you interested. The film isn't too long (about 1h20) and doesn't drag at all. The songs aren't too bad, and the absolutely *adorable* Dale Evans has lots of screen time;) Andy Devine was amusing as the sheriff, much more amusing than many of the later comic relief sidekicks, and Roy Rogers was at his best, in voice and in character.Overall: One of the few colour Rogers films worth seeing; not the best of them, but most certainly nowhere near the worst (though I'm not much of a fan of the genre;). Entertaining, and worth seeing at least once. And, of course, Andy might be Devine , but Dale Evans is *divine*!!;) 7/10.