JohnHowardReid Songs: "I'm Gonna Roundup My Blues" by Johnny Marvin; "Big Bullfrog" by Walter Samuels; "Moonlight on the Ranch House" by Walter Samuels.Copyright 3 February 1939 by Republic Pictures Corp. No New York opening. U.S. release: 3 February 1939. No record of any theatrical release in Australia. 6 reels. 58 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Gene Autry and Frog Millhouse are cattle inspectors who discover an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease on the Belknap ranch. But Belknap and his partner Shelby bury some of their infected cattle on the neighboring Wheeler ranch.NOTES: Autry's 30th of his 94 movies.COMMENT: There's a fair number of songs and comedy routines in this one, but they don't outweigh the action which includes some grand stunt-work and chases filmed with running inserts.Yes, the pace is fast, whilst the script combines enough action, songs and comedy to please all western fans. Only quirk — it's a modern western with the cowboys still incongruously sporting pistols. Screenwriter Jack Townley'x script is efficient but totally undistinguished. Acting also rates as just okay, but surely the villains could have been a bit more colorful, both script-wise and acting- wise?Earle Hodgins plays a patent medicine professor whose elephant takes a liking to Burnette. Not an original idea, but it does lend a bit of color.I liked the heroine best. June sure has a trim little figure and even joins Autry in a duet.Production values are quite fair and credits appear adequate. But the lighting as usual seems flat and dull, making the actual locations seem very ordinary and uninteresting. Obvious day- for-night shooting adds another negative factor. OTHER VIEWS: "Home on the Prairie" marked the first appearance by June Storey, a pretty little blonde from Canada, as my favorite rein- holder. June was Smiley Burnette's favorite audience. Still in her teens, June was one of those people who wanted to nominate you for a prize every time you did a good deed. — Gene Autry.

dougdoepke Gene and Smiley are cattle inspectors, who get mixed up with infected herds and slippery owners.I've seen a ton of matinees, but this is the first where an elephant, yes an elephant, is complicit in a jailbreak. Now let's see the sheriff lock Him up. Pretty good Autry oater, some hard riding, but not many flying fists, nor much fast shooting. Still, the plot's unusual, dealing as it does with a common cattle disease—hoof & mouth-- that's seldom mentioned in oaters. Not much in the way of scenery, looks like Big Bear woods east of LA, at least for some of the shots. I'm constantly amazed by Burnette's low-key versatility. Watch him twirl the six- shooters, maybe comically, but as expertly as anyone. Here he also gets a big part in shaping events. What an underrated comic sidekick he was. Anyway, Storey's fetching, while blowhard Hodgins gets to peddle his patented snake-oil in amusing fashion. Too bad, the song selections are pretty undistinguished, but who cares when we've got Storey to ogle. All in all, it's a decent Autry package, with Gene in the spiffiest outfit this side of uptown Dallas.A "5" on the Matinée Scale

bkoganbing Home On The Prarie casts Gene Autry as a cattle inspector checking various herds for hoof and mouth disease and other various and sundry ailments that affect the bovine. But a dead calf with hoof and mouth disease is found on the spread of his good friend George Cleveland and his daughter June Storey. Gene's romantic plans with Storey may get a real crimp in it if he has to have their herd destroyed.But it's not Cleveland's herd that's the problem. That calf is planted there by the real villain who wants to get his cattle to market before they're discovered to be diseased.Gene and Smiley Burnette take on a third and fourth partner in this one. Medicine show man Earle Hodgins and his elephant who come in mighty handy in the pinch. Think of Gunga Din as you reflect on my last remark.Good paced Gene Autry western, even some grownups might like it.

classicsoncall As a cattle inspector for the state, Gene Autry finds himself in the middle of a dilemma when Smiley Burnette finds a dead calf, and all shipments to market have to be stopped to prevent the spread of hoof and mouth disease. This puts Gene at odds with pretty Martha Wheeler (June Storey), daughter of rancher Jim Wheeler (George Cleveland), because even though their cattle are disease free, he has to play fair by all the other cattlemen.I always enjoy seeing Earl Hodgins show up in an Autry flick, this time he's accompanied by an elephant sidekick that proves instrumental later in the story. With Gene incarcerated for assaulting the area commissioner, Smiley uses the old peanut on the end of a string trick to lure Nepaw over to the jail house window, whereby the ponderous pachyderm literally pulls down the entire window and wall of the jail.It doesn't take long for Gene and Smiley to zero in on villains Belknap (Walter Miller) and Shelby (Gordon Hart), who conspire to ship off Belknap's infected cattle to market before they show signs of disease. It's one of those stories where Gene and the local sheriff all wind up on the same page by the end of the picture, so Gene can wrap things up with the leading lady by his side.As usual, Gene and Smiley offer up an entertaining mix of tunes, starting out with 'There's Nothing Like Work', the theme of which Smiley attempts to emulate as the story progresses. There's also a cowboy band called the Sherven Brothers Rodeoliers who present a lively instrumental, appearing more like a novelty act as the members play an assortment of homemade instruments in addition to your standard accordion and bass fiddle.