FightingWesterner Back at home after finishing his latest movie, Roy Rogers runs afoul of a nasty group of abusive wild horse-wranglers, who hatch a plot to kidnap Trigger and ransom him back to Roy for one-hundred-thousand dollars.Roy celebrates his tenth anniversary as a feature attraction (onscreen as well as off) with this well-photographed color production. However, one wishes that he would have celebrated this milestone with a few more of his best loved co-stars, not just Andy Devine, Bob Nolan, and The Sons Of The Pioneers. Where's Dale Evans and Gabby Hayes?Still, Under California Stars is pleasant, straight-forward, and has some great songs, with musical highlights that include the title song (not really written by Cookie Bullfincher!) and Roy joining The Sons Of The Pioneers in singing "Dust".One unbelievable moment that has to be seen to be believed shows Trigger stomping a villains face in! For a few seconds you actually see in the background, a dummy with his face caved in!

classicsoncall I was curious about the premise of this picture, since an early scene reports that it's Roy Rogers' Tenth Anniversary in movies. Sure enough, a check of Roy's film credits shows "Under Western Stars" as his first feature role for Republic Films back in 1938. He had appeared in about a dozen films before in bit parts, usually as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers, and usually credited as Dick Weston or by his real name, Leonard Slye.It was a bit odd to note that Dale Evans wasn't around for this flick with the female lead going to Jane Frazee. Another reviewer on this board posits that Dale may have been in a motherly way at the time of shooting. Frazee's character is a cousin to Andy Devine's 'Cookie Bullfincher', and the story gets some comic relief from additional Bullfinchers on hand who Cookie has hired during Roy's absence. Ever the softie when it comes to his close pals, Roy takes it all in stride.The story reminded me a little of the 1946 picture "My Pal Trigger", as that one also involved a kidnapped horse. In that story it was Trigger's dad, going by the name of Golden Sovereign, and Roy was framed as the kidnapper! The villains this time though were a much more dastardly lot, as they threatened bodily harm and even death to Trigger, Roy, and a young boy who figures in the story's outcome, played by Michael Chapin. A hundred thousand dollar ransom for Trigger doesn't sound like a whole lot today, but sixty years ago I'm sure it was a pretty big deal."Under California Stars' winds up being a fairly standard Western for Roy and his sidekicks as they outwit the bad guys during the run for the ransom money. There's the usual share of double crosses that trips up the bad guy bunch, as the 'Smartest Horse in the Movies' spends a fair share of his time doing battle with the baddies as well. Fans of Rogers might notice as I did that the ten years of working for Republic must have been pretty good, as Bob Nolan and his partners all seemed to have added a few pounds around the middle. Roy however looks as trim and fit as ever, even though it's fairly evident a stand-in took his place for a running rear mount in the latter part of the picture.

wes-connors Roy Rogers is a popular movie cowboy / rancher, celebrating his 10th Anniversary in pictures - with the assistance of helping hands Andy Devine (as "Cookie"), Bob Nolan, the Sons of the Pioneers, and Cookie's cousin Jane Frazee (as Caroline). Mr. Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers are in particularly fine voice for this "10th Anniversary" movie.Michael Chapin (as Ted) plays a Roy Rogers fan who is taken in by the star; the boy witnesses the film's major plot development - the kidnapping of Trigger. There are several dramatic moments; but, these do not mix well with the light atmosphere of celebration and song-writing. Trigger and young Mr. Chapin are very appealing in "Under California Skies"; not surprisingly, they steal the show. A dramatic western with Chapin and Trigger (and/or Tramp) would have been a welcome feature from the studio. **** Under California Skies (4/30/48) William Witney ~ Roy Rogers, Michael Chapin, Andy Devine, Jane Frazee

Kieran Kenney This film has about the same visual appeal as My Friend Flicka,with it's brilliantly colorful Trucolor camerawork. The colorenhances greatly a film that is still mostly enjoyable. Thoughhighly dated, at times it's even suspenseful and get pretty excitingtowards the end, when Roy Rogers and his friends go to rescueTrigger, who is billed as the smartest horse in pictures, and whocomes across as just that. Roy is charismatic and does all thesinging and horse wrangling like a pro, why shouldn't he?, and therest of the cast lend decent performances. Michael Chapin isprobably the best of the cast, after Roy, making his role as thetoken star-struck kid seem not too predictable. Jane Frazee, onthe other hand, comes across as one of the dumbest leadingladies ever. So, it's amusing and squeaky clean entertainment forall the ages, but nothing superb. But then, it really wasn'tsupposed to be.