The Forest Rangers (1942)
Ranger Don Stuart fights a forest fire with timber boss friend Tana 'Butch' Mason, and finds evidence of arson. He suspects Twig Dawson but can't prove it. Butch loves Don but he, poor fool, won't notice her as a woman; instead he meets socialite Celia in town and elopes with her. The action plot (Don's pursuit of the fire starter) parallels Tana's comic efforts to scare tenderfoot Celia back to the city.
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Great Film overall
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
Whoever thought the beautiful, sexy Susan Hayward would start her career playing a character named "Butch"? In The Forest Rangers, she's not the romantic lead. Paulette Goddard is the beautiful love interest to forest ranger Fred MacMurray, with masculine Susan Hayward waiting in the wings. This love triangle is amusing enough to justify renting this movie, so if you're as much a Susan Hayward fan as I am, I recommend watching it one afternoon for a good laugh.With tons of special effects combined with real footage of forest fires and controlled burns, The Forest Rangers is a pretty impressive movie for 1942. Stunt doubles are used and abused, and the blue-screen effect is very well edited for the time period. The plot is interesting and fast-paced, and there's both a surprise and a good laugh in the end. It's a little more light-hearted than you'd expect, but it's pretty cute. Plus there's a funny scene between Fred MacMurray and Eugene Pallette straight out of any classic comedy: Fred has been out all night with Paulette, Eugene's daughter, and neither man knows who the other is. So, while Eugene is laughing about Fred's conquest, he has no idea that the girl in question is his daughter!
Fred MacMurray is a forest ranger, obviously, and Susan Hayward is the woman he loves. Correction: she loves him, and he treats her like one of the boys. He later meets Paulette Goddard, and they get hitched, supplying the plot of rivalry between Susan and Paulette. Costarring Regis Toomey and Brian Donlevy, this movie contains a mixture of light comedy and soap opera-ish drama, making it a cross between the TV show "Dallas" and Carol Burnett's soap opera send-off, "Fresno" in the eighties (which I wish they would put on DVD.) And, the fires will knock you out and look like something out of "Backdraft." You literally can feel the heat, they're so real. I was very impressed with the fact they didn't cut corners in showing the real thing in an old movie like this. In fact, I was very impressed with everything for such a little unknown movie, which I think you will too.
Sit back and enjoy a movie that makes good use of the particular talents of Fred MacMurray, Paulette Goddard and Susan Hayward. Each has a role totally fitted to their screen persona and they make the most of their opportunities. What helps considerably are the lush production values--but don't expect too much credibility in the script that has the female stars fighting rather predictably over the hero while the subplot (about an arsonist methodically setting forest fires) gives the story some additional sparks. A particularly amusing sequence has the trio spending the night in the woods sharing the same blanket--rather risque stuff for '42!!There's grandeur in the technicolor photography and stunning close-ups of Susan and Paulette to keep their fans happy. A catchy song number called "I Got Spurs That Jingle, Jangle, Jingle" became a top hit on the hit parade at time of the film's release.Only real weakness is the ending which has Susan's character doing a real switcheroo--but it's not a film to take seriously in the first place and only meant to be entertainment--which it is.Susan shows the kind of grit and spirit that enabled her to take on more complex roles later in her career and Paulette Goddard has a role tailor-made to show off her own brand of sophisticated charm. MacMurray is himself, nothing more, and it works every time.
When this movie came out in 1942, technicolor was still a novelty. No new process has surpassed this technique. The star quality of the actors was of the highest order. The story line, while a bit contrived, was and still is entertaining compared to other vehicles of similar themes. The scope of the movie, which includes cast, sets, costumes and scenery, can hardly be duplicated today. It is an outstanding icon of what movies used to be,