Susanna Pass (1949)

Wonderful character development!

Brilliant and touching

Absolutely Fantastic

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

A passable western. I take that back. If you like mildly pleasant songs, and Miss Rodriguez occasionally shooting off her mouth, and Mr. Garralaga's mildly tedious attempts at comic relief, plus a bit of mild action against some mildly attractive background scenery, you'll enjoy Susanna Pass. True, for the rest of us, there are some rousing bits of stunt-work from Dave Sharpe (who has an on-screen role as well), but Douglas Fowley overplays the heavy and the climax seems somewhat short on action. Nonetheless, there is a fair brawl between Rogers's obvious stuntman and Sharpe at Keane's newspaper office. However, the best stunt has Sharpe doubling for Rogers transferring himself from a less noble steed to Trigger in mid-gallop during the final chase. Miss Evans, here making a return to the series, has a lively enough role, though she is none too attractively photographed. On the whole, this entry stacks up as pretty fair entertainment if your expectations are not too high — and you're a rabid Rogers fan.

I love the movie, and especially Dale's character, "Doc" Parker, the Ph.D.-toting, martial-arts trained ex-Marine who only needs Roy because he's got the guitar! By 1949, we think "Rosie the Riveter" and other women were uniformly back in the kitchen, but boys and girls were watching this. No wonder the girls wanted to grow up to be women, not drudges! The film makers' seriousness about such issues is shown by the extended sequence in which Doc explains the hatchery's operations to Roy. This portrays her, not as some kind of oddity, but as an informed, highly educated woman in an instructive, not subordinate, relationship with Roy. Meanwhile, his interest is romantic, sure, but he is also clearly "teachable" and interested, not cowed or mocking regarding her leadership.

I do have to wonder whether in these days of terrorism and the fluctuating oil market, a film like Susanna Pass could be made today and just who the villain is.Roy Rogers is a fish and game warden for the state of California and he weighs in with his good offices in a fight between two brothers, Robert Emmett Keane and Lucien Littlefield, one bad and one good.Bad brother is newspaper editor Keane who's a rich guy looking to get richer. And that would be at the expense of good brother Lucien Littlefield who's got a piece of land on which he's created an artificial lake and uses it as a fish hatchery. He's assisted in this worthy endeavor by Dale Evans who is an ichthyologist. But there's oil under that lake, black gold, Texas tea as that old TV theme used to say. Keane is in cahoots with escaped convict Douglas Fowley to get that land by fair means or foul, mostly foul.Later on a different view of the oil situation and drilling underwater would be voiced in the Anthony Mann/James Stewart film, Thunder Bay.I'm willing to bet that former president Herbert Hoover who was a serious fresh water fisherman would have endorsed this film. I'll bet he saw it when out and loved it. Especially with that valedictory that Roy gives about the youth of America getting out in the fresh air and enjoying fishing as our forefathers did. Hoover was also a founder and spokesperson for the Boys Clubs of America as well.Hopefully that oil is still under that lake in Susanna Pass so we can get it out when needed in a pinch.

An escaped convict and an evil newspaper owner attempt to take over another man's property to mine the oil they know lies beneath a lake. They stop short of nothing to do this including murder. Lots of action, gunplay, and good western songs.