Moonlight on the Prairie (1935)

The first of the Dick Foran “The Singing Cowboy” B-Westerns was directed by D. Ross Lederman and written by William Jacobs. Foran plays Ace Andrews an out of work rodeo star that saves the day for a woman – Barbara Roberts (Sheila Mannors aka Bromley) – and her son Dickie (Jones). George E. Stone provides the comic relief as Small Change who accompanies Foran’s singing of the title song and others and has a knack for being an escape artist. Joe Sawyer plays one bad guy Luke Thomas who’d murders a Cattleman’s club man (Gordon aka Bill Elliott) and Robert Barrat plays the other Buck Cantrell who’d murdered Roberts’s husband in order to steal her son’s inherited ranch. Joe King plays the Sheriff and Herbert Heywood plays a livery stable owner.

Foran’s talented horse Smoky is introduced – receiving second billing – and is a Palomino though he also rides a paint which is another type of horse. There is a wholly unrealistic scene where Smoky rides miles and miles (over rocky terrain no less) full out to warn Ace of impending danger back at the ranch arriving wet and staggering into town only to have Ace mount the horse and ride it back to the ranch. Of course any other horse would have keeled over. The action features all of the requisite scenes: the rescue of a covered wagon being chased by Indians a cattle roundup a horse stampede several fist fights during which ample furniture is broken a couple of shootouts a smoke out and a happy ending in which the main characters ride off into the distance.