Rose of the Rancho (1936 film)

Rose of the Rancho is a 1936 American action film directed by Marion Gering and written by Frank Partos, Charles Brackett, Nat Perrin and Arthur Sheekman, adapted from the play of the same name by David Belasco and Richard Walton Tully. The film stars John Boles, Gladys Swarthout, Charles Bickford, Grace Bradley, Willie Howard and Herb Williams. It was released on January 10, 1936, by Paramount Pictures.[1]

Rose of the Rancho
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMarion Gering
Produced byWilliam LeBaron
Screenplay byFrank Partos
Charles Brackett
Nat Perrin
Arthur Sheekman
David Belasco (play)
Richard Walton Tully
StarringJohn Boles
Gladys Swarthout
Charles Bickford
Grace Bradley
Willie Howard
Herb Williams
Music byErich Wolfgang Korngold
CinematographyLeo Tover
Edited byHugh Bennett
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • January 10, 1936 (1936-01-10)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot summary

Joe Kincaid, the leader of an organised gang of land-grabbers, is taking advantage of a loophole in the law to appropriate land in California in 1852. California has only recently been surrendered by Mexico to the United States to be admitted to the union. Joe uses the loophole in the law, whereby the title-deeds of current landowners are not recognised, to claim the legitimate plunder of the land. The law was unable to cope with the conflict created by the outlaws, and many of the landowners lost their homes and means.

Rosita Castro, the daughter of landowner Don Pasqual Castro, disguises herself as a man and organises a band of vigilantes to fight back against the cruelty of the outlaws. Rosita is aided by an undercover federal agent called Jim Kearny.

Cast

Production

Rose of the Rancho is one of five movies produced by Paramount in the 1930s featuring Gladys Swarthout, a very popular Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano. The studio was attempting to build on the popularity of Grace Moore, another opera singer, who had also expanded her talents into movies.[2]

Reception

Andre Sennwald of The New York Times said, "Gladys Swarthout's voice can be heard, if you listen carefully, above the groans and bone-creakings of the plot in Rose of the Rancho at the Paramount Theatre. With an ambitiousness that must have seemed more plausible in the studio conferences than in the pre-view room, Paramount has converted David Belasco's ancient hack-piece into an elaborate musical horse opera. It is the misfortune of the film that, instead of combining the most fascinating qualities of operetta and the six-shooter drama, it merely accents the weaknesses of both forms in one handsome blur."[3]

Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a mildly negative review. Greene praised the acting of Gladys Swarthmore, but criticized the acting of John Boles as "particularly unsympathetic". Speaking favorably, Greene noted that "it is without [] bogus seriousness, [] artiness, [and] pomposity", however his ultimate conclusion was that it was "a very long way indeed from being a good film".[4]

See also

References
  1. "Rose of the Rancho (1936) - Overview". TCM.com. January 7, 1936. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  2. "Champagne Waltz (Paramount)". Time magazine. January 25, 1937. Retrieved December 21, 2013. The perennial and expensive effort to make a Grace Moore out of Gladys Swarthout seemed to have more logic some time ago when Miss Moore was a more important box-office draw.
  3. Sennwald, Andre (January 9, 1936). "Movie Review - Rose of the Rancho - Gladys Swarthout in "Rose of the Rancho," at the Paramount - "Last of the Pagans."". NYTimes.com. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  4. Greene, Graham (March 6, 1936). "Rose of the Rancho/Jack of all Trades". The Spectator. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. p. 56. ISBN 0192812866.)


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