Riding High

Riding High

88 mins | Comedy, Music, Western | Nov. 11, 1943

No relation to the 1950 Frank Capra film of the same name, the 1943 Technicolor musical Riding High is a by-the-numbers vehicle for Dorothy Lamour and Dick Powell. Lamour stars as Ann Castle, a former burlesque queen who heads westward to claim her father's silver mine. Powell plays mining engineer Steve Baird, who like Ann has a vested interest in the worked-out mine. With the help of genial counterfeiter Mortimer J. Slocum (Victor Moore), Steve and Ann are able to peddle mining stock, thus saving her from bankruptcy. The stockholders are in a lynching mood when it appears that they've been flim-flammed, but a last minute "miracle" saves the day. Featured in the cast are Paramount stalwarts Cass Daley and Gil Lamb, the former doing her quasi-Martha Raye act and the latter swallowing his harmonica for the millionth time. Production values are excellent and the songs are exuberantly performed; it's only in its hackneyed plot that Riding High slows to a clip-clop.

Riding High

88 mins | Comedy, Music, Western | Nov. 11, 1943

Riding High
No relation to the 1950 Frank Capra film of the same name, the 1943 Technicolor musical Riding High is a by-the-numbers vehicle for Dorothy Lamour and Dick Powell. Lamour stars as Ann Castle, a former burlesque queen who heads westward to claim her father's silver mine. Powell plays mining engineer Steve Baird, who like Ann has a vested interest in the worked-out mine. With the help of genial counterfeiter Mortimer J. Slocum (Victor Moore), Steve and Ann are able to peddle mining stock, thus saving her from bankruptcy. The stockholders are in a lynching mood when it appears that they've been flim-flammed, but a last minute "miracle" saves the day. Featured in the cast are Paramount stalwarts Cass Daley and Gil Lamb, the former doing her quasi-Martha Raye act and the latter swallowing his harmonica for the millionth time. Production values are excellent and the songs are exuberantly performed; it's only in its hackneyed plot that Riding High slows to a clip-clop.
IMDb rating 4.9
Producers
Original title Riding High
Directors George Marshall
Writers Arthur Phillips, Walter DeLeon, Art Arthur

Cast

Dorothy Lamour

as Ann Castle

Dick Powell

as Steve Baird

Victor Moore

as Mortimer J. Slocum

Gil Lamb

as Bob 'Foggy' Day

Cass Daley

as Tess Connors

Bill Goodwin

as Chuck Steuart

Rod Cameron

as Sam Welch

Glenn Langan

as Jack Holbrook

Roscoe Karns

as Shorty

Douglas Fowley

as Brown

Stanley Andrews

as Reynolds

James Burke

as Pete

James Flavin

as Train Conductor

Tim Ryan

as Jones

Russell Simpson

as Frenchy McGuire