''Rose of the Rancho'' is a 1936 American

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

Marion Gering Marion Gering (June 9, 1901 in Rostov-on-Don – April 19, 1977 in New York City) was a Russian-born American stage producer and director. He moved to the United States in 1923 as an artist. He became involved in the theatrical community in Chicag ...

and written by

Frank Partos Frank Partos (born Ferenc Pártos; July 2, 1901 – December 23, 1956) was a Hungarian-American screenwriter and an early executive committee member of the Screen Actors Guild, which he helped found. Emigration from Europe Born in Budapest on ...

Charles Brackett Charles William Brackett (November 26, 1892 – March 9, 1969) was an American screenwriter and film producer. He collaborated with Billy Wilder on sixteen films. Life and career Brackett was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, the son of ...

Nat Perrin Nat Perrin (March 15, 1905 – May 9, 1998) was an American comedy film, television, and radio screenwriter, producer, and director, who contributed gags and storylines to several Marx Brothers films and co-wrote the script for the film '' Hellz ...

and

Arthur Sheekman Arthur Sheekman (February 5, 1901 – January 12, 1978) was an American theater and movie critic, columnist, playwright, and editor—but best known for his writing for the screen. His specialty was light comedy. Groucho Marx called him "The Fast ...

, adapted from the play of the same name by

David Belasco David Belasco (July 25, 1853 – May 14, 1931) was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story ''Madame Butterfly'' for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of m ...

and

Richard Walton Tully Richard Walton Tully (May 7, 1877 – February 1, 1945) was an American playwright. Biography Tully was born on May 7, 1877 in Nevada City, California. Tully was married to another playwright Eleanor Gates until he divorced her in 1914. His b ...

. The film stars John Boles,

Gladys Swarthout Gladys Swarthout (December 25, 1900 in Deepwater, Missouri – July 7, 1969 in Florence, Italy) was an American mezzo-soprano opera singer and actress. Career While studying at the Bush Conservatory of Music in Chicago, a group of friends arran ...

Charles Bickford Charles Ambrose Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor known for supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1943), '' The ...

Grace Bradley Grace Bradley (September 21, 1913 – September 21, 2010) was an American film actress who was active in Hollywood during the 1930s. Early life Bradley was born in Brooklyn and was an only child. As a child, she took piano lessons and, by the ...

Willie Howard Willie L. Howard (born December 26, 1977) is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft and played for them for two seasons be ...

and Herb Williams. It was released on January 10, 1936, by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

Plot summary

Joe Kincaid, the leader of an organised gang of land-grabbers, is taking advantage of a

loophole A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system. Originally, the word meant an arrowslit, a narrow verti ...

in the law to appropriate land in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in 1852. California has only recently been surrendered by

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to be admitted to the union. Joe uses the loophole in the law, whereby the title-deeds of current

landowners In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land owned by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individual ...

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 Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...

to fight back against the cruelty of the outlaws. Rosita is aided by an undercover federal agent called Jim Kearny.

Cast

* John Boles as Jim Kearney *

as Rosita Castro aka Don Carlos *

as Joe Kincaid *

as Flossie *

as Pancho Spiegelgass *Herb Williams as Phineas P. Jones *

H. B. Warner Henry Byron Warner (born Henry Byron Lickfold, 26 October 1876 – 21 December 1958) was an English film and theatre actor. He was popular during the silent era and played Jesus Christ in '' The King of Kings''. In later years, he successfu ...

as Don Pasqual Castro *

Charlotte Granville Charlotte Granville (9 May 1860 – 8 July 1942) was a British actress who starred in films from 1917 to 1936. Granville acted in Dublin with a company headed by George Alexander. She debuted on Broadway in ''Mr. Preedy and the Countess'' (1910 ...

as Doña Petrona *

Don Alvarado Don Alvarado (born José Ray Paige, November 4, 1904 – March 31, 1967) was an American actor, assistant director and film production manager. Life and career Born Jose Paige in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Alvarado first studied agriculture o ...

as Don Luis Espinosa *

Minor Watson Minor Watson (December 22, 1889 – July 28, 1965) was a prominent character actor. He appeared in 111 movies made between 1913 and 1956. His credits included '' Boys Town'' (1938), ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (1942), ''Kings Row'' (1942), '' Guada ...

as Jonathan Hill *

Louise Carter Louise Carter (born Betty-Lee Carter; March 17, 1875 – November 10, 1957) was an American stage and film actress. She appeared in 48 films between 1924 and 1940, mostly in maternal supporting roles. Among her roles were the mother of Paul Muni ...

as Guadalupe * Pedro de Cordoba as Gomez *

Paul Harvey Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast ''News and Comment'' on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous ''The Rest o ...

as Boss Martin *

Arthur Aylesworth Arthur Preston Aylesworth (August 12, 1883 – June 26, 1946) was an American stage and film actor. Early years Aylesworth was born in Apponaug, Rhode Island, to a military family; his father and his grandfather graduated from the United ...

as Sheriff James * Harry Woods as Bull Bangle *

Benny Baker Benny Baker (born Benjamin Michael Zifkin; May 5, 1907 – September 20, 1994) was an American film and theater actor and comedian, and appeared in over 50 films between 1934 and 1988. He died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California. Filmogr ...

as Hill-Billy Boy *

Russell Hopton Harry Russell Hopton (February 18, 1900 – April 7, 1945) was an American film actor and director. Biography Hopton was born in New York City, New York. He appeared in 110 films between 1926 and 1945, often playing streetwise characters f ...

as Frisco

Production

''Rose of the Rancho'' is one of five movies produced by

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

in the 1930s featuring

, a very popular

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

mezzo-soprano. The studio was attempting to build on the popularity of

Grace Moore Mary Willie Grace Moore (December 5, 1898January 26, 1947) was an American operatic soprano and actress in musical theatre and film.Obituary ''Variety'', January 29, 1947, page 48. She was nicknamed the "Tennessee Nightingale." Her films helped ...

, another opera singer, who had also expanded her talents into movies.

Reception

Andre Sennwald of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' 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." Writing for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' in 1936,

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

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". (reprinted in: )

References

External links