Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

JohnHowardReid Australian release: 26 September 1936. Sydney opening at the Prince Edward: 26 September 1936 (ran only two weeks on a double bill with Big Brown Eyes). 87 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Cowboy en-trains from New York to Green Pastures, Arizona, with his prize bull, "Cuddles". He finds a stowaway in the box car who passes herself of as Lois Hall, a cook. In actual fact, she is a runaway heiress. NOTES: Crosby made only two westerns in his entire screen career. The other: "Stagecoach" (1966). Domestically, one of the top twenty box-office successes of 1936. Oddly, the movie failed to draw anything like similar crowds overseas.Film debut of Martha Raye. Also the "official" screen debut of Bob Burns, although he had in fact appeared in ten or eleven films beforehand.COMMENT: Despite many slight imperfections, "Rhythm on the Range" impresses as an absolutely delightful musical comedy. Let's get the piffling problems out of the way first: It's obvious the screenplay was re-written on the run, which accounts for the various names attributed to the Frances Farmer character, the inconsistent spelling of Jeff's surname, the introductory "Narrow Gage" for James Burke who is addressed in the following scene as "Wabash" and the fact that two different players (one a hobo, the other a ranch-hand) bear the confusing name, "Shorty". Different synopses of the plot appear in various books (in the earlier scenario, Martha Raye was a society woman), and one of the subsidiary story threads involving the three hobos comes to a sudden dead end. Lovely Martha Sleeper plays an agreeably acidic society girl in the opening reel, but then disappears. We keep waiting for her to come back. Viewing the wonderful trailer, you can actually see some great shots which are not in the film at all. At least two additional song numbers were captured on film by energetic director Norman Taurog but left on the cutting-room floor. That's a pity, but it's an even greater shame the cutter didn't also delete a muffed encounter between Martha Raye and Samuel S. Hinds in which the veteran actor fails dismally as a straight man. Fortunately, the scene only runs two minutes, but that boring and embarrassingly inept little interlude blots an otherwise perfectly scintillating piece of lavishly-produced, merrymaking entertainment. It's the main reason I'd give Rhythm on the Range only 90% instead of 100%. (Another, but less important point, is that I don't like Leonid Kinskey's loudmouth impression of a Russian ranch-hand).Now for the good news: Bing not only plays the cowboy as if to the saddle born but sings (and can he sing!) four great numbers, including the haunting "Empty Saddles", the wistful "Round-up Lullaby", the lilting "I Can't Escape from You", and the rousing production number, "I'm an Old Cowhand" which must be counted one of the top novelty tunes of all time. It was Bing Crosby (and no-one else) who propelled it on to the charts. It's also nonsense to say (as some critics have done) that Crosby is upstaged by his co-stars. He is always in charge, always the lead. Supporting him are gloriously radiant Frances Farmer (who was never more attractively photographed and costumed), "pioneer woman" Lucille Gleason, plus "the newcomers", Martha Raye and Bob Burns.Admittedly, Miss Raye does have some sidesplitting lines and bits of business. But so does James Burke (and I've not read anywhere that Burke put the Bing in the shade). One of Burke's funniest lines: "I just had to conk somebody!" I also loved this exchange: PORTER: "Want a Redcap, lady?" EMMA: "What? With a brown jacket and a checkered skirt? Are you kiddin'?"

MartinHafer Hollywood in the classic era occasionally made some very, very bizarre casting decisions. Since actors were generally contracted to studios, often they'd stick some of these folks in the darnedest pictures and there wasn't much the actors could do about it. Some great examples of bizarro casting was seeing Katharine Hepburn as a Chinese woman in "Dragon Seed" as well as John Wayne as Genghis Khan in "The Conqueror". Not QUITE this strange, but close, is seeing Bing Crosby playing a cowboy in "Rhythm on the Range". Bing Crosy as a cowboy?! Believe it or not!When the film begins, Doris (Frances Farmer) is rehearsing for her wedding. She's a spoiled woman and freely admits she's marrying more out of boredom than anything else! Fortunately, when she goes to a rodeo and sees the buff he-man, Jeff Larabee (Crosby) she is smitten...though he seems more smitten with a cow! Strange as it is, this is the film in a nutshell!While casting Crosby as a cowboy was stupid and udderly ridiculous, this film manages to be a lot of fun. Even with the inclusion of Martha Raye (who is usually too brash and obnoxious), it's still filled with neat songs and characters. Brilliant or sophisticated? No way...but still somehow fun and worth seeing.By the way, during a song and dance number late in the film, it's Louis Prima singing and playing trumpet. He wasn't yet famous and later would gain eternal fame as King Louie in the cartoon "The Jungle Book".

Jay Raskin The movie keeps shifting plots every 15 minutes. It seems probable that lots of material was cut out, as very little makes much sense.However, the movie contains so many delightful elements that one hardly cares. Bing Crosby is quite pleasant. He is wonderfully laid back and relaxed, just saying his lines between songs. This allows us to focus mainly on Francis Farmer, who is captivatingly beautiful as a runaway heiress-bride. Bob Burns with an instrument he invented called "the Bazooka" and Leonid Kinskey as the Russian immigrant cowboy "Mischa" provide a few laughs. Cuddles the Bull is also a surprisingly effective animal co-star.This is 20 year old Martha Raye's screen debut and it is quite unusual. She is doing vaudeville without toning it down one iota for the screen. This makes a sharp contrast to Crosby and Farmer's gentle reserved acting styles. She is frenetic, shouting and jumping all other the sets. There is something disturbing about her man-hungry character, Emma. It is a sex-role reversal with the woman as the obsessed predator who can't control herself and offers herself to any stray man. With so many other out-of-synch elements in the film, she just fits right in.It is a little ironic that Raye would get top billing two years later in "Give Me A Sailor" which was Bob Hope's first real starring film. So Raye worked with both Crosby and Hope before they worked together on the road pictures.For about 15 minutes towards the end of the film, there's a nice jamboree which includes the introduction of the classic Johnny Mercer song "I'm an Old Cow Hand". The three or four plot lines are kept in limbo while this is going on. If we had cared about the plot lines, we would have been upset, but since they are so light and flimsy anyway, we can see them as just excuses for this nice vaudeville segment.It is a shame that the duet between Farmer and Crosby was cut. I hope someone finds it somewhere and releases it on Youtube.Ultimately, this is an amusing and reasonably clever concoction of fluff and music. It is too slow-paced for today's ADD generation, but for lovers of Old Hollywood, it is fine.

drednm Pleasant musical with several great spots. Rhythm on the Range stars Bing Crosby as a rodeo star and Frances Farmer as a debutante. Yes, that's right. They share a box car heading to Arizona and fall in love. Along for the ride are Martha Raye and Bob Burns. Bizarro plot, but it all works. Crosby and Raye are just terrific. Crosby debuts "I'm an Old Cow Hand" with help from Raye, Burns, Louis Prima, Leonid Kinsky, and Roy Rogers! And Raye sings her signature tune, "Mr. Paganini"--the show stopper. Farmer is gorgeous, Crosby is smooth, and Raye is hilarious. You gotta see this film. Also in it are Martha Sleeper as the catty bride's maid, Lucille Gleason as Penny, Samuel S. Hinds, and a trio of hapless thugs: James Burke, Warren Hymer, and George E. Stone. Lots of fun. And Martha Raye should have been a much bigger movie star!