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StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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

MartinHafer This is an unusual Gene Autry film because it really is NOT a western. It is set out in the western United States but aside from that and the presence of a few horses, it's not at all what you'd expect from Autry. This is not really a complaint--just an observation about the type of film it is.When the film begins, Gene has just left the rangers. No, not the type they have from Texas--FOREST rangers. In recognition of his work, they gave him a rifle and Gene uses it to kill a mountain lion that isn't doing anyone any harm. However, at the same time, a baddie shoots another ranger--and Gene assumes his errant shot killed the guy! Well, this plot actually was resolved reasonably quickly and folks realized Gene wasn't a killer--though they didn't catch the baddie responsible until late in the film.The same jerk-face that killed the ranger is also trying to take advantage of an outbreak of moths that will destroy the timber industry. So, when Gene comes up with a plan to use crop dusters and the miracle pesticide DDT, this evil jerk starts poisoning animals and blaming Gene! What's next? See the film.This is a reasonably entertaining B-movie. It's also of particular interest to music historians, as in addition to Gene's contributions to early country music, there also is some very early gospel music in this one. Overall, worth seeing if you are a fan.

dongwangfu Gene Autry's movies are so much more complex than Tex Ritter or Ken Maynard, and it is hard not to admire the way that his movies have more explicit social messages. This movie is particularly intriguing because it is both pro-environment and pro-DDT. Remember, this was 1949, and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring came out in 1962, in part a reaction to the fire ant eradication program of 1957. Not only was DDT seen as a boon to forest management, but the previous year (1948) its inventor won a Nobel Prize for "for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT." At the core of this movie is an effort to control an infestation by aerial spraying, similar to the fire ant eradication effort a decade later. It is also about a lumber company's effort to first hide the infestation and then sabotage the spraying, so as to make a fortune harvesting the diseased trees. So, DDT is used by protectors of the forest, but the ones intent on letting a natural infestation decimate the forest to profit are trying to convince the farmers that DDT is killing their livestock. One of the townsfolk even says something like "once it gets in the fish, then it gets in everything..." Which all goes to show that what is environmentally sound changes as our understanding of nature changes. Autry keeps insisting that DDT had been tested and couldn't be killing off the animals. Of course, by the time it was banned in 1972 its persistent toxicity and effect on animals were scientifically well-documented.Which, to me, makes this a fascinating movie. Yes, the greed of the timber companies led them to do bad things. But the concern of Gene Autry for the forest also led him to do something that we now know was bad, too -- albeit unknowingly.

classicsoncall "Riders of the Whistling Pines" is a cool sounding title, and the story itself is not your run of the mill Western. Set in 'modern' times so to speak, automobiles and airplanes are very much in evidence, and there's even a reference to World War II. After being exonerated for the accidental death of a forestry agent, Gene Autry's character is ready to give up his newly formed sportsmen's club and move away. However when his singing buddies (The Cass County Boys) admit they tampered with his rifle sight, Gene decides to stick around to find out if the death of Charles Carter might have been murder.It seems to me that Gene found himself on the wrong side of an environmental issue in this one though. He repeatedly defended the use of DDT to control a larval outbreak that threatened the forest, and by extension, the area's logging industry. Every time he stated that the spray was safe for animals and fish, he sounded like an apologist for the chemical industry. If filmed today, Gene might have turned out to be the villain of the piece instead of lumber company owner Henry Mitchell (Douglas Dumbrille). Instead, Mitchell employed two henchmen to do his dirty work, one of them being a virtually unrecognizable Clayton Moore hiding behind an unkempt beard.No matter how tough things get, there's always plenty of time for a passel of songs, and for a film coming in at just over an hour, Gene knocks out five tunes while the Cass County Boys add another; and let's not forget the tune by the Pinnafores trio.For this viewer, there was a major sit up and take notice moment near the end of the story. When Gene sets up Mitchell with word that his buddy Joe will be able to identify the man who shot him, Mitchell and his boys make for Gene's camp to do away with him. Mitchell shoots who he thinks is Gene in a rocking chair on the porch, but it turns out to be a life size dummy of Gene! Now why would Gene Autry have one of those???

skoyles With special effects limited to obvious filming before a projected background, this is an enjoyable Gene Autry vehicle. The songs are not memorable and bump jarringly against the tragic subplot involving Joe. The "West that never was" is as surprising as in the parallel Roy Roger's outings: airplanes and buscadero holsters, fancy Hollywood cowboy gear and references to World war II, a movie Wild West ethic and DDT spraying! By the good guys! Patricia White/Barry is so luminously beautiful that it is surprising her career, while commendable, was not more stellar. It is a treat to see Clayton Moore as a villain, though a bit of a shock to hear the voice of the Lone Ranger coming out of the face of a half-bearded bad guy. Great movie, great Western it is not; pleasant nostalgia it is.