Some things I liked some I did not.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

As a huge fan of The Lone Ranger, watching this, I couldn't help saying, "Oh, no, Lone! What made you go wrong?" It was odd to hear Clayton Moore's voice as a baddie. Apparently, this movie was released only months before the Lone Ranger series on TV began in 1949. So, in the end, Lone turned to the good side, and everything was right in the Force. Gene Autry and Hopalong Cassidy were OK, but The Lone Ranger, Tonto and Roy Rogers were my TV cowboy show heroes. Hi yo, Silver! ... c'mon Bullet.

New science has made this particular Gene Autry western quite out of date. Seems as though the rumors those outlaws were spreading about DDT was right after all. The government did ban its use many years later.But for Riders Of The Whistling Pines Gene is cast as a recently discharged forest ranger who is accused of killing another forest service ranger. The death is ruled accidental.Why he was killed was that he discovered a kind of moth that can devastate the timber. Gene later discovers it and persuades the Interior Department in the form of his forest service buddies to spray DDT and save the timber.But that doesn't help villain Douglass Dumbrille who wants the moths to kill the trees because he can strip the forest of dead trees and make a real windfall profit. There's quite a bit more plot to this horse opera than is the case for one aimed at the Saturday Matinée crowd. There's also Jimmy Lloyd who is Autry's pal and drinking a lot because he got through World War II without a scratch and his wife died at home. Lloyd does something you would not see normally in a B picture kid's western.Sad to say though that science really renders Riders Of The Whistling Pines quite obsolete.

"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???

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.