Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

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

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

A non-singing cowboy star finds that his life has been temporarily taken over by his own stand-in who does sing, and a desperate publicity mab finds himself possibly out of a job. Gene Autry shines in a dual role, one an egotistical movie star, the other an easy going stuntman looking for a break. The scene is the Texas Centennial and movie star Tom Ford cannot be found to attend as promised. It turns out that the hero of the screen isn't so clean, and the threat of exposure threatens both men's futures with ruin. Smiley Burnette is delightfully obnoxious, and Autry's future rival Roy Rogers has a role as one of the members of the sons of the pioneers. A satisfying and fast moving comedy with musical and western interludes, this is one of the best Autry films and gives a nice look at how B westerns are made behind the scenes. This shows that movies can have preposterous situations and still be good fun.

This is an almost archival history film in addition to being a standard "Singing Western" of the Gene Autry genre. It's got 1930's ,movie making, stunt making, classic cars...even an early Greyhound type bus thrown in, streetcars, art deco fair buildings, a radio studio and clothing styles for both men and women of 1936 in addition to a lot of other details,et cetera. et cetera, and so forth, ad infinitum . Republic Studios probably didn't realize that "The Big Show" would be an almost documentary film much later in its life via the VHS.First off, we see movie making, mostly likely in one of the "Movie Ranches" which were located in the Simi Hills area northwest of Los Angeles, complete with cameras and other paraphernalia. (Note that the truck is labeled "Tom Ford And His Wonder Horse Champion" in the opening scenes.)Amusing take off on the Hatfield-Mc Coy Feud in the comic song "The Martins And The Coys" gives Gene a chance to do some singing right at the first.Then we get a glimpse of stunt making, complete with an early camera car. Then back to the "Mammoth Studios" in a caravan of what would be classic auto nowadays nowadays.Next off comes some scenes with Autry and Burnette grooming "Champion"; most likely on an actual back lot at Republic Pictures. Wiliam Newell gets into the act as "Mammoth's" PR Man.Charles Judels turns in a bit hammy performance as the overbearing boss of "Mammoth Studios."About the only nit-pick this veteran nit-picker could find was in the "road scenes". From further research it was found these were filmed in the Saugus, California area and not on highways in Texas. Also if you check out "Dallas-225 Miles", this would place it somewhere around Abeline, and the countryside in the "Longhorn Chase" is nowhere like that shown in the movie.Good scenes in the Texas Centennial Exposition. A lot of those buildings are still standing so the scenes could probably be duplicated today and no one would notice the difference. Harry Worth appears in one of his usual villain type roles. Finally we get some scenes from "The Cavalcade of Texas", which was one of the first of the "Historical Pageants" typical of Fairs of the 1930's. Look closely and you may spot a young Roy Rogers, most likely who was known as Leonard Slye at the time. Also that "Old Faithful" song is a real tear-jerker.Art Linkletter, of later "Truth Or Consequences" fame, claimed he got his start in show business with the "Cavalcade."All in all, it's a bit unusual for a standard "B" Western in that it's got going for a lot of history crammed into 71 minutes. And this reviewer has only skimmed the surface !And in the final scene the truck is labeled "Gene Autry And His Wonder Horse Champion"...and guess who's the stunt man now ? Frog got a good start on his stunt but the horse had other ideas and that familiar "Help !" is heard in the background. And for goodness sake...Gene kissed the girl....and not his horse in the final scene. A really fun movie in addition to all of the above.

Let's get the plot out of the way first. Gene plays a double role as a bad tempered cowboy star, Tom Ford (who has large gambling debts and a blonde fiancée) and his stunt double. Gene winds up impersonating Ford at the Texas Centennial of 1936, as a cowboy and a singer, even though Ford can't sing. We expect some identity mixups and we get them. The fiancée and the gamblers appear to cause trouble and a final chase scene, but the film mostly centers around the Centennial. It's an unusual Western because it was filmed during the Centennial celebration at Fair Park, where we see many shots showing the abundance of deco buildings and statues. They're all still there, as it is now called the Texas State Fairgrounds. What a setting for a picture! We see a cast of thousands! The parades, the stadium crowds, and the outdoor staged 'panoramas' that were a common part of expositions and World Fairs from before to after the turn of the century, even up to the late forties. We see the Western cavalcade, the Texas Six Flags, and Gene's singing farewell to his 'wounded' horse Champion. It's definitely a musical Western, because the story elements fly by, especially in the 54 minute edited version found in most remainder bins (such as Platinum's 'The Great American Western Volume 5' DVD, which is the version I have.) The performance of 'The Lady Known as Lulu' by the black 'Jones Boys' is missing from the 54 minute versions. The official, restored 71 minute version has 10 songs, but only two are halfway decent (both ballads, 'Mad About You' and Jimmie Davis's 'Nobody's Darlin' But You').Other highlights: Kay Hughes is the female lead. Gene apparently likes wholesome looking girls, since she was also in 'Ride, Ranger, Ride' (1936). She plays Gwen in the first Dick Tracy serial (1937), and the spunky Molly Selkirk in 'Radio Patrol' (1937). Contrary to what most people say, here's a film where Gene actually does kiss the girl at the end of the movie, but with the vocal track still going, he's singing while he does it! Another lowlight: Gene is clearly not a stunt man. In the scenes where he's supposedly stunting for Ford, he can be seen several times carefully, warily, and worriedly looking for his safety hand holds. And of course, he's all too obviously doubled for in the fight sequence in the hotel with the evil gambler Collins (Rex King).William Newell seems to get as much screen time as Gene; his other big role is as Mala's helper Hank in 'Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island' (1936), but after that he went on to a distinguished career as an uncredited bystander in hundreds of movies and TV shows.We get our standard sidekicks Smiley Burnette and Max Terhune (this time doing his ventriloquist act), the Beverly Hillbilles as Gene's backup group, fresh from 'The Phantom Empire' (1935), and the Sons of the Pioneers with the twinkling smile of Roy Rogers (Leonard Slye), a rhythm guitarist in the back row.Full of historical interest, it's an enjoyable diversion despite the weak music, but as a film it's just a four.

Mammoth Pictures star Tom Ford decides to go on vacation, but the studio's press agent Wilson needs to get ahold of him so he can make a scheduled appearance at the Texas Centennial in Dallas. The problem is solved when Wilson convinces Ford's stuntman, Gene Autry (Autry also doubles as Ford here), to go to the event impersonating Ford. The ruse works, but things go wrong when Autry decides to go on the radio singing, which Ford can not do. This ticks off Ford, who comes back to the studio to get Autry fired, but some gangsters are at the Centennial hoping to collect some of Ford's gambling debts from Autry. This film is good, but nothing more than a promo film for both the Centennial and Autry & the singing groups at Republic, as well as the studio itself. There are some pretty good action scenes at the beginning with Autry as the stuntman. Autry as Ford, however, doesn't convince anyone since his thespian abilities were never great (especially this early in his career). Fun to watch. Rating, based on B westerns, 7.