Riding High

Overview

No relation to the 1950 Frank Capra film of the same name, the 1943 Technicolor musical Riding High is a by-the-numbers vehicle for Dorothy Lamour and Dick Powell. Lamour stars as Ann Castle, a former burlesque queen who heads westward to claim her father's silver mine. Powell plays mining engineer Steve Baird, who like Ann has a vested interest in the worked-out mine. With the help of genial counterfeiter Mortimer J. Slocum (Victor Moore), Steve and Ann are able to peddle mining stock, thus saving her from bankruptcy. The stockholders are in a lynching mood when it appears that they've been flim-flammed, but a last minute "miracle" saves the day. Featured in the cast are Paramount stalwarts Cass Daley and Gil Lamb, the former doing her quasi-Martha Raye act and the latter swallowing his harmonica for the millionth time. Production values are excellent and the songs are exuberantly performed; it's only in its hackneyed plot that Riding High slows to a clip-clop.

Cast

Dorothy Lamour

Ann Castle

Dick Powell

Steve Baird

Victor Moore

Mortimer J. Slocum

Gil Lamb

Bob 'Foggy' Day

Cass Daley

Tess Connors

Bill Goodwin

Chuck Steuart

Rod Cameron

Sam Welch

Glenn Langan

Jack Holbrook

Roscoe Karns

Shorty

Douglas Fowley

Brown

Stanley Andrews

Reynolds

James Burke

Pete

James Flavin

Train Conductor

Tim Ryan

Jones

Russell Simpson

Frenchy McGuire

About the Movie