Nice effects though.

Memorable, crazy movie

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

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.

Roy Rogers and sheriff/sidekick Andy Devine investigate the death of an alleged thief, who was supposedly shot in the act of ripping off a villain's silver-mine. Meanwhile, western-fiction writer Dale Evans comes to town under an assumed name and has to deal with Roy's patronizing of her work.A mildly entertaining, loosely plotted Roy Rodgers picture, Bells Of San Angelo is good fun, with high production values (at least for a Republic Pictures Saturday matinée western).The well photographed desert landscapes look nice in exaggerated Technicolor, as do Dale and Roy's spiffy outfits and good songs are the perfect antidote for slow spots, with Roy, Dale, and Bob Nolan taking turns singing with The Sons Of The Pioneers.Here, a feistier than usual Dale Evans gives one of her best performances, stealing nearly every scene she's in! Playing the local priest is character actor Fritz Leiber, who's lookalike, also-named son was one of the great sci-fi writers of the twentieth-century!

To all of my learned comrades that posted comments insulting the late, great Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, I say from the bottom of my pea-picking, reminiscing-good old days heart, PPPPPPTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL! I honestly do realize that the color quality isn't exactly top shelf, most of the acting is sub-par & the plots are tissue paper transparent, but who gives a horses saddle bag? I love each and every dusty one of them. And this includes the 50s TV show with sidekick Pat Brady and Nellie Belle the jeep. Yes, Gaby Hayes is the best sidekick ever! I grew up watching R.R. He brought to the youth of my time, "truth, justice & the American way"! I stole that quote, by the way. It brings me back to my childhood, which I guess was worse than these movies were. Maybe that is why I enjoyed them so much. PapaLarry H

It's been years since I've saw several number of Roy R.'s movies made in the late 40's and 50's, when they were made in color, and got this lately to see again. It always has bothered my acceptance to suspend reality to believe that practices of the pioneer days of the old west was continued, as related in the plots as still practiced in the 1940's: having buses and modern autos involved and yet chasing around on horses shooting at each other. In other words, mixing the to time period's just didn't fit and somewhat ruined some of it all for me. It made it slightly "hokey(?)" At least this movie restrained from using certain elements in the plot, which therefore made it barely feasible that all this possibly could have happened in the more modern times. Overall, I liked it and when over, I felt rather "uplifted" partially because of the good songs it contained.

"Bells of San Angelo" is one of the early Republic films done in Trucolor, although it was orange and blue that dominated the print I just viewed. Cowboy hero Roy Rogers portrays himself as a border investigator on the trail of a silver smuggling operation. Roy is aided by comic sidekick Andy Devine in a dual role, as Sheriff Cookie Bullfincher, and as his later revealed alter ego George Wallingford Lancaster, although the second identity has no real significance in the story. Dale Evans enters the picture as Western novelist Lee Madison, and the first half of the film includes a running gag wherein Roy and companions expect to meet a male writer. Roy consistently dismisses Madison's stories as trivial, as Dale takes it all in while claiming to be a woman named Helen Clifford, until she can figure out what Rogers is all about.When Roy, Cookie and Lee discover the phony mine that serves as the front for the smugglers, trouble ensues as Miss Madison is kidnapped by the gang's leader Gridley (John McGuire). It's Trigger to the rescue, as his riderless presence alerts Roy's pals, the Sons of the Pioneers into action. Taking a page from Miss Madison's book "Murder on the Border", page 77 to be exact, Roy appears to shoot Lee as she's held hostage by Gridley. Roy then takes care of the bad guys in short order, even though it's two against one."Bells of San Angelo" is entertaining enough, and it's nice to see Pat Brady, even if in an uncredited role as one of the Sons of the Pioneers. His comic timing is not as fully developed as we'll come to see in a few more years on the "Roy Rogers Show". Roy and Dale make a charming couple, and they even get to sing a duet together among the host of songs presented in the film.