The Pioneers (1941) w/ subtitles

SUPPORT SUBTITLING CLASSICS - Subscribe! Tex Ritter stars in this singin' cowboy featurette, inspired by James Fennimore Cooper's 1823 novel, which is available to read online here: https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2275/pg22... or purchase here: https://www.amazon.com/Pioneers-Susquehann... Plot (Google): Tex and his pals lead a wagon train of settlers passing through Indian country. Review (Letterboxd): "An old classic B-Western... ultimately just a pretext to give country and western singer Tex Ritter a stage where he can croon..." – cult figure (translated from German) https://letterboxd.com/film/the-pioneers/ Tex Ritter gained fame as a country music singer before starting his motion picture career with 1936's "Song of the Gringo," playing a singing cowboy named Tex (so not a huge stretch). Through 1940, Ritter went on to star in 29 more short westerns (usually just under an hour), each time playing a character called "Tex," but with a constantly changing variety of last names ("Archer," "Collins," "Malinson," "Martin," "Masters," "Rand," "Randall," "Saunders," etc., etc.). In 1941, that pattern was finally broken when Ritter played a character simply named "Tex Ritter" in "Ridin' the Cherokee Trail" and did so again in this picture released just three months later. This followed in the tradition of singing cowboy superstars Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, who by this time were also using the same names onscreen and off. It should be noted, however, that, unlike Autry and Rogers' pictures, neither "Cherokee Trail" or "The Pioneers" are set in contemporary times, so it's a bit surreal to say Ritter plays "himself" in them, but just go with it. In both pictures, Tex is joined by a sidekick named "Slim" (portrayed by fellow musician "Arkansas Slim" Andrews), and Andrews had already played other "Slims" in earlier Ritter pictures, also with various last names. In this one, he's called Slim "Hunkafeller," a name that Andrews had used before (in 1940's "The Golden Trail"), even though in that one Ritter played "Tex Roberts." Obviously, providing the fans with a dependable TYPE of story each time was the initial objective of Ritter's movies, not creating a series with actual continuity, but "Ridin' the Cherokee Trail" and "The Pioneers" did feature Ritter using the same character name in two consecutive films for the first time, so it seems that a shift in that direction was being explored. The strange idea that Ritter was playing himself was quickly abandoned, however, and the actor would go back to playing other characters, but, this time, at least two of those new characters' names, namely "Tex Martin" and "Tex Haines," would stick around for multiple movies at a stretch, underscoring the increased emphasis on giving Ritter's films a sense of connection. Starring roles for the actor would end by 1945, but he'd play himself again in a handful of cameo roles starting in the 1950s. However, those were all set in the present day, and don't fit the pattern of the two transitional pictures from 1941. Given the formulaic nature of Ritter's movies, it's kind of peculiar that the filmmakers would credit this one as being based on a James Fennimore Cooper novel, as the resemblance is superficial at best (they both having townships named "Templeton" in them, but not much else) and not a single character from the book appears in the movie. On the other hand, Cooper's better-known novel, "The Last of the Mohicans," itself a prequel to the book version of "The Pioneers," had been adapted to film many times, most recently in a prestigious 1936 Randolph Scott vehicle, so perhaps they were just hoping to trade on the fame of Cooper's name. Much of the action footage in "The Pioneers" is lifted directly from the 1933 serial, "Fighting with Kit Carson." The English-language subtitles accompanying this video were created especially for this channel. Thanks for watching!