William Witney holds the credit for the direction of Oklahoma, a classic of cinema, while the screenplay for the movie was written by Gerald Geraghty. The cinematography was handled by William Bradford, with editing by Lester Orlebeck. The music for the film was composed by Joseph Dubin, with an additional score provided by Jack Elliott, and Tim Spencer. Rogers and Gubby Hayes both starred as himself while Dale Evans played the role of Connie Edwards. Other cast included Carol Hughes who played the role of Jan Holloway, G. Lloyd as Sheriff Barclay, L. Rees as Duke Lowery, and George Meeker, who portrayed Steve McClory. Ruby Dandridge acted as Devoria Lassiter, Arthur Space as Judnick, and Bob Nolan along with The Sons of the Pioneers. The movie runs for a total of 72 minutes. The MPAA did not rate the film. Edward J. White and Republic Pictures were the producers in 1946.
Connie Edwards (Dale Evans), a journalist from the St. Louis Chronicle, is here to write a piece on the world-famous herd of Hereford cattle that the Flying T Ranch is known for. In the heart of Oklahoma, Roy Rogers is the head editor of the Hereford Heavenly Star newspaper and he is intellectualizing about this precious ranch. Accompanying Edwards is Roy Rogers who is also invited to the reading of the ranch owner’s will. To the surprise of everyone present, Duke Lowery, a twelve-year-old boy, is given the ranch. All the adults at that point knew him as the ward of Gabby Whitaker (Gabby Hayes) the ranch foreman. Cain’s niece Jan Holloway (Carol Hughes) was hoping to inherit the ranch but Duke was not the only surprise. The already furious Steve McClory (George Meeker), the ranch foreman got extremely angry and accused Gabby of sabotaging his plans. To their aid, everyone was hoping that she would die. Roy magically got luck by receiving a prayer book concealed with a note, he expressed anguish to Gabby’s secretary and claimed that, allegedly, Duke did get too lucky with Gabby’s plan. Behind Roy’s back, everyone was trying to smear Gabe, which is why it got cubes. The messages from him marked himself after Duke bought the sympathy of Linda, claiming that he anticipated the consequence of Roy’s actions.
Through Roy’s investigation, he uncovers the false coroner (Arthur Space) and subsequently begins to track down the murderers. I was an avid fan of Tarzan movies during my childhood, but somehow I never came across this Johnny Weissmuller movie, until now. But now that I think of it, SWAMP FIRE is extremely different from the standard Tarzan movies, so maybe it came as no surprise. But I’m thankful it crossed my path.
The film was produced on a reasonably small budget back in 1946. The poster of the movie suggests without much room for debate, that Weissmuller spends the entirety of the film in a swimming ensemble. Unlike the majority of Tarzan movies, there is a considerable amount of swimming in the movie. In it, he plays Johnny Duval, a French-American bar pilot who is used to guiding ships through the sand bars in the Mississippi river. After serving in World War 2, Johnny returns home to the swamps of skeletons in Louisiana. The memories of commanding a ship that got sunk due to battles in the war haunt Johnny along with the horrors of losing a large number of people. That coupled with the fact that he does not wish to return to the life of a bar pilot makes for some pretty torturous thoughts. What he is looking forward to is meeting up with his girlfriend, or more accurately, getting back with her. Guessing by the quote, he seems pretty optimistic.
Problems come as an egotistical socialite (Virginia Grey) who Get the hell wants Johnny and an old friend of his two, also played by the Tarzan actor and swimming Olympic champion, Buster Crabbe, all sporting a pencil-thin moustache and thick exaggerated Cajun. Johnny Guilt? Where are you at? When is he going to choose the social lite and the jealous Cajun girl? When is he going to wind up rasslin’ an alligator? Is he going to try to violently fight Crabbe near the end? I think you know the answers to all those questions, but it sure is entertaining to get there.
The streaming script which fits a lot in only 68 minutes, is written by ‘Geoffrey Homes’, also known as Daniel Mainwaring, who is the scriptwriter for the classic noir film OUT OF THE PAST, and the novelist on which the movie is based. (Time to confess: I do not particularly enjoy watching OUT OF THE PAST. I watched it once a long time ago and did not like it, which is why I have not bothered watching it again). SWAMP FIRE has some clever lines and is slightly more sophisticated than other B-movies, but not by much. William Pine, the producer, is also the director and I guess he is responsible for the pacing; he could have edited it at a faster rhythm. There are too many stock footage scenes that are boring with ships not actually doing anything, and they are endless.
In any case, I still had fun with this film. Weissmuller was never a good actor, though he managed to have some powerful moments in some of the Tarzan pictures. But he was a large friendly oaf with a lot of charisma. That’s true in SWAMP FIRE as well. It is said that he was drinking much of the time during the filming, but I couldn’t see it. Buster Crabbe, who is normally cast as the Stalwart Hero (really, can you get any more stalwart than Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon?), seems to enjoy the opportunity to be a bad guy for a change. His mustache is too thin to twirl, but you get the idea that he wishes he could. He is quite effective in the part, giving a nice feeling of menace without being too evil. Indeed, he is sympathetic at times.
While the movie was produced a few years before the Gold Medal paperback line was made, there are aspects where it is similar to a Gold Medal novel such as the love triangle, tortured hero, and the setting. I would have really loved SWAMP FIRE as a kid who wouldn’t want to see Johnny Weissmuller wrestling an alligator? Other than me, a 10-year-old in a world of imagination, I also wish the movie showed quicksand it was kind of a necessity for a swamp movie. For some reason, I appreciate it a lot more now. You can find it online at some places and I truly feel investing an hour watching is worth it.
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