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Montana Moon

1930, Movie, NR, 91 mins

Montana Moon: Review

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This is a horse opera in the truest sense of the word, in that it combines a western story with some music by Arthur Freed, who would go on to be one of MGM's greatest musical producers, and Nacio Herb Brown (which means "born" Herb Brown in Spanish). Crawford is a spoiled young woman, the daughter of Ingraham, arguably the wealthiest rancher in all of Montana. She lives a hedonistic life and devotes herself to pleasure like a hayseed jazz baby. She's been in New York and is about to return to Montana; then she leaps off the train at a stop and recklessly decides to return to New York on the next train going east. Since she's on her dad's private train, that's not so easy, but she manages to get away unnoticed and finds herself in a whistle-stop where she meets Brown, a cowboy who has come north from Texas to settle in Montana. It's a few minutes and the two of them are in love, this causing Crawford to dispense with her plans to go back to the big city. Ingraham is thrilled with her choice, a far cry from the namby-pambies she's been associating with, and he gives his approval to the match. There's a huge party on their wedding night and Brown is outraged when Crawford does a hot dance with Cortez, a city-style cad. At the end of the dance, Brown decks Cortez with a haymaker, and Crawford is humiliated by his behavior and leaps aboard the first train going to New York. The train is waylaid by a bunch of masked bandits and Crawford is forcibly taken. Then we learn that these criminals are hired cowpunchers engaged by Brown and that he is the leader of the brigands. The picture ends with Crawford and Brown reunited and the feeling that she will stray no more. In between the hootin' and hollerin', there's a bit of singin' as well, with the tunes being happily brief. The songs include: "The Moon is Low," "Happy Cowboy" (Freed and Brown), "Montana Call," "Let Me Give You Love," and "Trailin' in Old Montana" (Herbert Stothart, Clifford Grey). It was not a hit at the box office, as there was some public apathy toward musicals at the time, especially musicals that didn't have good music. Still, it's worth a look, and you'll have a few laughs at the antics of Benny Rubin and Cliff Edwards, who provide the comic relief. Brown went on to make BILLY THE KID after this, and that role was the one that sent him on a brief shooting star to the top of the cowboy heap. The sound recording in MONTANA MOON, although better than most of the musicals that preceded it, was still in an infant state and did nothing to enhance anyone's singing voice. It is presumed that writer Thalberg was related to the man who ran MGM in those years, Irving Thalberg. Nepotism ran as rampant as bathtub gin. leave a comment
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