Riding High
Cast & Crew
George Marshall
Dorothy Lamour
Dick Powell
Victor Moore
Gil Lamb
Cass Daley
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When her burlesque show Strip, Strip, Hooray! closes, dancer Ann Castle returns home to her father's Grenada Silver Mine in the Arizona desert, and learns his new partner, Steve Baird, has not yet paid him the $1,000 for the partnership. Steve has been trying to interest his friends in becoming investors in the mine, but to no avail. Ann is hired as a featured performer at Tess Connors' Bubbling Well guest ranch, and angrily fends off Steve's advances because she believes he is a cheat. Counterfeiter Mortimer J. Slocum becomes interested in Steve's situation and, after befriending him, gives him $20,000 in counterfeit $1,000 bills, in an effort to become a partner in the mine. Before Steve realizes that the money is counterfeit, he flashes the bills in front of friends, who believe that the mine has a mother lode and give Steve the $1,000 he has been seeking. Steve tries to return the money to Slocum after he realizes it is fake, but circumstances intervene to prevent him from unloading it. Ann then expresses new interest in Steve now that he can pay Dad, and after she performs in the ranch's show that night, Steve romances her by the lake, unaware that Tess is also romancing Slocum. The next day, dim-witted sheriff Bob "Foggy" Day and his deputy make an earnest effort to capture Slocum spending the counterfeit bills, and insist on searching Slocum, his room and Steve. Despite some close calls, Steve and Slocum outwit Foggy by slipping the envelope of money into Ann's purse. Ann attempts to mail the envelope, believing it is a letter to her aunt, but it is returned for insufficient postage. At dinner, Foggy reveals Slocum and Steve's subterfuge, and Steve's friends demand their checks back, even after Dad appears and reports that he has hit a mother lode of copper. Slocum then bets the counterfeit $20,000 that Tess's chuckwagon can beat rancher Frenchy McGuire's wagon in the annual chuckwagon race. Following orders, Frenchy's hired hand Shorty switches the racing order sign on her wagon. The next day, Tess angrily demands that the sign be corrected, and Shorty blames the sabotage on Slocum. In the ensuing mêlée, Foggy's gun accidentally discharges, and the horses pulling Tess's wagon take off with Ann and Slocum aboard. Neither Ann nor Slocum know how to guide the horses, and much to Slocum's dismay, half of the wagon drops off as he sawed it the previous night, thinking that it was McGuire's wagon. Steve races on horseback to catch up with the wagon, and all the other wagons join the premature race. When Tess's wagon begins to lose with Steve at the reins, Slocum throws counterfeit bills behind them. The competing wagons slow to catch the money, and Tess's wagon comes in first, earning Steve the $1,000 prize. Now that he has proof of his counterfeiting, Foggy arrests Slocum, and Steve refuses to accept McGuire's $20,000 check because Slocum cheated. McGuire nevertheless insists on giving Steve the money as an investment in the mine. As he is being hauled away, Slocum advises Tess to marry Foggy, and Steve then revives a fainted Ann in a manner characteristic of their loving relationship: with a splash of cold water.
Director
George Marshall
Cast
Dorothy Lamour
Dick Powell
Victor Moore
Gil Lamb
Cass Daley
Bill Goodwin
Rod Cameron
Glen Langan
Milt Britton
George Carleton
Andrew Tombes
Douglas Fowley
Tim Ryan
Pierre Watkin
James Burke
Roscoe Karns
Patricia Mace
Gwen Kenyon
Lorraine Miller
Stanley Andrews
Wade Boteler
Fred Kelsey
Russell Simpson
Matt Mchugh
Tom Kennedy
Stanley Price
James Flavin
Dwight Butcher
Lane Chandler
William Edwards
Bruce Cameron
Leonard St. Leo
Ray Spiker
Walter Pietila
Bonnadene Wolfe
Flash Gordon
Paula Unger
Ramon Schaller
Richard Gottlieb
Charles R. Moore
Hal K. Dawson
Snub Pollard
Charles Soldani
James Millican
Napoleon Whiting
Marcella Phillips
Roberta Jonay
Marjorie Deanne
John Hiestand
Crew
Harold Arlen
Art Arthur
Art Black
P. T. Blackburn
Danny Dare
Walter Deleon
B. G. Desylva
Hans Dreier
Farciot Edouart
Ernst Fegté
Harry Hallenberger
Edith Head
Natalie Kalmus
Fred Kohlmar
Joseph J. Lilley
Joseph J. Lilley
Johnny Mercer
Gene Merritt
Joel Moss
Morgan Padelford
Arthur Phillips
Ralph Rainger
Leo Robin
Loren Ryder
Troy Sanders
Joseph Schrank
Stephen Seymour
Leroy Stone
Karl Struss
Wally Westmore
Victor Young
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Nominations
Best Sound
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Calgary Stampede, Canadian Capers and Ready Money. Hollywood Reporter news items reveal the following information about the production: When titled Calgary Stampede and Canadian Capers, the film was to have a Canadian background. In August 1942, second unit director Hal Walker was preparing to take a crew to Calgary to shoot the chuckwagon sequence and other exteriors. However, due to transportation difficulties, the trip was canceled and the story's locale was changed to Arizona. It is not known if Walker worked on the completed film. Paramount planned to use producer Harry Sherman as a technical advisor for the chuckwagon sequences, but his participation in the final film has not been confirmed. Some scenes were filmed on location in Chatsworth, CA.
According to information in the MPAA/PCA Files at the AMPAS Library, the song "He Loved Me Till the All-Clear Came," by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, was originally written for Cass Daley to perform in Paramount's 1943 film Star Spangled Rhythm (see below). Although the song was recorded in 1943, it was not included in that film. In addition, the file reveals that the PCA insisted that certain "sex suggestive" lyrics in the songs "You're the Rainbow," "Get Your Man" and "I'm the Secretary to the Sultan" be re-written. This film was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Sound Recording (Loren Ryder). In 1914, Paramount released Ready Money, which was also based on James Montgomery's play, directed by Oscar C. Apfel and starred Edward Abeles and Monroe Salisbury (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1911-20; F1.3644). Fred MacMurray starred with Rhonda Fleming in a May 12, 1952 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast of the story.
