A lot of familiar players try very hard to make this PRC film somewhat entertaining and it does succeed when it comes to the country musical acts. But the cheapness of a typical PRC film make I'm From Arkansas barely passable entertainment even in the areas it was marketed to in red state America.
I'm From Arkansas probably never saw a New York opening, these kinds of films went right into general release in the south and west where they made money. I remember back when I was in the Army Reserves and stationed in such places as Fort Campbell, Kentucky or Fort Stewart, Georgia I saw films that I would never see at any neighborhood theater in Brooklyn. No doubt it was the same in the Forties.
It's not quite The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek, but they've had a miracle of sorts in Pitchfork, Arkansas. Maude Eburne's sow Esmeralda gave birth to a little of 18 piglets. That passes for news and you'd have thought the Dionnes had another set of quintuplets when it goes out over the air.
An all girl orchestra headed by Iris Adrian and managed by Clif Nazarro decides to take advantage of the publicity and they head for Pitchfork. But so does Bruce Bennett's country band and they have a slight advantage as Bennett is from Pitchfork.
The villain of the piece is hog butcher John Hamilton who sends two of his men to buy that property figuring that there's some kind of hog aphrodisiac there to make Esmeralda so fertile. There is also a mineral spring that could be beneficial to humans as well. Those city slickers don't know what they're up against when Bennett and Adrian join forces to protect Maude Eburne and her kin.
They even have El Brendel in the cast. Yumpin' Yiminy how did he get to Arkansas.
Some country music acts of the day are on the bill here. Jimmy Wakely sings pretty and Carolina Cotton yodels as good as Roy Rogers.
Still it's a very cheap PRC film and true enough it does stereotype rural folks horribly. Of course not as bad as Deliverance.
