I found two versions of "The Golden Stallion" on YouTube. This is because Roy Rogers' films, as well as other cowboy B-movie stars, often had their films cut down to television time slots back in the 1950 when there was a huge craze for cowboy heroes on TV. I watched the original 67 minute, not the trimmed 53 minute one. And, like many of Republic Studios' cowboy films of the late 40s and into the 50s, they filmed this using TruColor stock. It was popular with these B-westerns because it cost about the same as black & white film and Technicolor was much more expensive. But it had limitations...specifically because it was a two-color process. Two-color film tends to result in orangy-red and blue-green hues and you never really get true color despite its name. Yellows and purples, for example, just never looked yellow or purple using TruColor or its rival, Cinecolor. And, over time, both these sorts of films tend to become muddy looking and "The Golden Stallion" is no exception. This colors in this film are very intense...so much that my wife walked by as I was watching and cried out "What's wrong with the colors?!".
The plot to this story is strange. A gang of jewel thieves are apparently moving their stolen merchandise inside the hollowed out hooves of horses!! This seems incredibly unlikely and odd...and there are definitely better means for transporting stolen objects. So, I recommend you suspend disbelief as Roy Rogers and the boys work to right wrongs and capture the baddies. And, on hand are two familiar actresses in Roy Rogers film in his latter period, his wife Dale as well as the Cuban actress Estelita Rodriguez. Roy's sidekick is Pat Brady as Sparrow....not one of his more memorable sidekicks.
So is this film any good? Well, provided you suspend disbelief, yes. Not only is it tough to believe using horse hooves to smuggle, but the film takes a very weird twist when one of the baddies is killed and Trigger is accused of doing it...which, of course, he didn't. But to save Trigger from being destroyed, Roy pleads guilty to killing the man and is sentenced to hard labor!!! I like horses...but cannot imagine anyone taking a murder rap to protect a horse....nor can I imagine them putting a horse to death without some sort of trial. But it's not like Roy Rogers films are the old west but are definitely a Hollywoodization of the west...and a modern west at that. It's all enjoyable but also a bit tough to believe. If you love Roy Rogers films, you'll like it...otherwise you'll probably think it's all pretty weird. Entertaining...but weird.
