This is the second of two films Gene Autry made in Cinecolor for Columbia Pictures. I mention this because Cinecolor is a very primitive type of color film....and it was already mostly obsolete by the time Autry made these films. The studio used it simply because it was much cheaper than the true color processes. This is because unlike standard Technicolor, which had been in relatively widespread use since the late 1930s, Cinecolor was a two-color, not a three-color process. This means that to achieve a color effect, they used blends or orange-red and blue-green...and the result isn't true color at all but odd blends. So, yellows, deep reds, violet and a few other colors simply weren't in the spectrum for the two-color processes. In fact, Technicolor once used a two-color process....but replaced it with the three-color because the results were so much better. But, three-color Technicolor eeded expensive lighting and cost much, much more than black & white or Cinecolor. Fortunately for "The Big Sombrero", the Cinecolor is among the best looking I've seen....most films I've seen are much more faded and are either over or under-saturated. And, with "The Big Sombrero", the print seems very brownish....even the greens....and remember...this is a GOOD example of Cinecolor!
When the story begins, Gene is in bad financial straits and is hocking his guitar! Fortunately, he gets the job as foreman on the Big Sombrero Ranch. But he soon realizes there's a problem...Jim Garland, who is about to marry the woman who owns the ranch, is planning on getting rid of all the Mexican-Americans who live there, as he's a greedy jerk. Unfortunately, his intended, Estrellita, is pretty dim and doesn't realize that the man she loves is a weasel! What can Gene do?!
This film has a lot of pretty music...as you'd expect in a Gene Autry film. But the story is also unusual...not just because of the Cinecolor. Gene has no sidekick in this one and the film was in most ways very nice in the way it portrayed Hispanic people. Gene even sang a nice song in Spanish. My only reservation is the young guy who idolizes Gene...he seems to be overplaying his supposed Mexican-American heritage just a bit. He wasn't exactly subtle and tended to overdo his accent. Still, it's a pretty decent film...interesting and a bit more relaxed in style compared to Autry's earlier efforts...perhaps due to Autry getting on a bit in years. But I appreciated this style...and the film seemed like a nice departure from the old formula.
