The two Roy Rogers films programmed together with Thijs Ockersen’s documentary Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys, were made in the same year (1946) and released a few months apart.Roll on Texas Moon was the first in a series of no less than 27 Roy Rogers films directed by William Witney. He was known for the violence of the film series which he made in the thirties and early forties. When he directed Roll on Texas Moon, he had however just returned from the war and claimed to have had enough of bloodshed. Yet his experience as an actors’ director clearly changed the character of the Roy Rogers films. The earliest were costume and musical films, but Witney introduced more speed and impudence. Witney of course continued to exploit the most important trademark of Rogers, namely that he was a cowboy and could sing.In Roll on Texas Moon, Rogers is called from Chicago to help investigate the murder of a ranch owner. It turns out to be the old vendetta between sheep and cattle herders. The hero solves the murder, has spectacular revolver and fist fights and serenades us with several songs.
