Now this heading may well be mis-leading to us film fans of the era but Joan Rice did star in Rebecca but this time on stage at The Theatre Royal  in Hanley, Stoke on Trent – and maybe toured around with it – I am not sure about this though.

I imagine she would play Mrs De Winter but who played her husband and Mrs Danvers is not clear

This Poster at the time shows the lovely Joan Rice taking Star Billing in the famous Daphne Du Maurier story

Joan Rice also toured provincial theatres in A View from The Bridge which she always maintained was her own favourite play.

We have looked at this film before – it is quite a good adventure film set in Africa, Very colourful and full of action with a thrilling climatic finale.

However I came across this picture in an old Film Annual in fact the Cinema Clubs Annual  – I have collected a lot of them over the years and quite often just browse through them on an evening.

On the Jungle set of Dual In The Jungle at Elstree Studios – this shows stars Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews showing youngsters Margaret Watson and Ian MacKay a souvenir from their travels.  I am sure this type of souvenir would NOT be acceptable today.

Portions of the film were shot in South Africa at Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg, in Bechuanaland (now Botswana), and at Victoria Falls (on the Zambia/Zimbabwe border).

However an October 1953 Daily Variety news item stated that scenes were shot at Kruger National Park.

During production, this was the last film for assistant director Anthony Kelly. He died when he was thrown from his overturned canoe into a whirlpool on the Zambesi River and then into the jaws of crocodiles

Actually his body was never found and one of the theories is that he was eaten by crocodiles after he drowned whilst trying to save the camera equipment in the upturned boat.

Apparently this Roy Rogers film is one of Quentin Tarantino’s favourites.

It was directed by prolific B-movie/serial specialist, William Witney, and co-stars Dale Evans and Trigger, “The Smartest Horse in the Movies.” The storyline involves a diamond smuggling operation in which Trigger is enlisted to replace the stallion of the title when he goes missing. Trigger was separated from Rogers in the first place when he took the fall for his “best friend” following a (false) accusation of murder. Had he not done so, Trigger would have been killed in an instant.

Along the way  the bad guys are outsmarted and Trigger and the stallion produce a foal, Trigger Jr.

In the New York Times article, “Watching Movies With Quentin Tarantino” , he discusses the film in depth, finding the relationship between Rogers and Trigger particularly moving: “You know, in some movies, a cowboy might go to jail to save his best friend from being shot down dead. Well, Trigger is Roy’s best friend. It’s the easiest leap to have him do that here, yet it’s so powerful and so unexpected. What’s great is that you buy it, you absolutely buy it, and I don’t know that I really would buy it from anybody else but Roy and Trigger.”

It should be noted that “The Golden Stallion” is one of Rogers’ more “mature” efforts, and that it’s more of a drama than a musical. Although it doesn’t seem to have much in common with his own work, Tarantino fanatics are sure to want to check it out to see why he holds Witney — along with Rogers, Evans and Trigger — in such high esteem.