Water Rustlers

Ruthless miner Robert Weylan needs water for his operations and builds a dam cutting off all the supply in a fertile valley populated by cattlemen. After rancher Tim Martin is shot while trying to drive his herd to water, his daughter Shirley and new foreman Bob Lawson decide on more drastic action. Tensions escalate and a full-scale range war breaks out, placing Shirley in deadly danger when bullets start to fly.

The second of three musical Westerns starring popular radio vocalist Dorothy Page, Water Rustlers used the same formula that made big stars of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, adroitly blending songs, action, and melodrama. Attractive and vivacious, Page sang astride a horse and delivered her lines capably, but for reasons unknown she failed to duplicate the success of her male counterparts. Water Rustlers benefits from the presence of Dave O'Brien, not yet a Western star in his own right, who handles the gun-slinging and fist-flinging.

BONUS: Includes an episode of "Annie Oakley" from 1954.

• western