Moviecut—Sky Full of Moon

source: Sky Full of Moon

Sky Full of Moon

This film is only good to see the old Vegas of 1952. They're is a lot of places featured especially The Flamingo. A nonsense story.

I'm not sure but Sky Full Of Moon has the look and feel of one of Ann Sothern's old Maisie films. True Jan Sterling's character is a bit more dishonest than Maisie Revier ever was, but Sterling has a lot in common with that Brooklyn showgirl. Sky Full Of Moon also anticipates the classic film Bus Stop with Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray. Carleton Carpenter is a pleasant and drifting cowboy named tumbleweed for his lack of roots. He's arrived in Las Vegas to enter the big rodeo. But he's a wee short of cash. Carpenter and Sterling hook up and they get into all kinds of situations. But as it is in these films these two are fated to be mated. There's a nice supporting part for Keenan Wynn as a bar owner who Sterling rips off and gets Carpenter innocently caught up. In the end he turns out to be not quite a hard case. Skyful Of Moon is a pleasant enough bit of viewing from MGM's B picture unit.

The best reason to watch "Sky Full of Moon" is so you can see old Las Vegas....and it's completely unrecognizable today. Throughout this film, Vegas looks like a western town...with a strong cowboy touch and with tiny casinos...and almost all of this was bulldozed decades ago. The story is very slight. Harley (Carleton Carpenter) has come to Vegas to enter the rodeo. Unfortunately, he's a bit of a rube and doesn't even have the money to enter the competition! So, after meeting up with a nice young lady (Jan Sterling), he goes about trying to gamble to increase his savings....but eventually the pair end up on an adventure. This movie is pleasant, undemanding and enjoyable as a time-passer.

Enjoyed this great film from 1952 which features Harley Tumbleweed William, (Carleton Carpenter) who plays the role as a Rodeo Cowboy who has reached the age of 21 years and decides to head to Las Vegas, Nevada and make it rich. Harley visits a small gambling parlor owned by Al, (Keenan Wynn) and starts playing the coin machines and gets very lucky and draws the attention from Dixie Delmar, (Jan Sterling) who is a very attractive slim and trim blonde who makes some suggestions to him about how to gamble on the coin machines. Dixie and Harley decide to try their luck elsewhere and wind up having a very profitable night of gambling. Harley gets to like Dixie very much and offers her a ticket to Los Angeles and a fur coat with his winnings at the Rodeo and the two of them start off with plenty of action in the gambling casino's and then some trouble starts to happen. If you like to see old films of what Las Vegas looked like in the 1950's, this is the film for you. Enjoy.

Some vintage Las Vegas location photography helps this slight romance of a green rodeo cowboy (Carleton Carpenter, in an understated bid for MGM stardom) and a conniving but warmhearted gambling-den floozy (the always underrated Jan Sterling). Vegas doesn't seem the big soulless megalopolis it grew to be, and Keenan Wynn helps out as the owner of an exceedingly modest casino. It turns into a road picture in the second half, and you get to see just how desolate the surrounding Nevada countryside was. Not a whole lot happens, and it's over before you know it, but it's refreshingly unpretentious, and it doesn't go for the expected happy ending. Nice little B picture.

This was really a charming and sweet adventure about a naive cowboy (actor/songwriter Carleton Carpenter)that comes into Las Vegas for the rodeo and has a lucky streak gambling. He comes to attention of a girl Oscar-nominated Jan Sterling (The High and the Mighty) that has been around the block a couple of times and is convinced to participate in a slot machine rigging. There are a lot of laughs as the cowboy manages to fall in love, lose at the rodeo, and lose the girls all in a short 73 minutes. Keenan Wynn provided good support as the slot house owner in one of his 268 roles.