Al Ferguson Movies
Enjoying one of the longest screen careers on record, Irish-born, English-reared Al Ferguson became one of the silent era's busiest Western villains, his wolf-like features instantly recognizable to action fans everywhere. According to the actor himself, Ferguson had entered films with the American company as early as 1910, and by 1912, he was appearing in Selig Westerns under the name of "Smoke" Ferguson, often opposite action heroine Myrtle Steadman. In 1920, Ferguson played Hector Dion's henchman in the partially extant The Lost City, the first of more than 40 serials, silent and sound, in which he would appear. Still reasonably good-looking by the early '20s, Ferguson even attempted to become an action star in his own right, producing, directing, and starring in a handful of low-budget Westerns filmed in Oregon and released to the States' Rights market by Poverty Row mogul J. Charles Davis. None of these potboilers, which included The Fighting Romeo (1925), with Ferguson as a ranch foreman rescuing his employer's kidnapped daughter, made him a star, however, and he returned to ply his nefarious trade in low-budget oaters featuring the likes of Bob Steele and Tom Tyler. Today, Ferguson is perhaps best remembered as the main heavy in two Tarzan serials, Tarzan the Mighty (1928) and Tarzan the Tiger (1929), both starring Frank Merrill. The later survives intact and Ferguson emerges as a melodramatic screen villain at the top of his game.Like most of his contemporaries, including Bud Osborne and the silent era James Mason, Al Ferguson saw his roles decrease in stature after the advent of sound. Not because of his Irish accent, which had become all but undetectable, but mainly due to changing acting styles. Ferguson, however, hung in there and appeared in scores of sound Westerns and serials, not exclusively portraying villains but also playing lawmen, peaceful ranchers, townsmen, and even a Native American or two. By the 1950s, he had included television shows such as Sky King to his long resumé, but B-Westerns and serials remained Ferguson's bread and butter, the now veteran actor appearing in the cast of both Perils of the Wilderness (1956) and Blazing the Overland Trail (1956), the final chapter plays to be released in America. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Burt Lancaster had one of his first starring roles in this hard-hitting prison drama. Capt. Munsey (Hume Cronyn) is a cruel, corrupt prison guard who has his own less-than-ethical ways of dealing with inmates, enough so that Joe Collins (Lancaster) -- the toughest inmate in the cell block -- has decided to break out. Collins tries to persuade Gallagher (Charles Bickford), the unofficial leader of the inmates and editor of the prison newspaper, to join him, but Gallagher thinks Collins' plan won't work. However, Collins does have the support of his cellmates, most of whom, like himself, wandered into a life of crime thanks to love and good intentions. Tom Lister (Whit Bissell) was an accountant who altered the books so he could buy his wife a mink coat. Soldier (Howard Duff) fell in love with an Italian girl during World War II and took the rap for her when she murdered her father. Collins pulled a bank job to raise money to pay for an operation that could possibly get his girl out of a wheelchair. And Spencer (John Hoyt) made the mistake of getting involved with a female con artist. After Munsey drives Tom to suicide and prevents Gallagher from obtaining parole, Gallagher joins up with Collins and his men in the escape attempt. Director Jules Dassin would next direct the influential noir drama The Naked City; six years later, he would move to Europe after political blacklisting prevented him from continuing to work in the United States. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, (more)
- 1947
Having drunk his way out of most of the major studios and not a few of the minor ones, cowboy star Ken Maynard had trouble finding work in the 1940s. Independent producer Walt Mattox came to the rescue in 1944 when he cast Maynard opposite young singing cowboy Eddie Dean, veteran comedy relief Max Terhune, and general-purpose actor Rocky Cameron in the cheaply assembled Harmony Trail. The plot concerns the efforts by marshal Cameron to locate a gang of bank robbers. He is given plenty of help in the form of Maynard, Dean and Terhune -- indeed, one observer noted that this was one film in which the good guys outnumbered the bad guys. Peddled on the States' Rights market for several years, Harmony Trail resurfaced in 1947, when Astor Pictures shipped out the film as The White Stallion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Maynard, Eddie Dean, (more)
- 1946
In this western comedy, the mis-adventures of a bumbling range rider are chronicled. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lowery
- 1946
Filmed in less than glorious two-strip Cinecolor, this average Eddie Dean western benefited from Dean performing "Ride on the Tide of a Song", "Journey's End"and "I Can Tell by the Stars". The story surrounding all this warbling, however, was the standard one of a gang of thugs interfering with the building of the telegraph. Headed by Drake Dawson (Terry Frost) and a crooked lay judge (Warner P. Richmond), the gang stirs up trouble among the local Indians, who are persuaded that the telegraph may mean the end of the buffalo. Enter retired rangers Eddie Dean, Soapy Jones (Roscoe Ates) and Stormy Day (Al "Lash" La Rue), who are persuaded back in harness to secure the prompt continuation of the building project. Carrie Bannister (Sarah Padden), the widow of a slain ranger captain, persuades her friend Chief Black Fox (Chief Yowlachie) to help secure the telegraph rather than oppose its construction. On their way to gather more information on the outlaws, Soapy and Skinny (Robert "Buzzy" Henry, Mrs. Bannister's young son, are ambushed by Dawson's men. Discovering an abandoned gun near a wounded Skinny, Soapy recognizes the weapon as belonging to the murdered Captain Bannister. When Eddie learns that Dawson himself is carrying a matching gun, Bannister's murderer has finally been found. The rangers arrive just in time to round up the gang and, peace finally restored, a recovered Skinny is made an honorary ranger. A truncated black and white version of this film was released in 1948 under the title of Prairie Outlaws, presumably in order to cash in on the appearance of Al "Lash" La Rue, who by then had his own starring series. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Dean, Lee Bennett, (more)
- 1946
If Grecian storyteller Aesop really did exist, he was most likely a black slave. He wasn't an Austrian actor with an Egyptian name, but that's who played him in A Night in Paradise. Turhan Bey portrays the fable-spouting Aesop, who tries to escape his bondage by disguising himself as an old man. It is at the lavish court of King Croesus that the greyed-up Aesop first meets luscious Grecian princess Merle Oberon. The low-born talespinner is smitten, and determines to win the princess for his very own. Moral: If Universal buys a novel by George S. Hellman titled The Peacock's Feather, transforms it into a picture called A Night in Paradise, and appoints onetime Abbott and Costello cohort Arthur Lubin as director, you know what you're in for. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Merle Oberon, Turhan Bey, (more)
The first "Road" picture in three years (the last was The Road to Morocco), Road to Utopia is set during the Alaskan gold rush. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby play a pair of third-rate San Francisco entertainers, Chester Hooton and Duke Johnson, who are obliged to skip town in a hurry. They book passage on a ship to Alaska, where they run afoul of escaped murderers Sperry (Robert H. Barrat) and McGurk (Nestor Paiva). Through a fluke, Chester and Duke overpower the killers, then get off the ship in Skagway disguised as Sperry and McGurk so that they themselves can evade the authorities. The boys can't understand why everyone is so afraid of them, nor why saloon owner Ace Larson (Douglas Dumbrille) and Larson's moll Kate (Hillary Brooke) are so chummy. It turns out that Sperry and McGurk had stolen a deed to a valuable gold mine before escaping to Alaska. Sal Van Hoyden (Dorothy Lamour) is the rightful owner of that deed, thus she too shows up in Skagway, hoping to extract the document from Chester and Duke. Whenever the plot threatens to become too difficult to follow, narrator Robert Benchley shows up to explain things -- which of course only adds to the confusion. At any rate, the whole affair ends up with Chester, Duke, and Sal running through the snowy wastes, with the villains in hot pursuit. Duke nobly stays behind to fight off the bad guys himself, handing the deed to Chester and Sal and wishing them Godspeed. Flash-forward to 1945: Chester and Sal, both old and wealthy, are reunited with their equally aged pal Duke, who wasn't killed after all. Sal tells Duke that Chester has been a wonderful husband and father. Yes, father...and wait till you see who plays their child ("We adopted him!"). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, (more)
Produced by Gower Gulch maverick Robert L. Lippert and filmed in not-so-glorious two-strip Cinecolor near Idyllwild, California, this Northwest Mounted melodrama starred the veteran Bob Steele as a rather surly mountie who, against his own better judgment, is persuaded to escort a patronizing Eastern girl (Joan Woodbury through the wilderness to her uncle's logging camp. Constantly bickering with her guide, the girl is carrying $20,000 in her purse, payroll money which is promptly stolen. At the logging camp, Steele runs into trouble with the local sergeant, Means (John Litel), who may not be all he appears to be, a wife-beating saloon-keeper (George Meeker, and sundry other more or less mysterious persons, most of whom were aware of Miss Woodbury's travel plans. Steele, who was nearing the end of his starring career (four Grade-Z Westerns were to come), also headlined Wildfire (1945), another Cinecolor "experiment" for Lippert's Action Pictures. Northwest Trail, however, was all but stolen by Miss Woodbury, whose feisty character made up for Steele's aging inertia. Troubled silent star Madge Bellamy made her final screen appearances as the mistreated wife of the saloon proprietor and real-life circus performer Poodles Hanneford played himself Like so many low-budget mountie melodramas, this one implied a non-existent connection to pulp writer James Oliver Curwood. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1946
Larry "Buster" Crabbe was billed "King of the Wild West" in this the final entry in PRC's ultra low-budget "Billy Carson" series. This time, Carson and sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) prevent a stage holdup, a crime organized by crooked land agent Vic Landreau (Jack O'Shea) in the mistaken belief that the coach was carrying cash earmarked for Devil's Gap rancher Jeff Barkley (Charles "Slim" Whitaker) to pay off the mortgage on his land. The plan thus having failed, Landreau has his henchman Hank Fowler (John L. Cason) frame Fuzzy in the murder of Barkley. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1945
The most thrilling aspect of the PRC oater Lightning Raiders is the film's title. Though Buster Crabbe earns top billing as do-gooder Billy Carson (aka Billy the Kid), the first reel is dominated by Al St. John as Billy's mangy saddle pal Fuzzy Q. Jones. Expecting an important letter, Fuzzy gets suspicious when the mail fails to arrive on time. Billy and Fuzzy soon learn that the mail has been hijacked by bandits, who are holed up in a seemingly impenetrable shack. The brains behind the criminal operation is a "leading citizen" type who hopes to gain a financial leg-up in the community by reading the stolen mail. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Fuzzy St. John, (more)
- 1945
In another of her series of romantic desert adventures, popular actress Maria Montez is this time Naila, the newly crowned queen of an ancient Egyptian land. Her father the king has just been assassinated and she intends to make those responsible pay for their crime. She sets out into the desert to find the killer herself -- little does Naila know that her "loyal" assistant Horadef (George Zucco) may be working against her, for he has designs on the throne for himself. John Hall plays a secondary role as Merab, an adventurer who shows up in the titular region with his comic-relief pal Nebka (Andy Devine), and the two help Naila, totally unaware that she is the queen. The romantic lead this time out is Herua (Turhan Bey), a rebel leader opposed to the despotic Horadef. The villain has Naila under his evil influence, but this state of affairs comes to an end when she falls in love with the charismatic rebel. The climax, wherein Horadef and his invading hordes are caught in a cleverly rigged death trap, is the film's highlight. As usual, Maria Montez plays her rather ridiculous role in Sudan with the determined seriousness of a Lady Macbeth, which only adds to the giddy fun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Montez, Turhan Bey, (more)
- 1945
Wildfire was the first release from Screen Guild Productions, the adventuresome little independent that would eventually metamorphose into Lippert Pictures Inc. The title character is a magnificent wild horse, slated to be destroyed by a group of ranchers. It seems that Wildfire is being held responsible for luring the ranchers' own stock of horses into the hills. Bob Steele and Sterling Holloway play Happy and Alkali, two rambunctious horsetraders who rescue Wildfire from extinction. Apparently they succeed, inasmuch as 1948 brought forth a sequel, Return of Wildfire, which unlike its predecessor was lensed in Sepiatone rather than Cinecolor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Sterling Holloway, (more)
- 1945
In this musical, a chorus of convicts conspires to get a paroled crooner chucked back in the clink. Songs include: "Time Will Tell," "Now And Always," "Round The Bend," and "How Lovely." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1945
Deanna Durbin offered her fans a change of pace in this mystery story seasoned with elements of comedy and music. Nikki Collins (Durbin) is a small-town girl visiting New York City to meet with Mr. Haskell (Edward Everett Horton), her family's attorney. As her train pulls into the station, she looks out her window into a nearby office building. She's shocked by what she sees -- a man is being strangled to death, and while she can't see the face of the killer, she gets a good look at the victim. Terrified, Nikki immediately goes to the police, but they think that her story is simply the product of an overactive imagination and send her on her way. Nikki, however, is certain that she witnessed a murder, and she approaches mystery writer Wayne Morgan (David Bruce) to help her piece together the facts of what happened. Thanks to a newsreel, Nikki is able to recognize the victim as Mr. Waring, a wealthy man who made his fortune in shipping; she attempts to contact Waring's family, but they're convinced that Nikki is a nightclub singer with whom the tycoon was having an affair. Hoping to contact the chanteuse in question, Nikki visits the club where she works, only to discover that she's also been murdered. Nikki soon finds herself being trailed by both Jonathan (Ralph Bellamy) and Arnold (Dan Duryea), two members of Waring's family whom she believes may have been involved in the crime, and could be trying to silence her once and for all. Like most of Durbin's vehicles, Lady on a Train's plot stops every now and then to give her the opportunity to sing a song; Western fans may want to keep an eye peeled for future cowboy star Lash LaRue, who has a small role as a waiter. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1945
Law of the Saddle stars Bob Livingston as Rocky Cameron, aka "The Lone Rider". With his sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John), Rocky rides into a small town plagued by cattle rustlers. He can expect no help from the Law, since the sheriff is as crooked as the Yellow Brick Road. In fact, the sheriff is the head of the rustlers, meaning that Rocky's really got a dilemma on his hands this time out. The villain in Law of the Saddle is played by Lane Chandler, a former silent-film cowboy star who sustained his career into the 1960s by specializing in stubble-chinned heavies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Miles
- 1945
This campy little drama launched the career of B-girl Yvonne De Carlo. It is set during the Franco-Prussian war and chronicles the exploits of Salome, a beautiful Viennese dancer who falls for an American reporter and for him gets involved in cloak-and-dagger activities involving the Bismarck, before returning to Arizona with him. There, she uses her talent and abundant charms to inspire the lawless residents of his hometown to reform. They in turn, name the town after her. She then goes to San Francisco where she seduces and marries a wealthy Russian who builds her an opera house and gives her the happy life she had always craved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yvonne De Carlo, Rod Cameron, (more)
- 1945
Shortly before Universal Pictures disbanded its "B" unit, the studio inaugurated an energetic western series starring Rod Cameron. In Beyond the Pecos, Cameron plays a rancher at odds with longtime rival Eddie Dew (himself a "B" sagebrush star at other studios). The two brawny men in Stetsons battle over rights of oil land that borders both their properties. When they tire of squabbling over money, Cameron and Dew fight over the attentions of pretty Jennifer Holt (daughter of Jack Holt). Director Lambert Hillyer handles Beyond the Pecos with his customary speed and efficiency. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1945
In this musical, a young woman from a small town heads for New York where she hopes to become a famous singer. She has no idea that she is going to inherit millions; her relatives keep this a secret so that she will not be taken advantage of by a gigolo. They are wise, for soon she falls in love with an amiable but goofy singer who makes his living dubbing the singing voice of an aging singer. When the almost has-been singer learns of the girl's financial worth, he tries to break in on the happy couple. Fortunately he fails and their romance is only strengthened. Songs include: "Lonely Love" (Everett Carter, Ray Sinatra), "Lou Lou Louisiana" (Carter, Milton Rosen), "What a Change in the Weather" (Kim Gannon, Walter Kent), "These Hazy, Lazy Old Hills" and "All the Things I Wanna Say." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allan Jones, Bonita Granville, (more)
- 1945
Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper paired off again after For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) with this overwrought melodrama based on the romance novel by Edna Ferber. Bergman plays Clio Dulaine, a beautiful half-Creole woman whose return to 1875 New Orleans from Paris creates a stir. Born out of wedlock, Clio's mother was a local woman who became pregnant by a wealthy, married landowner. Scandalized, his wife and family set about humiliating Clio's mother and even paid for Clio's voyage to France in an effort to get rid of the girl. Now Clio returns with a dwarf, Cupidon (Jerry Austin), and a maid, Angelique (Florence Robson) in her entourage. At the docks, Clio meets a handsome gambler from Texas, Colonel Clint Maroon (Cooper) and is smitten. To Clio's delight, their blossoming romance inspires calumny, but Maroon soon realizes that Clio is a gold digger. He departs for Saratoga Springs, where he is working on a venture involving the railroad. Clio follows him there, bent on marrying either Clint or his business partner, Bart Van Steed (John Warburton). Saratoga Trunk (1945) was exhibited to servicemen overseas in WWII for two years before it was released to the general public. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, (more)
- 1944
A scientist discovers that he can live forever by receiving gland transplants every ten years. Unfortunately, the unwilling donors must be killed for him to survive, something that doesn't bother the scientist until he falls in love. The girl, innocent of his grisly secret, falls for him too. Unfortunately, he is due for a new transplant and the endocrinologist who has been doing the operation gets a guilty conscience and refuses to help him any more. Desperate to remain young, the scientist finds someone else. This time though, Scotland Yard gets wind and begins investigating. The girl finds out, and remains true to the scientist causing him to abandon his mad quest for eternal youth. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nils Asther, Helen Walker, (more)
- 1944
Having worked as a duo in the first three entries of Monogram's low-budget "Trail Blazers" series, veteran Western stars Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson were joined by Bob Steele in the fourth, Death Valley Rangers -- reportedly much to Maynard's dismay. Although not much younger than his august partners, Steele was still nimble enough to take care of the more strenuous fisticuffs and he was even somewhat believable in romantic clinches -- as opposed to his co-stars, whose ever expanding waistlines did not allow for tender scenes. This time, "The Trail Blazers," government agents, investigate a series of gold shipment thefts in Death Valley committed by a gang headed by Jim Kirk (Weldon Heyburn, whose name was misspelled "Hayburn" in the on-screen credits!). Kirk has hired a crooked scientist, Doc Thorne (Karl Hackett), who has discovered a method to pour the stolen gold back into the rock, where it will be indistinguishable from virgin ore. Steele infiltrates the gang and with the help of his partners, Death Valley is soon safe from Kirk and his gang. Like most of the "Trail Blazers" Westerns, Death Valley Rangers was filmed at Corriganville, actor Ray "Crash" Corrigan's movie ranch in Simi Valley, California. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, (more)
- 1944
Rustler's Hideout is more of the same from PRC's resident cowboy stars Buster Crabbe and Al St. John. Cast once again as Billy Carson and Fuzzy Q. Jones, our heroes declare war against a gang of cattle rustlers. Even the villains are making their umpteenth return appearances in the Crabbe - St. John series: Lane Chandler as a clever cardsharp, Charles King and John Merton as the cattle thieves. And, as always, there's the faintest hint of a romance between Billy Carson and the ingenue du jour, in this case Patti McCarthy. Despite the repetitiousness and predictability, Rustler's Hideout posted a profit, as did all of PRC's Buster Crabbe - Fuzzy St. John vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Patti McCarty, (more)
- 1944
Ingrid Bergman won her first of three Oscars for this suspense thriller, crafted with surprising tautness by normally genteel "women's picture" director George Cukor. Bergman stars as Paula Alquist, a late 19th century English singer studying music in Italy. However, Paula abandons her studies because she's fallen in love with dapper, handsome Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). The couple marries and returns to the U.K. and a home inherited by Paula from her aunt, herself a famous singer, who was mysteriously murdered in the house ten years before. Once they have moved in, Gregory, who is in reality a jewel thief and the murderer of Paula's aunt, launches a campaign of terror designed to drive his new bride insane. Though Paula is certain that she sees the house's gaslights dim every evening and that there are strange noises coming from the attic, Gregory convinces Paula that she's imagining things. Gregory's efforts to make Paula unstable are aided by an impertinent maid, Nancy (teenager Angela Lansbury in her feature film debut). Meanwhile, a Scotland Yard inspector, Brian Cameron (Joseph Cotten), becomes suspicious of Gregory and sympathetic to Paula's plight. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, (more)
This above-average entry in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series is loosely based on the Conan Doyle story The Six Napoleons. On this occasion, Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are assigned to guard the priceless Borgia Pearl, a "cursed" gem that has inspired scores of murders over the years. Their principal antagonist is master criminal Giles Conover (Miles Mander), who, though he is constantly thwarted in his efforts to pilfer the pearl, manages to discredit Holmes in the eyes of the public. Conover's chief assistant is the beautiful Naomi Drake (Evelyn Ankers), who adopts several clever disguises in the course of the action. Complicating matters is a series of seemingly unrelated murders, in which the victims are found with their backs broken, lying amidst piles of shattered China. Holmes deduces the connection between the murders and the Borgia Pearl, and in so doing nearly becomes the latest victim of The Creeper (Rondo Hatton), a horribly disfigured homicidal maniac. In addition to providing Basil Rathbone and Evelyn Keyes endless opportunities for bravura disguise scenes, The Pearl of Death launched the short starring career of the tragic Rondo Hatton, a real-life victim of the disfiguring disease known as acromegaly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, (more)
- 1944
The fifth of Monogram's eight "Trail Blazers" Western, Westward Bound was set during the time of Montana gaining statehood. Property values are about to skyrocket and nasty banker Roger Caldwell (Harry Woods) conspire with tax collector Henry Wagner (Karl Hackett) to drive the local ranchers off their land. Enter the "Trail Blazers," Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson and Bob Steele, called in by rancher Jasper Tuttle (Hal Price) to investigate. Maynard infiltrates the gang and is elected marshal of Big Horn. Working from the inside, so to speak, he learns that the brain behind Caldwell and Wagner's scheme is Albert Lane (Weldon Heyburn), secretary to the Territorial Commission of Montana. Although severely outnumbered, the aging "Trail Blazers" manage to defeat the conspirators with a great deal of cunning and a couple of sticks of dynamite. The increasingly cantankerous Maynard reportedly took umbrage to Steele's participation and demanded his ouster. However, it was Maynard himself who was forced to leave -- after the sixth entry, Sonora Stagecoach (1944) -- to be replaced in the final two "Trail Blazers" Westerns by Chief Thundercloud. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, (more)
- 1944
In their third and final "Trail Blazers" Western together, Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson and Bob Steele witness what appears to be a gang of Indians raiding a stagecoach. Investigating, the three lawmen discover that the attackers are actually white bandits dressed as Indians and that their leader is one Polini (Ian Keith), a gangster smuggling diamonds in the axle grease of the stagecoach wheels. Aided by young Donny Davis (Don Stewart) and pert Ruth Hampton (Myrna Dell), the "Trail Blazers" survive several clashes with death -- including being trapped inside a cave -- before Polini and his cohort, Banker Steve Lynch (Karl Hackett), are apprehended. In only her second Western, blonde heroine Myrna Dell was not exactly in awe of her veteran leading men who, as she later recalled were "old enough to be my grandfather!" Maynard, in fact, had come to the end of his long starring career. Unable to get along with his more athletic co-star Bob Steele, the often cantankerous left the series and only returned to films in rare cameo appearances. His place in the final two "Trail Blazers" Westerns was taken by Chief Thundercloud. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, (more)
