False Colors

Bud Lawton, one of Hoppy's young ranch hands, is ambushed and killed right after he has had a lawyer draw up a business agreement in which he names Hoppy, California and Jimmy as his full partners in his 2/3rds ownership of a ranch that he has just inherited from his estranged father. Hoppy and his sidekicks decide to visit the ranch and upon arrival discover that "Bud Lawton" has returned to the old homestead. The imposter has been hired to do the impersonation by a rat who wants the water rights which go with the property and hopes to get the property by having the imposter convince Lawton's sister to sell the ranch. Douglas Dumbrille as usual does a marvelous job playing the villain, Mark Foster. Of course if this movie is remembered at all by non-B western fans it's because of Robert Mitchum. And what a good job he does. I've seen an early John Wayne western and I can't say that I thought he was anything special but Mitchum does shine in this early film, especially in the poker playing scene and the subsequent barroom brawl with Hoppy. I like Andy Clyde as California but must agree with a previous reviewer that he kinda was asking to get hit after his inappropriate kibitzing at a poker game.

The first half is outdoors with some spectacularly moody vistas of the snow-covered Sierras. Just as impressive are those great shots of the many weird boulders covering the Alabama Hills. This is familiar territory for Hoppy and the boys, but it's never been more visually impressive.

There's some good action during this first part as Hoppy tries to prevent bad guy Foster (Dumbrille) from cheating a young brother and sister (Seidel & Drake) from their ranch inheritance. The second half moves indoors as Foster's scheme draws Hoppy and the boys out of the hills and into town. Too bad, in my little book, they couldn't keep this second half outdoors too.

It's a more notable cast than usual. Dumbrille, of course, is a veteran baddie from many an A-production, while hulking thugs Barcroft and Strange get rare speaking parts. Leading lady Drake would soon appear in that most nourish of noir classics, Detour (1945). But most notable is Bob Mitchum promoted into one of his first speaking parts—catch how well he acts with his eyes at the poker table. No wonder he was emerging from the crowd of cowboy extras. And for a minute, it looked like actor Seidel would be one of the few in Hollywood to get killed twice in the same movie!

There're the usual action staples-- some hard riding and a couple of really energetic fist-fights to keep things from getting too talky. I guess my only complaint concerns sidekick Jimmy Rogers. I agree with reviewer Don W that he's an inept presence, who unfortunately rather resembles a young Jimmy Durante. Wisely, the screenplay downplays his romance with the personality-plus Drake.

Anyway, the 60-minutes adds up for me as half-of-a-good Hoppy.

Before he was killed by Mark Foster's men, Bud Lawton willed part ownership in his ranch to Hoppy and his two pals. When the three arrive they find a fake posing as Lawton. When they expose the imposter, Foster gets the Sheriff to jail them for Lawton's murder.

False Colors is a good Hoppy western, well-directed and acted by all. The idea of a doppelgänger replacing a dead heir to get the ranch is a fanciful and exciting idea. There's some good action, especially in the first half in the rugged vistas, but the second half takes a more tense, dramatic turn. Like usual, there's plenty of humour especially by Andy Clyde. And top villainy- Douglas Dumbrille, Roy Barcroft and Robert Mitchum - is to be had here.

Although Hoppy appears dressed all in black throughout this film, it's not one of the better Hopalong Cassidy outings. Interesting highlights are a fight between Hoppy & Robert Mitchum (at one point William Boyd's stunt double is quite obvious), & Hoppy's shooting a gun out of Mitchum's hand. Hoppy always had two sidekicks. One was the scruffy oldtimer (first done to perfection by George "Gabby/Windy" Hayes & later played by Andy Clyde as "California"). The second sidekick was usually named "Johnny" or "Lucky." The "Johnnies" & the "Luckies" of the Hoppy films were often handsome young actors who had trouble acting. The idea was to give the women in the audience something to look at, & to provide a romantic interest when "Johnny" or "Lucky" fell for the heroine. "False Colors" makes me yearn for a Johnny or a Lucky, because the "Jimmy" (Rogers) in this film is neither attractive to look at, nor can he act. As a matter of fact, he's the worst actor of any junior sidekick in the Hoppy movies, and he appeared in several of them. Aside from having a famous dad (Will Rogers), why they needed this guy is beyond me! His attempts at providing a romantic interest are unintentionally laughable. I rate this 5/10.

When the story begins, Hoppy and his two pals have come to town where they meet an old friend, Bud. But a short time later, some unknown gunman kills Bud...and this occurs shortly after Bud named Hoppy and his two sidekicks (California and Jimmy) as his beneficiaries. Now, the three own 2/3 interest in Bud's childhood home...a huge ranch in a different town. So, the three head there...only to witness a man SAYING he's Bud arriving in this town!! Apparently, someone has found a guy who looks much like Bud...and since the guy hasn't been in town for a decade, the plan was to have him substitute...and then sell the ranch to a local baddie (Douglass Dumbrille) so he can control all the water rights. Then, this bad man can effectively destroy all the other ranchers unless they pay him for the water...and it won't come cheaply!

Now you MIGHT think Hoppy would immediately expose this faux Bud, but he doesn't. This is because he wants to know who is behind this scheme...who orchestrated the murder of Bud and who trained the fake one to double for Bud. It's actually really obvious who is behind all this....especially since Dumbrille played evil baddies in about 95% of his movies!!

So is this film any good? Well, yes and know. It's handled very well and is interesting...though the notion of a bad guy trying to muscle out all the local ranchers is hardly an original one. Fortunately, HOW he would do this was pretty original...if a bit strange! It's also very fortunate that the Cassidy family estate apparently kept original copies of his westerns...because, like so many B-western stars, his movies were hacked to pieces to make them fit into TV time slots in the 1950s. But recently, restored originals were posted to YouTube...and you can see this one there at its original length and form.

As you watch this film, it's interesting to see Robert Mitchum as one of the baddie's hired guns. In fact, 1943 was the first year he appeared in films....and he made several Hopalong Cassidy's movies that year. Along with Mitchum is Glenn Strange...and Strange ALWAYS played bad guys in B-westerns! So much for being type cast! It wasn't until he began playing Frankenstein in the mid-1940s that he began doing something different! And, when he was a regular on TV's "Gunsmoke" he was able to finally consistently play a nice guy...not a monster nor hired gun slinger!

By the way, in the scene where Kit Moyer confronts the boss near the end of the film, note that as he and Hoppy enter the doorway that you can clearly see the shadow from the microphone!