Henchman_Number1

A crown prince from a small Arab nation is kidnapped by Communists in order to stop the installation of an American missile base within the kingdom. The Commies have sequestered the kidnapped prince in an unknown location. Acting on intelligence information that indicates the prince is being held in the area of Hong Kong, the US calls on their Far East operative Casey Reed (Gene Barry) who works under the guise of a shady nightclub singer. After an informant is killed outside of his club Reed works on a tip to infiltrate a gold smuggling operation by ingratiating himself with a Macao syndicate to to smuggle gold from Hong Kong to mainland China disguised as cheap trinkets in order to locate the prince.

Confused by the plot? Me too and we aren't the only ones because it appears after splicing the scenes together it was decided to do voice over narration with just about every scene to explain what we just watched. Apparently director Edward Cahn, who cut his teeth in the business as a film editor, couldn't fit the pieces together without the grating narration. The entire film is set bound and was shot at KTTV studios sound stage as well some scenes shot in their basement so the overall quality is about like a one hour television program of the time, if that.

Things were going along pretty well for Gene Barry about this time. He had recently worked on a couple of Sam Fuller written and directed productions. Finished up 'Thunder Road' with Robert Mitchum and had signed on to do the 'Bat Masterson' TV series which first aired at the same time Hong Kong Confidential' premiered. So it's hard to figure why Barry would sign on for this 2nd feature cheapie. No matter. It wasn't a career killer for Barry.

The film though not well made is modestly entertaining though sometimes in unintended ways. In two unintentionally hilarious scenes, Cahn decided to have Barry perform a couple of truly awkward lounge tunes. The fact that Cahn left these in the final cut as well as the aforementioned added narration, tells us that the notoriously parsimonious Cahn was going to go kicking and screaming before he spent another nickle on this film.

As a point of interest, co-star, iconic 1950's mainstay Allision Hayes, would go on to work in multiple Bat Masterson episodes with Barry in the recurring role of Ellie Winters.

Ed and Chito (Tim Holt, Richard Martin) get caught up in a plot to rob a shipment of gold, silver and diamonds on it's way to Mexico to help victims of an earthquake. After hearing unexplained gunfire while mending a fence, they ride out to investigate the source of the dust-up. In short order they are up to their bandanas in trouble as our duo attempts to thwart a heist hatched by town bad guys Bat and Rod (John Doucette, House Peters Jr.), their henchmen and devious saloon singer Stella (Jane Nigh).

This one was directed by George Archainbaud instead of the usual Lesley Selander / Tim Holt pairing. Archainbaud directed a boatload of the Hopalong Cassidy films and the flow of this movie is reminiscent of some of the early Harry 'Pop' Sherman produced Hoppys while still meshing up with the RKO style. So there is the obligatory RKO singing dance hall number. Actually two singing dance hall numbers. It was as if RKO studio executives took a solemn oath that these routines must be included in all of the Tim Holt westerns.

Border Treasure is probably a notch lower than Holt's other westerns in that same time frame. Director Lesley Selander had pretty much nailed down the Tim Holt franchise and they cranked out some of the best B-Westerns of that era. Not sure why they decided to make a one time change for this film. Nevertheless the well above average RKO production quality, Lone Pine location shots and decent amount of action make this a solid entry into the Tim Holt series.

After the town sheriff is killed during a bank robbery Gene Autry is pressed into service by town Judge Beaumont to replace him. When Beaumont himself is found murdered, his hot-headed estranged son Jack (Hugh O'Brian) becomes the chief suspect. Gene who doesn't believe Jack murdered his father sets out to solve the crime with his newly appointed deputy Mike Rawley (Pat Buttram).

The John English directed post-war westerns are some of the best that Gene ever did. Usually featuring more location shooting and less emphasis on the musical numbers. The slightly longer run times allowed for a little more in depth plot lines and just generally enjoyed higher production values.

Good entry into the Gene Autry series.