The Desert Trail

Well, this is the first I've seen one of John Wayne's B-westerns, pre-Stagecoach, and I watched for one reason only: It's the only one that features a grown-up Mary Kornman, formerly of the silent "Our Gang" series. Her charms are still ample here as when she was a pre-teen but her part mainly calls for her to react to the "arguments" between Wayne and his conman cohort, Eddy Chandler. There's a funny scene in the beginning where Wayne manages to woo Carmen Laroux while Chandler has to sit silently because earlier the latter promised to act "dumb" so he wouldn't get mixed up with another woman but the way Wayne stomps on Chandler's foot every time the latter tries to punch him never became funny with me. A later scene with the Duke asking for some tonic on the top shelf is funny though since Kornman seems partly aware of John wanting to check her out! The story itself fits the 52-minute running time so there's no stretching at the seems. All in all, The Desert Trail was a somewhat enjoyable time-waster. P.S. There's a mix of both actual score music by Lee Zahler from the original print and latter-day additional scoring from William Barber that are obvious depending on how the music sounds though Barber's score isn't too distracting. And Ms. Kornman eventually became an expert horsewoman herself before she died on June 1, 1973.

The opening scene in the stagecoach is hilarious. Wayne shows a real comedic talent here and throughout this tongue-in-cheek 60 minutes that he seldom showed as a super-star. The dialogue surrounding Wayne's and Kansas's competition over the girls is delightfully funny. So is the scene with Anne having to stretch out for Wayne's ogling benefit. Credit should go to writer Lindsley Parsons and director Lewis Collins who keeps Wayne loose and in the mood. And where did the guy playing Kansa come from. He looks more like a banker than a side-kick. But he sure knows his way around a laugh line. Pairing him with Wayne is almost inspired.

I guess an entry like this is largely a matter of taste. It departs from the matinée formula by emphasizing a rather adult level of humor. Probably, most kids didn't much like it. The plot is pretty good, more coherent than most, with the usual hard-riding, big-shooting action. One thing for sure-- Lone Star didn't pop for locations on this one. I can almost see the LA outskirts in the distance. Anyway, this one gave me a lot more chuckles than I ever expected, and I may be wrong, but I don't think Wayne ever again reached quite this level of relaxed comedic acting.

Rodeo star John Wayne and his hard-gambling sidekick are forced to take Wayne's winnings from a crooked promoter. After they leave with the cash, two thieves murder the promoter and frame them for the killing. However, the boys are too busy chasing after a young Spanish woman and a pretty shop girl to try and clear their names!

Coming near the end of Wayne's contract with Lone Star/Monogram Pictures, this is more spare than some of the earlier films in the series. It's still a lot of fun (and funny) with more comedy in this than usual, resulting in some very amusing scenes like the one where Duke leers at the shop girl's backside!

The comedy here is reminiscent somewhat of the slapstick in Wayne's later films.

John Wayne plays a rodeo star who, along with his gambler sidekick, is accused of murder. The two bicker their way to finding the real murderers. Another of John Wayne's cheapie westerns made for Lone Star in the '30s. He's saddled with Eddy Chandler as a sidekick this time. Chandler's completely out of place. He even refers to women as dames at one point. Where's Gabby Hayes when you need him? A lot of humor in this one. Wayne's given some nice banter as well as cute flirting with pretty Mary Kornman. Nice stunt work in this otherwise ordinary oater. Stock footage is used from another Wayne cheapie, The Man from Utah. Beware versions with annoying modern score added.

Rodeo star John Scott and his gambler friend Kansas Charlie are wrongly accused of armed robbery. They leave town as fast as they can to go looking for their own suspects in Poker City.

Fair to middling Wayne western with some amusing dialogue between Wayne and his gambler friend, who thinks he's irresistible to women; they are always bickering. It's more of a humorous western, the plot is busy and everything goes around in circles. It can get tedious, however it got some good action and of course Wayne, who even at a young age got that screen magnetism. He can make anything watchable.