Trouble in Sundown

Chubby George O'Brien - he of the massive over-sized titfer - grins his way though this entertaining B western, clearing the name of the honest banker (was there one?), sorting out dodgy surveyors Bond and Montague and finally winning the hand of Rosalind Keith.

Ray Whitley and the Phelps Brothers are on hand to warble a couple of ditties about life on the prairie and Chill Wills, as sidekick Whopper, tells tall tales presumably intended as comic relief.

The sets are good and the photography is nice: there are even a few plot twists to keep the non-western enthusiast interested. Above average.

Trouble In Sundown finds George O'Brien and his sidekicks Ray Whitely and Chill Wills investigating not just a bank robbery, but just why is whoever did the robbery want to ruin the reputation of banker Howard C. Hickman. For instance Hickman is not just accused of the bank robbery, but he's also framed for the murder of Deputy Jack Perrin who was pursuing him.

In a ton of westerns made at this time bankers during those Depression years of the 30s were more often than not the villains. It was easy enough to sell that. This western was a bit unusual in that Hickman is not the villain, but the real bad guys sure want to make it seem like he's in cahoots with them.

Had he not gone into more A list films Chill Wills could have done a whole career as a western sidekick. Ward Bond whose credits in 1939 also included Gone With The Wind and other A list films would be doing a lot more of those in the next two decades. Bond was one of the villain's henchmen.

There's action enough, but Trouble In Sundown also includes a bit of detective work by O'Brien and his companions. Still it's a solid B western for the Saturday matinée kid crowd.

The bank has been robbed, the night watchman killed and the safe opened. The townspeople want John as he was the only one with the combination. Clint gets John out of town but before the mob turns ugly but the deputy is shot when he and Clint go to get John at the shack. Things look bad for John, but Clint does not believe that John did the robbery and he will look for the real crooks.

Not filled with wall to wall action, Trouble in Sundown is a solid western with a rollicking pace, an intelligence in terms of plot, nice twists in the tale and a little detective work by a hero who has brains as well as brawn. O'Brien is helping a banker accused of stealing from the vault and Ward Bond et al are trying to nab him, but O ' Brien has him stashed in a ghost town. The resolution is satisfying and how the bad guys got the vault number is an inspiring idea.the detective element gives this B western a nice touch.