The Navajo Trail

"The Navajo Trail" is a swiftly-moving and pretty well-told western, but because its appointments reflect its Monogram Studios credentials, the film is perhaps best suited for fans of the star and his sidekick, Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton. The story concerns a couple of undercover US marshals looking for pony thieves.

Brown is not given much opportunity to show off his usual affability in this one, as he takes a more serious approach throughout, but his presence is still comforting and important and really what makes the film worthy of watching. Hatton's performance in this one is a bit stilted at times, perhaps because of his lines not being rehearsed much, but his scene as the drunk pony-handler in the saloon is highly effective.

B-westerns don't give Indians much attention, in general, but they do figure in this one, but more as a story element and foundation...portrayed native Americans don't get much screen time here.

So in sum, "The Navajo Trail" is inconsequential but enjoyable enough for fans of the genre' and for fans of JMB and Hatton.

U. S. Marshals Nevada Jack McKenzie and Sandy Hopkins are working undercover to capture a gang stealing horses from the Navajos, and to capture the killer of a Ranger. Nevada poses as an outlaw to get in with the gang and find the leader, while Sandy pretends to be a drunken old horse thief that has knowledge of where the Navajos have hidden their ponies.

Johnny Mack Brown, who sounds like Cary Grant but with an Alabaman accent, straps on his six-gun again and goes undercover to capture a horse thieve gang. Helping him is Raymond Hatton as Sandy. It's a watchable, if an ordinary western, with the expected fast moving plot and some fine shoot em up. Jennifer Holt -sister of Tim - also stars.