Doomed Caravan

Outlaws try to wipe out the Crescent City Freighting Company, but are driven off after a fierce gun battle. A squad of Army Cavalry sent to give protection are massacred by the renegades who then impersonate the soldiers. Hopalong Cassidy foils their plans and later unmasks their mystery leader.

Doomed Caravan is an odd yet different title, especially as the wagon train might be marked for robbery but it certainly isn't doomed, not when Hoppy is around. This 1941 entry is a spirited western, with a strong plot, plenty twists and some robust action. Morris Ankrum plays a slimy villain, though not openly. Only Hoppy susses him out. The man sure has a strong radar for honing in on slippery characters.

This film, although not bad, moves along at quite a leisurely pace. There are a couple of interesting plot elements, but there's also a greater amount of riding back & forth from place to place, with no action, than usual. "Doomed Caravan" struck me as almost a "filler" in the series, which lacked some of the gusto of other Hoppy films. Thankfully, there are no songs. The humor is standard California fare, not nearly as funny as other California skits. There are only three gunfights that Hoppy's involved in, & he only nicks one baddie, although there are a couple of good fight scenes. Interesting note: Andy Clyde is listed as "California Jack" in the credits, as he was in his first appearance in a Hoppy film. Blooper?: in one scene, Minna Gombell ("Jane") is seen holding a small automatic pistol. Just when was this film supposed to have been set? In a following scene, she is shown with a revolver, as she had used earlier in the movie. This seems to be too obvious to be a blooper, so what was the point? Was the property master working on a gangster film at the same time as this one? For those of you who are keeping score, Hoppy wears the black hat, but has a tan shirt & lighter colored pants, only one good sign out of three, & one which accurately predicted the quality of this film! (see my other Hoppy reviews for an explanation). I rate this only 5/10.

Nobody's fooling Hopalong Cassidy in Doomed Caravans. Hoppy, Lucky, and California with Andy Clyde in his second appearance in that role are protecting Minna Gombell and her freighting outfit from outlaws Morris Ankrum and Trevor Bardette.

These two guys are outlaws who dream and scheme big. They have nothing less than revolution on their minds as they seek to depose a sitting territorial governor.

And they're a bloodthirsty bunch and superstitious. Ankrum has a troop of cavalry massacred and steals their uniforms to escort and then rob Gombell's supplies. But they're a superstitious lot and think it's bad luck to wear a dead man's footwear. So with their cavalry uniforms they're wearing regular cowboy boots and Hoppy spots that right away.

Nice Hoppy western for his many little Podners, young and old.

One of the more plot heavy, story orientated entries in this long running series. Hoppy and his pals help out the female owner of a freight line which has been plagued by robberies. Along the way there's enough action and adventure to keep things nicely rolling along to the finish.

Again, one of the recurrent themes rears it's head as Hoppy is mistaken for one of the villains to start with before he proves his identity.

As mentioned, there is more story in this as Hoppy uses some neat detective work to deduce who the real criminals are. But it's not all work as all the boys pull in this episode! Lucky chases the young girl, California is chased and caught by an ample Mexican woman who also helps the friends escape a trap laid by the crooks. Although, California as always is more interested in the woman's cooking rather than her feminine charms.

Even Hoppy gets lucky with Jane Travers, the owner of the freight company and shamelessly flirts with her throughout the film. It's refreshing to see in this modern age of films where the leading man's romantic interest is usually young enough to be his daughter, that Jane is the same age as Hoppy. An attractive woman, yes, but certainly not in the first flush of youth. Hoppy seems very taken with her and is greatly impressed with her right hook and her overall fiesty personality.

All in all, a good entry in the series and enjoyable on quite a number of levels.

Agreeing to help a lady freight operator who's suffering attacks and sabotage from possible rivals, Hopalong Cassidy battles a fake military escort and a contrived class war in Mexico!

Story-wise, almost everything about this Hopalong Cassidy adventure, starring William Boyd, is rather ordinary. However, the production values are spectacular compared to other B-westerns of the nineteen-forties, with a real Hollywood sheen, probably due to the fact that this was made at Paramount Pictures.

The detail in the sets, costumes and props are excellent. Photography is first-rate and action scenes are well-handled. It's just too bad that the script is uninteresting and pretty much all over the place.

Director Lesley Selander (who did a few of the Hopalong movies) was a great director and made studio B-westerns from the nineteen-thirties right up until 1968.