Justice du ranch

A friend is murdered and Hoppy puts off a trip to New York and heads to help save a mining business for his friend's daughter. Outlaw miners have been stealing ore from Ann Dennis' mine. Hoppy spends much of his time running around in the mine shafts tracking down the crooks, but that's after some snooping, sending Gabby become the night watch man - who pretends to have hearing problems - and a secret mine is discovered.

This Hoppy is fairly standard but entertaining enough especially when it ventures down the mine shaft. Nice compact mineshaft which looks claustrophobic- there's a lack of action and more investigation. Shootouts occur later into the western. Lesley Selander directs efficiently. The actress who plays the widow looks like she's reading from an autocue.

Hoppy is on his way to New York for a vacation. However, there's trouble at a mine owned by the widow of a friend of his, so it's up to him, Gabby Hayes and Russell Hayden to sort out matters in this, the 19th of the long-running series.

The regulars are in their usual form in this one, with Gabby Hayes particularly amusing, but Gwen Gaze as the widow is poor in her line readings and it is up to the usually stolid William Boyd to go even quieter in his scenes with her to avoid overwhelming her. For the rest, it is a typically well produced effort, with decent camera-work. Fans of the series will have a fine time and newcomers to B westerns will find it amusing.

Poor Hoppy. You would think the guy would deserve a vacation and he's taking some time away from the Bar 20 to go on a trip to New York. Central Park, Barnum's Museum, and Delmonico's, all that the Big Apple had to offer then. But an appeal from Gwen Gaze the new owner of a mine to look into the death of her father and Hoppy can't turn her down. In fact she's got a bit of a thing for that gallant knight of the plains.

What's happening is that a neighboring mine owner has tunneled into Gaze's mine and has been pilfering large amounts of ore. That's a dirty little secret he wants to keep. But Bill Boyd smells it out and he concocts a plan to catch them in the act.

Part of it is for Gabby Hayes to put on a deaf act as a night watchman. It's a pretty funny bit, worth seeing the film for.

Plus a nice action filled shootout at the end. All you could desire from a Hopalong Cassidy film.

A mine owner is having horrible luck...or so it seems. There have been several deaths in the mine in one week alone. Later, you know it's no accident when the owner himself is viciously killed by a gang of baddies. Now that Ann is running the mine, Hoppy and his pals volunteer to help her and figure out what's REALLY happening.

The best part of this film is, by far, watching Windy as the mine's guard. Hopalong knows that his foreman is actually in league with the baddies...and he sends him a man who seems like the absolutely WORST watchman in history. Why? Because Windy pretends to be profoundly deaf in order to convince the foreman that his henchmen can work at night without discovery. Now I have a deaf daughter and I am hard of hearing myself...but I didn't find this tacky or politically incorrect. It was very funny the way he played it up...and he was just wonderful.

Overall, a very good AND funny installment of the Hopalong Cassidy franchise. Well worth your time. And, if you want to see it, YouTube has tons of these films...all fully restored and in pristine condition.