Le gai cavalier

Gilbert Roland takes over the role of the Cisco Kid for Monogram so he can chain smoke, make love to women, and use his vast horde of banditos to rob from the rich and give to the poor in 1850 California. Just what O. Henry had in mind!

The story, such as it is, has Cisco being framed for a silver robbery, and one of the land grant dons marrying his daughter off to a Yankee to recover the family fortune, even though she loves one of her fellow old Mexicans. Ramsay Ames plays her hectoring sister. She's also there for Cisco to make love to and to sing a couple of songs that, according to the credits anyway, she wrote.

The Cisco Kid was one of the franchises Monogram had picked up when Fox was getting out of B production. The Roland ones were pretty free with song interludes, both those written for the movies, and more traditional ones. They play the Mexican Hat Dance a lot with this one. It's quite a bit of silly fun, enlivened by Roland's swaggering machismo.

Or the first time in a Gilbert Roland Cisco Kid movie Cisco is riding with a gang as opposed to one sidekick. Of course Nacho Galindo is still in he usual role as a comic foil.

Roland is in his usual romantic caballero part and he's up againt Tris Coffin who steals money from the church and has his eyes on a young senorita to wed. The code iof the Cisco Kid won't permit that.

a nicely paced western with that most charming of players Gilbert Roland in the lead.