Du sang sur la piste

Liberal is a town in Kansas that is rapidly descending into lawlessness. That is until local "Billy Jones" (Gabby Hayes) gets his pal "Bat Masterson" (Randolph Scott), a federal marshal, to come and try to sort things out. With the help of "Harper" (Robert Ryan) and dancing girl "Ruby" (Anne Jeffreys) he sets his sights on "Maury" (Steve Brodie) and his manipulative henchman "Carmody" (Billy House). The only thing that distinguishes this from a whole slew of others of this type, is that Ryan manages to discover a wheat that is resistant to drought - a pretty perennial problem here - and that galvanises the farmers who are on the verge of giving up. Otherwise, it is a pretty routine adventure peppered with a few shoot-outs and a bit of romance. Scott and Ryan do their jobs OK, and the story moves along quickly enough but if you've seen one, then I'm afraid you've seen them all as far as this is concerned.

I watched this film a few days ago and realised that the scene where Robert Ryan is given a glass of milk and the lady rancher elevates the horizontally hinged panel beside the table to reveal a field of waving wheat was an image that had stuck with me for over 55 years without me being able to remember the film's title. I saw this film in my local picture house as the featured film of a saturday matinee about 1960 -the image was indelible but the title and actors were a total blank -until a few days ago. Do cinematographers/directors realise they are creating a haunting image when they set up shots like this?The film itself is watchable but not a classic - apart from the image of the wheat

This one is a very solid Randolph Scott Western. He plays Bat Masterson and goes to Liberal, Kansas to clean up the town. He becomes good friends with Robert Ryan who played a very, straight up leading man role. It was not until after this that Robert Ryan began playing much darker roles. In fact, in 1947 Randolph Scott made one other movie which was not a western and never made anything but westerns after that until he retired in 1962. This movie has good pacing and builds up to the climax steadily. I can't say any more as it would give away the plot. Be sure to see this one. 8/10

This is a modest ,unassuming traditional Western with a formulaic plot about opposition between ranchers and crop farmers around the town of Liberal ,Kansas .The story is essentially routine and features a number of the classic Western conflicts .There is the farmer versus the cattleman;there is the clash between cultivated land and "civilizing" tendencies on the one hand and the wilderness/frontier ethos on the other and what this represents ultimately is the opposition of two value systems -democratic and community values as set against rugged individualism .

Randolph Scott plays legendary lawman Bat Masterton who rides into Liberal at behest of a land agent (Robert Ryan ) to help him sort out the bad guys who are the hard drinking ,brawling cattlemen .The two men quarrel but reunite to tackle the troublesome elements in the town .

The script is clichéd but the action is propelled along with vigour by director Ray Enright and there are solid performances all round .In addition to rugged performances by the male leads there is comic relief supplied by George Gabby Hayes ,an oily villain nicely played by Steve Brodie and attractive contributions from Maggie Meredith as a prim and proper Easterner wooed by Ryan and Anne Jeffreys as a saloon singer As long as you do not place a premium on originality this is good sturdy entertainment for Western lovers

This is a fairly good B western that is upgraded almost to A by the presence of Randy Scott, Robert Ryan, and Anne Jeffreys, unusual in that it concentrates on developing new farming methods to make Kansas the breadbasket of America rather than the usual open range issue in the wars between cattlemen and nesters, although that too is touched on. Gabby Hayes was noted for his tall tales. He even had an early television show centered on that talent. Many times his tall tales were lame but this go around the stories are actually humorous. Helping out in this department is the emphasis on a supposedly mythical character Brandyhead Jones. This running joke has a good finale making it even more intriguing. Character actor Harry Harvey as the mayor is a good foil for Gabby.

Randy Scott plays the historical Bat Masterson with emphasis on Bat's hidden talents as a writer. The real Bat Masterson ended his life as sports editor for the Morning Telegraph in New York City. Bat was also good with the six-shooter and was a lawman from time to time. Apart from this the rest of "Trail Street" is mainly fiction based loosely on fact here and there.

Unlike the average B western, the title of this film relates directly to the story being told. Trail Street is the main street of Liberal, Kansas, the end of the trail for drovers who herd the cattle to the stockyards for shipment to Chicago. The farmers are threatening to turn Trail Street into Wheat Street. Maury (Steve Brodie) and his toady Carmody (Billy House) the saloon operators are determined to get the land for themselves and keep the new farming methods and new strain of wheat out of the hands of the farmers. House makes an excellent sycophant. Madge Meredith delivers the goods as well as the soiled dove with the heart of gold who also has a filial relationship with Allen (Robert Ryan), the local financier who tries to help the farmers. Meredith had a rather brief screen career. Too bad for she was a skilled actress if this movie is any indication of her abilities.

A bit confusing is having two heroes rather than one. Bat and Allen work as a team. Both are pals to Billy (Gabby Hayes) which almost makes this into a Three Mesquiteers outing. Fans of Randolph Scott and Gabby Hayes should enjoy this oater. Others may get bored in places, though there is a good shoot out at the end which reminds the viewer of the later John Wayne saga Rio Bravo.