Ombre sur la piste

Francis Nevins in his book, The Films of Hopalong Cassidy, suggests that Sunset Trail has its roots in the rantings of Clarence E. Mulford, creator of the Cassidy saga. The Eastern author frequently voiced his disgust over the realization of his cowboy hero in the movies. Things were a might more personal in 1930's Hollywood than they are today, and someone took a notion to teach Mulford a thing or two about the movies. The result is the wonderful Hopalong parody, Sunset Trail.

Mulford is merrily satirized in the character of E. Prescott Furbush, an author of western novels. Furbush, who never having been west of Flatbush, nevertheless has gained fame recording the deeds of the western desperado, Deadeye Dan. After years of fashioning fairy tales, the little fussbudget books a stay at a dude ranch to savor the `real' West. But his antics pale beside those of another dude, William H. Cassidy, or Harold, as he's known among the other guests at the ranch.

Hoppy has been sent to deal with land grabbers and assumes the identity of the inept Easterner, Harold, as cover. Forget the plot; it's predictable. What is not routine is Bill Boyd's performance. There is a swagger in his walk and a gleam in his eye reminiscent of the sharp-dressed, high-living Boyd of the 1920's. He deftly handles the comedy and energetically pokes fun at the Cassidy image. One of the most outstanding moments comes when Harold offers to compare surgical scars with a female guest who has been regaling Furbush with tales of her poor health.

This episode may not appeal to everyone's sense of humor, but for me it is a final glimpse of Bill Boyd, being as wickedly funny as he is handsome before he permanently transformed himself into the stalwart cowboy hero.

When Hoppy dresses in his all-black outfit, you know there's going to be action & old fashioned western excitement. When Hoppy dresses in his tan or "dude" outfits, you know that William Boyd will get a chance to do more "acting," which he loved to do to break the monotony of his 66 picture run as Hoppy, but you can also expect less action & more talk. So one of the first things I look at, to foretell the type of movie it will be, is the clothes he wears! In this one, he starts out in black & then dresses as a dude in a white hat & sports jacket to go undercover. And sure enough, it's a so-so entry in the Hoppy series, not bad, but not great either. Gabby Hayes has a good role in this one. Worst scene: Russell Hayden (as "Lucky") plays guitar with the guitar invisible to the camera, while his romantic interest sings a western song in the finest pop-operetta style! Best scene: close-up of Boyd riding Topper at high speed. Hoppy changes back to black just in time to ride off with his friends as the movie closes. I rate this one 6/10.

"Sunset Trail" is a very entertaining entry in the long running Hopalong Cassidy series produced by Harry "Pop" Sherman in the 30's and 40s.

In this one Hoppy (William Boyd), Windy (George "Gabby" Hayes) and Lucky (Russell Hayden) come to the rescue of widow Ann Marsh (Charlotte Wynters) and her young Daughter Dorrie (Jan Clayton) whose husband and father have been murdered by gambler Monte Keller (Robert Fiske). Ann decides to open up a "Dude Ranch". Hoppy, and this is where Boyd gets to have some fun, goes undercover as a foppish Eastern dude named William H. Cassidy to get the goods on Keller and his gang.

Boyd camps it up in a tweed suit and derby hat and seems to have a lot of fun doing it. He is seen in his regular black outfit only at the beginning and end of the movie. Hayes meanwhile is pursued throughout the movie by Abigail Snodgrass (Kathryn Sheldon). Hayden competes with Keller's hench man Steve Dorman (Anthony Nace) for Clayton's affections. The whole thing is brought to a climax in a rousing finale shootout where Hoppy brings the bad guys to justice.

As in most of the "Hoppys", the photography, in this case by Russell Harlan, is outstanding. The direction by Leslie Selander is crisp and keeps the story moving. Watch for veterans Glenn Strange and Tom London in minor roles.

Great fun.

When a stagecoach is robbed and a passenger murdered, the boss of the company asks his pal "Hoppalong" (William Boyd) and his friend "Windy" ('Gabby' Hayes) to travel, incognito, to get to the bottom of things. We know that "Keller" (Robert Fiske) is the man behind the crimes and that he has stolen $30,000 from the now dead husband of "Ann" (Charlotte Wynters) but he is not expecting this great milk-sop of a dandy to arrive replete with bow-tie, and so "Hoppy" is able to infiltrate the town and observe just how the stolen cash is being laundered through it's casino. Needless to say, neither "Ann" nor daughter "Dorrie" (Jan Clayton) are best pleased with this hapless man, but that is bound to change once he gets onto the scent of the perpetrators and brings them to book. Of course the result is that certain, yes, but this is still a solid adventure western with plenty of action, duplicity and Fiske makes for quite a decent baddie as things hot up to a well staged conclusion where luckily nobody's aim is much good. Boyd is competent here and Hayes serves well as his lively foil and for an hour it's an amiable story of greed versus good.

Disguising himself as a milquetoast Easterner who is quite a dandy, Hoppy enrolls in a dude ranch in order to unmask the murderer of the owner's husband.

This is one of the best examples of Hopalong Cassidy westerns that pulls all the stops to deliver sheer class entertainment and has a wide gamut of humour ( great lines and poor Gabby Haynes scarpering from an eastern lady visiting a dude ranch), intrigue, action, and William Boyd switching to a foppy character and doing great. The scenery is great as ever - the characters come alive and you get a real creepy villain in Robert Fiske. One of Hoppy's best entries.