False Paradise

Hopalong Cassidy and his sidekicks Lucky and California come to the aid of Professor Joel Friedkin and daughter Elaine Riley who've just bought a seemingly worthless piece of property to settle down and ranch on. But there just might be silver on the property. It will take a lot of money to mine it before a profit can be shown. Still there's a potential Comstock Lode on the place.

And land agent Kenneth MacDonald and banker Kenneth MacDonald want that land back real bad and do what they have to to get it back. Of course Hoppy and his sidekicks triumph in the end.

Friedkin was playing the nutty professor who left the serious thinking to his daughter while he and California go out chasing butterflies. He was a science professor and I could never quite wrap my head around the concept that Andy Clyde would have any kind of acquaintance with scholar no matter how wacky. Andy's comedy was a bit more forced here than usual.

In the 65th of 66 Hopalong Cassidy movies, Bill Boyd greets retired professor and butterfly catcher Joel Friedkin and his pretty daughter Elaine Riley. They have just bought the worthless Paradise Ranch, which has been sold to them by an unscrupulous dealer. Eagle-eyed Hoppy, however, has noticed signs of silver ore on the property and offers to help develop it. Little does he know that unscrupulous banker Cliff Clark was the man behind the deal, and now that there may be silver on the property, schemes to get it back.

Elaine Riley was a frequent ingenue in the series, with four appearances in the movies and one in the TV series. She was born in 1917, After a series of beauty contests, she entered the movies in 1943. She mostly played uncredited bits. Her last big screen appearance was in 1956. She had better credits on TV through 1960, mostly in westerns. She died in 2015.

A banker is trying to cheat people out of their silver-rich land. Hoppy learns that the banker is in league with an outlaw gang.

Hoppy comes to the rescue of a daughter and her butterfly catching father who is a little eccentric when they leave East to live on a land called 'Paradise.' They realise it didn't live up to its name. Hoppy believes they were hoodwinked, but later, the villains, which includes a banker, want the land back when they realise its got plenty of silver.

A fairly strong plot, interesting characters like the butterflying father and his humorous partnership with California, and an rather rip-roaring twenty minute finale lifts this above the standard.

Hoppy wears his tan rancher's outfit throughout the film, so we know right off that this isn't going to be a great Hoppy movie. But it is very good, especially for a late entry in the series (this is one of the very last Hoppy films). Trivia section: Elaine Riley is prettier & a better actress than most of the young heroines in the Hoppy series (who were always present to give Lucky or Johnny or whatever young sidekick a mild love interest); she appeared in 5 Hoppy movies, from 1946-48; I was surprised to learn (on imdb) that she's English, she doesn't have the slightest trace of an English accent. We learn that California's real name is "Clarence" (Carlson). We learn that the Big Dome Saloon, in Spring City, offers "free lunches." We learn that in keeping with his wholesome image, Hoppy "never touches" cigars. The silver mine/crooked Westerners vs. naive Easterners plot is interesting, with some turns & several nice touches. There are a couple of obvious gaffs, including Hoppy firing a shot back at his own men during a horse chase (no baddies are even visible around the bend); 5 baddies push a flat lying boulder that must weigh half a ton; & not to be outdone, Hoppy lifts a mine girder that must weigh several hundred pounds! Overall well-done & enjoyable, with three gunfights & good action scenes. I rate it 7/10.

One of the best In the series - well written andacted. Boyd is at the top of his game in his role as Hoppy I prefer. Hayden as " Lucky " but this guy is ok-plus Andy does not compare with Gabby but he is decent.