Silent Conflict

Hopalong Cassidy and pals are at the end of a cattle drive. Hoppy seeks the comfort of sleeping in a bed -- the audience is a-tingle, wondering if he wears black pajamas to match the spotless black shirt he wears on the dusty trail. Meanwhile, perennial series juvenile Rand Brooks is fascinated by medicine-showman Earl Hodgins and his talk of his many great inventions, including a glass eye that can wink. Hodgins also gives Brooks a drink of his special tea. He says it will clear his mind. It will clear it so greatly that Brooks will do whatever Hodgins says, including giving him the money from the drive and agree to kill Hoppy.

That would have been one way to end the series, I thought, when I read the synopsis. If I give you the impression that I was not impressed with the story written by Charles Belden, you are correct. It's silly, far-fetched and there's no way that things will turn out badly for Bill Boyd when he's the producer; it would break the hearts of the youngsters who loved his screen character.

Cinematographer Mack Stengler shoots the vistas very nicely, and anyone who has seen more than three B westerns will instantly recognize the familiar rocks of Lone Pine in this placeholder entry to the series.

Seems they either love or hate this entry in the Hoppy franchise? I didn't mind it, a bit different, no punch ups or gun fights, but an intriguing, if improbable little plot, don't forget these were primarily made for kids, of all ages I might add, and kids don't analyse things too much, they just sit back and enjoy. Rand Brooks, I thought, made a good Lucky Jenkins, and hey, it's Hoppy, nothing much else matters!

Hoppy's dressed all in black, which is a good sign; he's unusually stern with Lucky ("You sound like a little boy & you're beginning to act like one"), which sets up some of the ensuing plot. Virginia Belmont, the female romantic lead, looks older (she's just looks older, she's really only 27) & not as pretty as most of the Hoppy heroines. Lucky has much bigger role than usual. Hoppy & his two pals carry $25,000 in gold from the sale of combined cattle herds. Lucky is hypnotized by Earle Hodgins, with the aid of special "herb tea." The plot intertwines Hoppy & California's search for Lucky, Hoppy's four rancher friends' search for Hoppy, a gang of six outlaws suspected of stealing the money, & the travels of Hodgins & his niece (Belmont). Hodgins is very good in one of his biggest & most sinister roles in any Hopalong Cassidy film. Rand Brooks sleepwalks through the film as part of his role, as opposed to his usual sleepwalking in other Hoppy films. Hoppy uses some psychological ("hypnotized") & legal ("alimony") jargon, both unusual terms for the 1800s, making one wonder if he was college educated! Very little action but holds the attention nonetheless by being quite a decent mystery movie. I rate it 6/10.

Generally, the Hopalong Cassidy B-westerns are among the best in the genre. They are almost always entertaining and well made....but there are a few exceptions. A HUGE exception is "Silent Conflict" and of the 40 or so films I've seen in the series, it and one other ("Outlaws of the Desert") , are the worst....terrible films due to ridiculous plots. In "Outlaws of the Desert", Hoppy and is pals hang out in Saudi Arabia! And, here in "Silent Conflict", one of his pals is controlled by an evil hypnotist!!! Evil hypnotists and Saudi Arabia clearly have no part in an American western...and they really are dumb films!

When the story begins, Hoppy, Lucky and California are bringing in some cattle to sell. Lucky is acting out of sorts...but Hoppy assumes he'll soon snap out of it. Another man, the 'Doc', also sees that Lucky is out of sorts and takes what appears to be a fatherly interest in the guy. Instead, however, he used mind-altering drugs and hypnosis to turn Lucky into his evil pawn!!!! Then, he gets Lucky to steal all the money from the cattle sale!! Not surprisingly, Hoppy and California give chase....and the trail leads to Doc...and a final showdown.

Hypnosis?! Give me a break. First, hypnosis cannot make you do what happens in the film. I am a trained hypnotist...and if it could turn people into your evil pawns, I would have used it for this decades ago!! Second, if I didn't know better, I'd swear that the series had 'jumped the shark' with such a stupid and ridiculous plot! But "Borrowed Trouble" was also made in 1948 and is a dandy and very enjoyable Cassidy film. All in all, a terrible film compared to the others in the series and evidence that the writing wasn't always stellar in the series.

Earle Hodgins one prolific character actor in mostly westerns has one of his best roles in this Hopalong Cassidy western. He runs a medicine show with Virginia Belmont serving as the female come on for the red blooded males.

One of his concoctions makes one lose their will and be vulnerable to Hodgin's mesmerizing ways. When they're under his spell Hodgins gets them to do all kinds of things in the case of Lucky Jenkins steal the money that Hoppy got for driving the cattle to market, Bar 20 and other herds.

Hodgins always played all kinds of rustic characters and was in several previous Cassidy westerns. Here that's a guise, he's a slick article, but nobody is slicker than Hopalong Cassidy.

This is one of the better latter day Hoppy features. And for once Andy Clyde didn't stumble into any trouble.