Three on the Trail (1936)

Three on the Trail
Directed by Howard Bretherton
Written by Doris Schroeder and Vernon Smith
1936/USA
Harry Sherman Productions
First viewing

[box] Stagecoach Bandit: [Caught in the act by the man in black] That’s Cassidy! He’s bad medicine! Let’s get goin’![/box]

The second of the Westerns I watched was my very first Hopalong Cassidy movie. Although it was routine, I was pleasantly surprised at how appealing William Boyd was in the role.

Hoppy (William Boyd), Johnny Nelson (James Ellison) and Windy (Gabby Hayes) are fast friends and hands on the Bar-20 Ranch.  When an evil gang begins rustling cattle and sticking up stagecoaches, the three must ride to the rescue.  Along the way, Johnny falls for lovely schoolmarm Mary (Muriel Evans).

I’m not a big Western fan and the story was nothing special but I can understand why these films were a big draw in theaters in the 30’s and later on TV in the 50’s.  William Boyd is quite charming and the considerable joshing among the friends lightens the good guy v. bad guy action.

Hopalong Cassidy tribute