User Reviews

Rodeo star John Wayne and his hard-gambling sidekick are forced to take Wayne's winnings from a crooked promoter. After they leave with the cash, two thieves murder the promoter and frame them for the killing. However, the boys are too busy chasing after a young Spanish woman and a pretty shop girl to try and clear their names!

Coming near the end of Wayne's contract with Lone Star/Monogram Pictures, this is more spare than some of the earlier films in the series. It's still a lot of fun (and funny) with more comedy in this than usual, resulting in some very amusing scenes like the one where Duke leers at the shop girl's backside!

The comedy here is reminiscent somewhat of the slapstick in Wayne's later films.

This early John Wayne Lone Star western has a bit more going for it than the run-of-the-mill oaters Wayne had been making for Lone Star up until that time. For one, it has his old friend Paul Fix in it; Fix, being a much better actor then the standard Lone Star villain, brings a much needed professionalism to the surroundings instead of the usual hesitant line-readings often delivered in these oaters. The plot, about mistaken identity, payroll robbery and murder, is as trite and perfunctory as you'd expect it to be in a 1930s low-budget western, but Wayne's strapping good looks, easygoing charm and way with a line go a long way to making this more enjoyable. Plump, balding Eddy Chandler isn't quite believable as Wayne's womanizing "partner", and there's a running gag about something that happens whenever Chandler and Wayne are about to get into a fistfight that grows tiresome. On the other hand, Wayne's love interest is played by none other than Mary Kornman, the little "Mary" of the early "Little Rascals" fame. She is a grown-up 20-year-old now, blonde and cute as a button. Most of Wayne's leading ladies in these Lone Star/Monogram "B's" were fairly bland and colorless, but Mary is perky, cute and, yes, sexy. There's a scene in the general store, where she works, in which Wayne asks her to get him a bottle of "nerve tonic", which happens to be on the top shelf, so she has to get a ladder and climb up to the top shelf. Wayne's ogling of her pert little backside as she ascends the steps, then again as she comes down, then again a few minuter later when he asks her to climb up and get him another bottle, is surprisingly racy for a film made in 1935. Wayne makes no attempt at all to hide the fact that he is definitely checking out her butt. It's surprising that this got past the Hays Office censors, but they were probably more concerned with the product that came out of the "main" studios rather than a cheap "B" western from some--as far as they were concerned--no-name outfit.

Anyway, it's an interesting little "B", not great but not as choppy and disorganized as many of his Lone Star productions of the time. The final gunfight isn't handled all that well, and Chandler gets somewhat irritating after a while, but all in all, it's worth a look, if only to see a cute and sexy Mary Kornman.

The opening scene in the stagecoach is hilarious. Wayne shows a real comedic talent here and throughout this tongue-in-cheek 60 minutes that he seldom showed as a super-star. The dialogue surrounding Wayne's and Kansas's competition over the girls is delightfully funny. So is the scene with Anne having to stretch out for Wayne's ogling benefit. Credit should go to writer Lindsley Parsons and director Lewis Collins who keeps Wayne loose and in the mood. And where did the guy playing Kansa come from. He looks more like a banker than a side-kick. But he sure knows his way around a laugh line. Pairing him with Wayne is almost inspired.

I guess an entry like this is largely a matter of taste. It departs from the matinée formula by emphasizing a rather adult level of humor. Probably, most kids didn't much like it. The plot is pretty good, more coherent than most, with the usual hard-riding, big-shooting action. One thing for sure-- Lone Star didn't pop for locations on this one. I can almost see the LA outskirts in the distance. Anyway, this one gave me a lot more chuckles than I ever expected, and I may be wrong, but I don't think Wayne ever again reached quite this level of relaxed comedic acting.

Well, this is the first I've seen one of John Wayne's B-westerns, pre-Stagecoach, and I watched for one reason only: It's the only one that features a grown-up Mary Kornman, formerly of the silent "Our Gang" series. Her charms are still ample here as when she was a pre-teen but her part mainly calls for her to react to the "arguments" between Wayne and his conman cohort, Eddy Chandler. There's a funny scene in the beginning where Wayne manages to woo Carmen Laroux while Chandler has to sit silently because earlier the latter promised to act "dumb" so he wouldn't get mixed up with another woman but the way Wayne stomps on Chandler's foot every time the latter tries to punch him never became funny with me. A later scene with the Duke asking for some tonic on the top shelf is funny though since Kornman seems partly aware of John wanting to check her out! The story itself fits the 52-minute running time so there's no stretching at the seems. All in all, The Desert Trail was a somewhat enjoyable time-waster. P.S. There's a mix of both actual score music by Lee Zahler from the original print and latter-day additional scoring from William Barber that are obvious depending on how the music sounds though Barber's score isn't too distracting. And Ms. Kornman eventually became an expert horsewoman herself before she died on June 1, 1973.

John Wayne and Eddy Chandler play a strange combination of friends in The Desert Trail. Wayne's a fast living rodeo cowboy and Chandler is gambler/conman. They fight a whole lot about everything, cards, liquor, women. There kind of a western version of James Cagney and Pat O'Brien.

When Wayne decides he's not going to get stiffed out of rodeo prize money he won, they take matters into their own hands, taking precisely what's owed Wayne. Of course when two real robbers, Al Ferguson and Paul Fix decide to clean out the rest of the rodeo cash and kill the promoter, our heroes get blamed for it and have to spend nearly the rest of the film on the run.

Of course this is a Lone Star cheapie that the Duke stars in here with production values severely limited. This one however had the potential to be something better. At a better studio with a tighter script and their production values, this could have been a Duke classic.

As it is it's one of his better B pictures from Monogram.

John Wayne plays a rodeo star who, along with his gambler sidekick, is accused of murder. The two bicker their way to finding the real murderers. Another of John Wayne's cheapie westerns made for Lone Star in the '30s. He's saddled with Eddy Chandler as a sidekick this time. Chandler's completely out of place. He even refers to women as dames at one point. Where's Gabby Hayes when you need him? A lot of humor in this one. Wayne's given some nice banter as well as cute flirting with pretty Mary Kornman. Nice stunt work in this otherwise ordinary oater. Stock footage is used from another Wayne cheapie, The Man from Utah. Beware versions with annoying modern score added.

Pretty good B-Western of the venerable "bickering buddies" formula benefits from Duke Morrison's increasing confidence as an actor and comfort with the "John Wayne" persona, as well as from the increasing willingness to let Wayne play characters with a bit of an edge, rather than the Roy-Rogers-type goodie-goodies of his earlier films.

Definitely worth a look for fans of the Duke.

7/10

The Duke is at it again in this "b" western from Monogram. This time he is out to win some prize cash in a rodeo, which he does easily, so when he and his friend try and collect their winnings, they meet up with some bad guys who steal all of the rodeos proceed's then they manage to kill the promoter, blaming our hero and his friend,, so they are forced to go on the run and hideout and make a plan to try and catch the bad guys,, meanwhile the Duke and his friend argue about everything from women , to alcohol and such, the 2 lawmen appear to be an odd match but it turns out opposites do attract even in the old west.. not a bad little "b" western picture slightly better than some of the other b western that John Wayne was in.

This old B-western features John Wayne as rodeo star John Star who travels to Rattlesnake Gulch with his partner Kansas Charlie. John wins $900 but the rodeo claims a poor turnout means they will only pay twenty five cents on the dollar... they insist on full payment. Immediately afterwards two crooks holdup the rodeo office and fatally shoot the manager before managing to deflect blame on John and Kansas. These two are forced to flee but learn that the actual killers have headed to Poker City so they head there, separately, and take the names Jones and Smith respectively. Here they are both attracted to shop girl Anne, who is the sister of one of the killers. Now they must clear their names before the law catches up with them.

This is a fairly typical B western of the era... the plot is pretty simple and offers few real surprises. It is still fun though. The way the friends fall for the same woman twice is amusing, especially when they flirt with Juanita; a less than honest woman. Also amusing is the way Wayne ogles Anne as he gets her to retrieve items from a top shelf; not what I expected in a film of the Hays Code era! The action is okay but the lack of Yakima Canutt means we don't get the great horse stunts of many John Wayne films of the era. Anybody who has seen 'The Man from Utah' will get a sense of déjà vu as the rodeo scenes are the same as were used in that film... the crowded stands make the rodeo's claim that they are short of cash seem rather implausible. Overall this isn't his best film of the time but Wayne fans should still enjoy it well enough.

Before I explain the "Alias" comment let me say that "The Desert Trail" is bad even by the standards of westerns staring The Three Stooges. In fact it features Carmen Laroux as semi- bad girl Juanita, when you hear her Mexican accent you will immediately recognize her as Senorita Rita from the classic Stooge short "Saved by the Belle".

In "The Desert Trail" John Wayne gets to play the Moe Howard character and Eddy Chandler gets to play Curly Howard. Like their Stooge counterparts a running gag throughout the 53- minute movie is Moe hitting Curly. Wayne's character, a skirt chasing bully, is not very endearing, but is supposed to be the good guy.

Playing a traveling rodeo cowboy Wayne holds up the rodeo box office at gunpoint and takes the prize money he would have won if the attendance proceeds had been good-the other riders have to settle for 25 cents on the dollar (actually even less after Wayne robs the box office). No explanation is given for Wayne's ripping off the riders and still being considered the hero who gets the girl.

Things get complicated at this point because the villain (Al Ferguson) and his sidekick Larry Fine (played by Paul Fix-who would go on to play Sheriff Micah on television's "The Rifleman") see Wayne rob the box office and then steal the remainder of the money and kill the rodeo manager. Moe and Curly get blamed.

So Moe and Curly move to another town to get away from the law and they change their names to Smith and Jones. Who do they meet first but their old friend Larry, whose sister becomes the 2nd half love interest (Senorita Rita is left behind it the old town and makes no further appearances in the movie).

Larry's sister is nicely played by a radiantly beautiful Mary Kornman (now grown up but in her younger days she was one of the original cast members of Hal Roach's "Our Gang" shorts). Kornman is the main reason to watch the mega-lame western and her scenes with Moe and Curly are much better than any others in the production, as if they used an entirely different crew to film them.

Even for 1935 the action sequences in this thing are extremely weak and the technical film- making is staggeringly bad. The two main chase scenes end with stock footage wide shots of a rider falling from a horse. Both times the editor cuts to a shot of one of the characters rolling on the ground, but there is no horse in the frame, the film stock is completely different, and the character has on different clothes than the stunt rider. There is liberal use of stock footage in other places, none of it even remotely convincing.

One thing to watch for is a scene midway into the movie where Moe and Curly get on their horses and ride away (to screen right) from a cabin as the posse is galloping toward the cabin from the left. The cameraman follows the two stooges with a slow pan right and then does a whip pan to the left to reveal the approaching posse. Outside of home movies I have never seen anything like this, not because it is looks stupid (which it does) but because a competent director would never stage a scene in this manner. They would film the two riders leaving and then reposition the camera and film the posse approaching as a separate action. Or if they were feeling creative they would stage the sequence so the camera shows the riders in the foreground and the posse approaching in the background.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

This was a typical really from 1935 starring John Wayne. Not very good quality but miss John Wayne so I still watched it.

Give the producers at Monogram Pictures (a. k. a. Lone Star) some credit: They gave John Wayne here a chance to try some comedy, and the Duke delivers. It's a shame the result is buried in another lame C- western with a poor script and below-par acting.

Rodeo rider John Scott (Wayne) and his gambler companion Kansas Charlie (Eddy Chandler) get mixed up in a case of mistaken identity when they are blamed for stealing money from a crooked rodeo and murdering its promoter. Lying low in another town under assumed names, they find themselves on the wrong side of the law again, thanks to the machinations of the promoter's real killers.

Watching Wayne cut up here with Chandler is kind of fun, especially early on. Director Cullen Lewis starts us off with a scene where the two are playing cards, and a tight close-up shows Kansas Charlie dealing himself an ace from the bottom of the deck. Scott catches him, though he's not angry at the duplicity so much as disgusted by the awkwardness of the move.

"You're terrible!" Scott exclaims. "Try any of those phony tricks at Rattlesnake Gulch, they'll run you out quicker than they did at the last place!"

Watching Scott and Kansas Charlie bicker is fun for a while. Unfortunately, that's about all "The Desert Trail" has to offer. The conflict with the killers is awkwardly presented and left unresolved, even after one of them returns to steal Scott's money and Kansas Charlie's watch. Instead of trying to clear their names or catch the thief, Scott and K. C. hightail it to another town, where they meet pretty storekeeper Anne (Mary Kornman) and develop a new line of bickering over her. Seeing Wayne play a rather crooked character is kind of interesting; unfortunately this Scott guy and his pal are pretty dumb, too.

Wayne enthusiasts may find his performance as noteworthy as I did; they may also like seeing Paul Fix, a regular in many Wayne movies, playing one of the killers who's also Anne's brother. Fix is terrible in this movie, perhaps because he was a busy guy (he appeared in 14 other movies in 1935 alone) and the character is so badly written. He doesn't want to kill and steal, but his nasty partner Pete (Al Ferguson) keeps threatening to turn him in if he doesn't go along. How would Pete do this without incriminating himself? Scott and Kansas aren't the only two characters in "Desert Trail" not long on brains.

The film ambles along fretfully, with odd shoot-outs (odd because Wayne is often shooting at good guys) and cruel horse stunts (they tripped the horses in full gallop with wire, and a couple of the stunts here appear to have been fatal) breaking up largely comic interludes involving Scott, Kansas, and Anne. Kornman, a fetching woman with skills honed from her childhood career in silent "Our Gang" comedies, plays well off Wayne, especially when he tries to schmooze her by making her climb a ladder for some "nerve tonic." She points out nerve tonic is something he doesn't seem to need.

With some better scripting, either in the way of a coherent cowboy actioner or a more focused comedy, "Desert Trail" might have risen above the batch of cheapo films Wayne starred in in his own desert years, after "The Big Trail" and before "Stagecoach." But it just doesn't gel enough, or go anywhere interesting beyond the occasional funniness.

THE DESERT TRAIL (Lone Star Presentation for Monogram Pictures, 1935), directed by Cullen Lewis, ranks one of the more enjoyable quickie westerns starring John Wayne. While Wayne had played a rodeo rider and has been a cowboy accused of a crime before, this one is no different yet much better due to added comedy thrown in. Cast as another John character, as a welcome change of pace Wayne breaks away from his lone cowboy role to someone traveling about with a close friend (Eddy Chandler) both having their eyes for the ladies and becoming friendly rivals for their affections. Regardless of their pranks to one another, they retain their true friendship status, especially when trouble is concerned.

The story opens on a stagecoach with John Scott (John Wayne) and his friend, "Kansas" Charlie (Eddy Chandler), gamblers having been run out of town heading for another. Because of his trouble with women, Charlie intends of being "deaf and dumb" to them until Juanita Modero (Carmen Laroux) comes on board at the stage depot, by which both men vie for her affection. Coming to the next town of Raddlesnake Gulch, John participates in a rodeo, but learns from Charlie that he and all the other riders are being cheated of their prize money, getting 25 cents on the dollar. John goes to the rodeo office demanding Farnsworth (Henry Hall) give him his $900 due him. When refused, John holds Farnsworth at gunpoint while Charlie goes to the safe to take the money owed him and depart. After leaving the office, gun shots are heard and Farnsworth is found dead. Witnesses Pete (Al Ferguson) and Jim (Paul Fix) expose John and Charley as the last men to see Farnsworth alive, leaving the sheriff and his posse to go after them. After having their bank roll stolen and learning the real killers have gone to Poker City, John and Charley, assuming new identities as John Jones and the Reverend Harry Smith, follow them there to clear their names. In the process, both men become interested in a girl named Anne (Mary Kornmann), whose brother may know something regarding both the Farnsworth murder and the recent stagecoach holdup for which John and Charlie are accused. Featuring Lafe McKee, Frank Ball and Wally West in smaller roles.

THE DESERT TRAIL starts off amusingly well with fine comedy exchanges between Wayne and Chandler. Though playing like two different movies for the price of one, the results are completely satisfying. The title doesn't seem to fit the story until later it is revealed that "The Desert Trail" is the path both John and Charlie need to follow to locate the killers. With no underscoring except for the opening and closing credits, THE DESERT TRAIL shows it doesn't need any. Beware of latter restored prints with inappropriate/intrusive scoring and some others that have been colorized that takes away from the enjoyment of the story. Although a poverty-row western, the acting is quite good and scripting and pacing satisfactory.

Available on both video cassette and DVD process, THE DESERT TRAIL enjoyed frequent television revivals and discovery on public television during the 1990s, but to date, no known broadcasts either on the former American Movie Classics nor Turner Classic Movies cable channel, but has turned up occasionally either on Enore Westerns Channel or MGM Plus. (**1/2).

An American Western; A story about a rodeo star who competes with his friend to be the best but then both are accused of robbing a bank so they set out to clear their names and bring the real killers to justice. A standard fare mistaken identity story clumsily directed. Grainy stock footage of real-life rodeos provides some nice diversion along the way. John Wayne plays his antihero role with spirit and boyish charm and Eddy Chandler is amusing as his comic sidekick. The story is light on plot and it's a bit corny and contrived and it has a stagey feel, but the action is adequate, with horse riding tricks and shoot-outs as filler.

Rodeo star John Scott and his gambler friend Kansas Charlie are wrongly accused of armed robbery. They leave town as fast as they can to go looking for their own suspects in Poker City.

Fair to middling Wayne western with some amusing dialogue between Wayne and his gambler friend, who thinks he's irresistible to women; they are always bickering. It's more of a humorous western, the plot is busy and everything goes around in circles. It can get tedious, however it got some good action and of course Wayne, who even at a young age got that screen magnetism. He can make anything watchable.

John Wayne partners with former vaudeville man Eddy Chandler and they provide comic relief throughout. Duke's friend and mentor Paul Fix plays a man with dual loyalties. His sister Mary Kornman, from Our Gang fame wants to keep him on the straight and narrow, but Al Ferguson has some other ideas. Also, the highly spirited Juanita played by Carmen Laroux has the boys head over heels in love. Not enough action you say? Great western character actor, Lafe McKee as the sheriff of Poker City is aiming to give our heroes a neck tie party. Although I agree with another reviewer on here that this could have been a Duke classic with a better studio and better production values, The Desert Trail still holds it's own as a wonderful early western. .

This is yet another of John Wayne's early B-westerns that has been mercilessly updated and is being shown on the Encore Channel. Some bone-head thought it was a good idea to add a musical accompaniment to the film. However, the music is just awful. It's way too loud, inappropriate because of its use of very modern electronic music, often inserted haphazardly AND the same music is used in all the films! So, each Encore presentation of a Wayne film has the exact same intro and incidental music! Now these Wayne films already are very similar to each other, but with these 'enhancements', it's much worse. My advice is to download the films off the links on IMDb--it costs nothing, is perfectly legal and has the original music.

The film begins with Wayne and his completely dull sidekick (some bald guy with the personality of a shoe whose name I won't even bother to look up)...oh heck, it's Eddy Chandler) coming into town. Wayne is there to participate in the rodeo but after winning some prize money, he learns that the people running the event are crooks--and they only offer him a quarter of the money he earned. Not being content with this offer, Wayne and his bald buddy use their guns to convince the guy to pay them their due (which, from what I remember, is a lot like what O.J. is now serving time for in Nevada). However, soon after the pair leave, another guy comes in and robs the same guy--then kills him! And, to cover his tracks, the murderer claims Wayne and his partner are guilty. Since the two were seen leaving shortly before the murder, it appears as if they are guilty.

In another town, Wayne and Mr. Dull assume new identities and blend in as best they can. But with Wayne being an action hero, he soon draws notoriety by saving some guy....and is rewarded with being jailed when someone recognizes him ("no good deed goes unpunished"). However, the dull sidekick does have an ally...and naturally everything works out just fine in the end.

One of deficits for the film (apart from the music--which you can't blame on the original production company) are the reuse of both footage from another Wayne B-movie and the plot idea of a crooked rodeo from "The Man From Utah". Another is pairing Wayne with a dull sidekick who is neither funny nor endearing. However, like the rest of Wayne's films of the era, it is pleasant and entertaining provided you can appreciate the niche such B-movies played. They weren't meant as high art and at a breezy one hour in length (or a bit less), they were pretty much like a Gene Autry or Roy Rogers series film--and kids loved them. And, like many of the Autry and Rogers films, there are some odd anachronisms that seemed unusual in the West--such as the leading lady's very modern style of dress.

Falsely accused, skirt-chasing chums John Wayne (as John Scott) and Eddy Chandler (as Kansas Charlie) change identities to become "Alias Smith and Jones". Mr. Wayne becomes "John Jones". Mr. Chandler's is supposed to be "Rev. Smith", but Wayne calls him "Dr. Smith". At no time are either of them as entertaining as Roger Davis, Pete Duel, Jonathan Harris, or Ben Murphy; although, Wayne can be considered infinitely more successful than any of them, career wise. Pretty blonde Mary Kornman (as Anne), grown-up from her days in "Our Gang", is a lovely interest for Wayne. She and Chandler have a couple of cute scenes with Wayne. If you're not a fan of low budget John Wayne films of the 1930s, this movie won't make you one.

"The Desert Trail" is one of many B-movies which John Wayne made in the late twenties and early thirties before he became a major star. Most of these were Westerns, and many of them were made for Lone Star, a production company specialising in that particular genre. In 1935 alone Wayne starred in eight such films; in each of them he played a character with the Christian name John. This was presumably a deliberate move by Lone Star and their successors Republic Pictures to create a distinctive identity for their leading man.

The title "The Desert Trail" might suggest either a hunt through the desert for a fugitive or a group of pioneers making their way to a new life in California, but in fact the film deals with neither of those subjects. It was probably just a generic Western title which could be applied to virtually any plot. The film concerns John Scott, a rodeo star, and his gambler friend Kansas Charlie, who are wrongly accused of murdering a man in the course of an armed robbery, and their attempts to expose the real villains.

The acting is almost universally poor; Wayne is the only well-known name here, but he shows little of the talent and charisma which were later to make him one of Hollywood's biggest names. The action sequences are unconvincing, including a badly choreographed fist-fight with obviously pulled punches. The story is often difficult to follow. The film-makers even seemed to lack much of a budget for costumes. Although the action presumably takes place in the late nineteenth century, Mary Kornman as Wayne's love-interest Anne appears throughout dressed in the fashions of 1935 rather than 1870 or 1880.

By modern standards, at just under an hour, the film is absurdly short, but this was a normal length for B-movies in this period. What struck me most, however, was not the film's length but how cheap it seemed, having evidently been made on a minuscule budget. It reminded my forcibly of just why studios like Monogram (Lone Star's parent company) specialising in B-movies earned the nickname "Poverty Row". It might be more accurately categorised as a C- or D-movie, as everything about it shouts out "not so much second rate as third or fourth rate". If it had starred anyone other than Wayne, that future American cultural icon, it would doubtless have long since been forgotten. 3/10