Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) assumes not one, but two aliases in this outing, although the second one is a ruse he employs to trick the head of an outlaw gang. Hoppy and his pal California (Andy Clyde) go undercover so to speak, with Hoppy assuming the name Tex Riley, and Clyde's character going by California Jack. When they both infiltrate a gang led by Nevada Teale (Dick Curtis), Hoppy strings the baddie along by insinuating that he might be an outlaw who survived a shootout, going by the name of Tom Wilkins. Funny, but once that little tidbit is mentioned, it really doesn't come up again to affect the story.
With Cassidy using a couple different monikers, you'd expect California to get tripped up at some point and call him by his real name, and he actually did at one point, but it was overlooked when it happened. A real puzzler for me occurred when Nevada's henchman Gila (Weldon Heyburn) learned of Cassidy's real identity, and thought it would be a good idea to shoot it out with him instead of going to his boss. A pretty dumb move, not only on Gila's part, but the writers too, who could have come up with something more imaginative.
You don't get much in the way of singing in most Hopalong Cassidy flicks, but the addition of The Jimmy Wakely Trio in this one's lineup was a bit of a welcome change. The group sounded good, and Brad King even got to sing a tune as his character Johnny Nelson, done of course to romance June Winters (Jennifer Holt) in the story. The Wakely's harmonies behind Johnny made 'Blue Moon on the Silver Sage' a nice diversion for a Hoppy Western.
Speaking of Jennifer Holt, she was the daughter of another veteran B movie cowboy, Jack Holt, and brother of Tim Holt who starred in his own series of movies as a cowboy star. This was her first credited movie role, and following this one, she signed a six year contract with Universal, and along with Cassidy, appeared in Westerns along side stars like Johnny Mack Brown, Tex Ritter and Lash LaRue. She usually played a good girl type, but her favorite role was that of a villain and leader of an outlaw gang in the Eddie Dean film, "The Hawk of Powder River".
With Cassidy using a couple different monikers, you'd expect California to get tripped up at some point and call him by his real name, and he actually did at one point, but it was overlooked when it happened. A real puzzler for me occurred when Nevada's henchman Gila (Weldon Heyburn) learned of Cassidy's real identity, and thought it would be a good idea to shoot it out with him instead of going to his boss. A pretty dumb move, not only on Gila's part, but the writers too, who could have come up with something more imaginative.
You don't get much in the way of singing in most Hopalong Cassidy flicks, but the addition of The Jimmy Wakely Trio in this one's lineup was a bit of a welcome change. The group sounded good, and Brad King even got to sing a tune as his character Johnny Nelson, done of course to romance June Winters (Jennifer Holt) in the story. The Wakely's harmonies behind Johnny made 'Blue Moon on the Silver Sage' a nice diversion for a Hoppy Western.
Speaking of Jennifer Holt, she was the daughter of another veteran B movie cowboy, Jack Holt, and brother of Tim Holt who starred in his own series of movies as a cowboy star. This was her first credited movie role, and following this one, she signed a six year contract with Universal, and along with Cassidy, appeared in Westerns along side stars like Johnny Mack Brown, Tex Ritter and Lash LaRue. She usually played a good girl type, but her favorite role was that of a villain and leader of an outlaw gang in the Eddie Dean film, "The Hawk of Powder River".