The Desert Trail ** (1935, John Wayne, Mary Kornman, Paul Fix, Eddy Chandler) – Classic Movie Review 6048

Director Cullen Lewis’s 1935 Western stars John Wayne as big-time rodeo rider star John Scott, who fights on the side of the law, in this routine Monogram studios B-movie. It is taken at a good lick to pack in all of the busy plot in under an hour.

Scott (Wayne) and his gambler buddy Kansas Charlie (Eddy Chandler) are mistaken for outlaws accused of armed robbery, and have to find the two real bandits to clear their names.

Humble it may be, but it is fine and dandy for those who like Big John, Thirties Westerns and rodeo backdrops.

Also in the cast are Mary Kornman, Paul Fix, Henry Hall, Al Ferguson, Carmen LaRoux and Lafe McKee.

It runs 54 minutes, is written by Lindsley Parsons, shot in black and white by Archie J Stout and produced by Paul Malvern.

On his way up to the big time, Wayne was one of the most prolific Saturday matinée kings of the cowboys. In the Thirties he made about 80 Westerns, most of them B-movies, nine in 1935 alone.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6048

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