Robin Hood of Monterey

Pedro de Cordoba is giving a fiesta when his son, Travis Kent, hears his new stepmother, Evelyn Brent, talking with her lover, Jack La Rue, talking about taking over the vast estate. Soon de Cordoba is dead, and Kent is framed. Fortunately, his father's old friend, the Cisco Kid -- played by Gilbert Roland -- is in the neighborhood and happy to help find evidence of the actual murderers.

Knowing that Christy Cabanne directed this might give you pause, but he does a fine job in this very late film. DP William Sickner gives the audience some lovely moving shots that were Cabanne's hallmark in more prosperous days, and there is plenty of good humor provided by Chris-Pin Martin, and Nestor Pavia as the alcalde who wants to capture and shoot Roland. Indeed he does, but there's still a good ten minutes to go and we can be sure that the Kid will come out on top. That's especially so, with Roland given credit for extra dialogue. I would guess that Cabanne allowed him to ad lib several lines in Spanish.

Cabanne has a very poor reputation, as one of many A directors whose careers went to pot in the sound era. Some of Cabanne's movies were, indeed, very poor, but he remained a craftsman to the end when the budget permitted. He would only direct four more movies before dying in 1950 at the age of 62. Here's proof that with a good cast and crew, he could still direct a solid little B picture.