Western Trails

"Western Trails" is a well made western that still holds up despite being in the old fashioned style. Competently made in an uncluttered manner, it benefits from a good story and layered plot. Bob Baker is a convincing and amiable hero who you can't help but like. Marjorie Reynolds, star of A-level as well as many B- movies, is far better than you might expect for a B western. John Ridgley, a fine supporting actor for decades in Hollywood, is a great asset for this film. These 3 actors relate well and form a watchable character triangle.

The supporting cast includes a lovable and smart canine actor "Wimpy" portraying "Smoky" (as pet of a grown man, not just for kids). By the way, you might note some magnificent specimens of ponderosa pine along the road in scenes filmed on location.

This is a serious movie, with no silly sidekick. Rather than a sidekick, you have padding in the form of songs sung by Baker in his somewhat weak tenor voice, not really very appealing singing, but OK as an alternative to the usual "sidekick" character, and more fitting to the heavy story than comedy.

Western fans should enjoy this film, enhanced as it is by the dynamic and believable Ms. Reynolds, and by the rock-solid talents of Mr. Ridgely.

With one exception,each and every film, starring Bob Baker, that Trem Carr and Paul Malvern made for Universal Pictures was a remake of some previous film they had produced circa 1931-35 that had starred either Bob Steele or Tom Tyler (for Monogram) or John Wayne (for Lone Star/Monogram.) This one was no exception and, in, fact, was nearly an exact-remake of two of those films..."Galloping Thru" with Tom Tyler and "The Dawn Rider" with John Wayne.

Baker's version even used most of the same role names from the Wayne film...Bob Mason rather than John Mason, but retained all the major role names...Alice Gordon, Ben McClure, 'Dad' Mason and Rudd Gordon. Norton S. Parker was credited on the Baker film with "Story" but the story of "Western Trails" is the exact same story as used on "Galloping Thru" and "The Dawn Rider," so the man, Lloyd Nosler, who actually wrote the original story, for all three films got a royal short-changing on "Western Trails," while Norton S. Parker got credit for something written by somebody else.

Where was the WGA when they were needed? Well, obviously, not present and accounted for on 1938's "Western Trails."

Despite reports to the contrary elsewhere, "Western Trails" was not a remake of a Buck Jones film called "The Dawn Trail."