Covered Wagon Days

This film essentially begins with some smugglers on the American side of the border illegally transporting silver from Mexico to sell for a profit in the United States. The problem gets so severe that the U. S. Army is called in to put a stop to it. The scene then shifts to a young man by the name of "Carlos Rinaldo" (Paul Marion) preparing to marry his fiancé "Maria" (Kay Griffith) but before he does that, his uncle "Don Diego" (Guy D'Ennery) tells him that he is going to give him ownership of a silver mine as a wedding present. Quite pleased with this, the two men go into town to transfer the deed into his name. While there, a merchant by the name of "Ransome" (George Douglas) offers to buy the mine from them but, once they refuse, he offers them some wine to drink from his cellar before excusing himself for a few minutes to take care of business. Not long after that, Carlos is knocked unconscious by an unseen cowboy and Don Diego is then stabbed to death. When Carlos finally regains consciousness, he sees the body of his uncle while, at the same time, several men come bursting into the cellar and arrest him for murder. It is then revealed that Ransome is in charge of the smuggling operation and having Carlos sentenced to death in a court of law fits in with his plans quite nicely. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an okay Western which utilized the individual abilities of the Three Mesquiteers quite well. Personally, although I liked the acting of Roy Corrington (as "Tucson Smith") from the earlier films in the series, Duncan Renaldo ("Rico Rinaldo") is a fine replacement for him. Likewise, Raymond Hatton ("Rusty Joslin") is a fine replacement for Max Terhune ("Lullaby Joslin") as well. In any case, while I don't consider this particular film to be quite as good as some of the others in the series, I suppose it passed the time well enough, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.