Bordertown Trail

And this makes Sunset Carson the only Republic Pictures B-western star who was second-billed to the sidekick in his first four westerns. But Smiley's contract with Republic (signed before the studio knew Gene Autry was going into the Service)didn't have much longer to go, and Sunset would be on his own...and his films got better...but Sunset's acting didn't.

This one finds a gang opposed to statehood for Texas, and smuggling everything they can across the border to keep statehood from happening. Sunset (Sunset Carson) and his pal, Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette), while on border patrol, receive a message from Matthews (Francis McDonald), a secret agent when they have never met, warning them that a load of gunpowder is to be smuggled over the border. They intercept Hank (Jack Kirk) and his smugglers and rout them in a gunfight.

Returning to Border Patrol Headquarters, Sunset and Frog learn that the U. S. Army, under the command of Sunset's brother Lieutenant Victor Carson (Jack Luden), have been given full authority over the Border Patrol station. Meanwhile, "New Orleans" (Welson Heyburn), head of the anti-statehood faction and the smuggling, learns that Matthews is a double agent and kills him, appropriating his identification badge.

Posing as Matthews, "New Orleans" tricks Lieut. Carson into sending his troops onto a wild-goose chase to clear the way for a big gold shipment to be smuggled over the border. But Sunset ain't buying it.