The Dawn Trail

The high plains don't have any water, so the cattle are in trouble, while down in the valley, there's plenty of water for sheep. There's plenty of tension, and sheriff Buck Jones keeps an uneasy peace. Along the way he proposes to Miriam Seegar, who's enthusiastic about it, but then changes her mind when Jones arrests her brother, Charles Morton, for shooting a nester and setting fire to his homestead.

This early talkie B western is a mixed bag, with some good ideas, like Jones being a friend of the family he must try to tear apart;. On the other hand, his horse, Silver, shows superhuman, well superequine intelligence. Miss Seegar is good in her scenes with Jones, less convincing when she has some short soliloquies. It all ends with a fine sequence of stampeding cattle. Director Christy Cabanne pushes the pace. Conclusion: for 1930, excellent. Nowadays, it's still watchable.