Raiders of San Joaquin

No need for a spoiler alert as the plot is largely incomprehensible. Suffice to say, it concerns signed and unsigned contracts, transfer of deeds and rights of way.

But, this is, of course a B western so no-one cares as long as all the other ingredients are in place and they are with a vengeance! We have two heroes for the price of one with Johnny Mack Brown and Tex Ritter slugging it out - although they are, of course, ultimately on the same side - Jennifer Holt, who just has to be (for a whole string of reasons) the best leading lady in the entire genre and Fuzzy Knight providing the necessary comic relief with aplomb. There are songs from Knight and the excellent Jimmy Wakely Trio and Tex, in his instantly recognisable style, warbles yet another ditty about a "carefree cowboy".

And despite all of these pleasant diversions, there is still plenty of room for fist fights, chases, holdups, shootouts and out of control stagecoaches before Johnny and Tex bring the bad guys to justice.

One minor quibble, I found George Eldredge (who?) a bit non-descript as the lead villain. But then, I suppose there must have been times when Roy Bancroft was unavailable....