Grand Canyon Trail

Roy Rogers and company try to bring "Sintown" back to life - it's a ghost town which may go boom if silver mining is successful. Andy Devine (as "Cookie") slapsticks around. Jane Frazee (as Carol) loses a piece of her bitches to Mr. Rogers' sharp leer. Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage stand-in (or, is that sing-in?) for the A.W.O.L. Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers. James Finlayson (from the Laurel and Hardy films) adds to the "slapstick" look of "Grand Canyon Trail". A loose floor board delivers the winning comedy performance. Mr. Devine's mule kicks its heels. There are energetic human performances, too - but, the material isn't Grand.

** Grand Canyon Trail (1948) William Witney ~ Roy Rogers, Jane Frazee, Andy Devine

"Grand Canyon Trail" is another in the series of Trucolor musical westerns turned out by Republic Pictures in the late 40's starring Roy Rogers. This one is one of the better series entries.

The plot concerns the efforts by Roy and the boys to find a lost silver mine. The musical content is kept to a minimum and Director William Witney keeps the action flowing.

What makes this film interesting is its supporting cast. Robert Livingston, who only a few short years before had been Republic's up and coming star, plays the chief villain. He is probably best remembered for his role as Stoney Brooke in the Three Mesquiteer series. In the best Witney tradition, Livingston murders a helpless old prospector. Roy Barcroft is along as Livingston's chief henchman.

Old time movie fans will recognize Laurel & Hardy's old foil Jimmy Finlayson as the sheriff. Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage replace The Sons of the Pioneers in this one. Jane Frazee in the Dale Evans role and Andy Devine as "Cookie" round out the cast.

Not a bad way to spend an hour or so.

Plot-- Roy stumbles into business dealings surrounding a lost silver mine. In the process, he meets up with a spunky girl and some sneaky crooks. Good thing Andy's around to help.

This Front Row Geezer really enjoyed the 67-minutes. Especially a spirited Jane Frazee who all but steals the show with her assertive Carol Vanderpool or is it Martin. Oh well, either way she's a scene stealer. Roy gets to do a lot of well choreographed flying fists, and I hope they paid him double for his extra trouble. And, of course, Andy Devine is Andy Devine, but with less clowning than usual. Catch that early scene with Roy and Frazee on the stagecoach—it's a little gem of battling attraction between guy and gal. Frazee was a really good foil for Rogers, as, I guess, both Roy and Dale knew.

There's some canyon scenery, but not much. Most of the action settles into familiar greater LA locations. And what about that hurricane Katrina slammed place called Sin Town and a hotel called Hangman's that shows all the litter and crud that the studio could muster. They're like nothing I've seen in an oater. Not much hard riding or fast shooting, but likely enough for matinée fans, including myself. All in all, it's a good action-filled Republic production. My only complaint is the bland b&w instead of Technicolor. But Trigger still looks good, even if upstaged by a sombrero-wearing mule.

A "7" on the Matinée Scale

While it's probably just average among the many Roy Rogers features, there's enough action in "Grand Canyon Trail" to make it worth watching. The story is pretty thin this time. What there is of it has Roy, Andy Devine, and a spunky but sometimes misguided heroine battling the bad guys over a silver mine, while also having to deal with the usual dull-witted sheriff (played by an old silent comedy favorite, James Finlayson). There's also a supposedly haunted hotel that is mainly played for a few laughs, most of them at the expense of Divine's character. It does not always fit together as well as it could have, but there is plenty of action, plus a couple of songs, and it has pretty much everything you would expect from one of Rogers's movies.

Grand Canyon Trail is another of the Trucolor Roy Rogers films that has shown up on DVD from a black and white print. That does not take away from the movie since black and white was so common at the time anyway.

Roy appeared kind of dumb in this one, and so did everyone else. It was customary for the lead cowboy to be able to figure out the crooks' plan and identify the leader. Roy took forever to suspect Regan, and it was only after other characters helped him that he ever learned anything. Instead of standing on guard duty and being prodded by Cookie, Foy, and the Riders of the Purple Sage, he should have already scouted around looking for clues. As much interaction as there was between the cowboys and Regan's crew someone should have suspected something sooner. There was no battle of wits. Carol Martin never figured out who wanted to hurt her and who wanted to save her until almost the end of the movie despite how obvious it was.

Roy got in a lot of fist fights in this one. More than once he got clobbered over the head and knocked out. Andy Devine bounced people around with his stomach. The sound effect of a kettle drum would have been perfect if not for the fact that the movie was not a vehicle for slapstick comedy.

The Hangman Hotel was an abandoned old building that provided an opportunity for plenty of haunted house stick comedy. There were scenes of characters chasing from one room to the other with fights throughout the building and crossed paths between the good guys and bad guys. Seeing Andy Devine scream once is funny, but there can be too much of a good thing. The hotel was critical to the story as it was the site where a murder victim was discovered, but the hotel was over-used.

Seeing Robert Livingston go from the leader of the Three Mesquiteers to playing a villain is disheartening. Above all he was an actor who played the part of Regan perfectly. Watching past heroes playing villains or small roles always comes across as sad because few of them ever went back to the glory of their previous films.

Overall the story was good, but it I think the characters could have been developed a little better. Not a bad movie, Grand Canyon Trail is a lull in the Roy Rogers series despite having a great cast and, for some, Trucolor.