TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

dougdoepke 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

Henchman_Number1 Roy Rogers becomes entangled in murder and larceny after his friends (Andy Devine) and singing ranchers (Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage) invest $20,000 in a seeming worthless silver mine. When an old prospector who might know where the silver is located disappears, Roy suspects that the project's mining engineer (Robert Livingston) could be behind it. Seeking proof of a crime, Roy's investigation becomes even more complicated when the mine owner's secretary masquerading as his daughter (Jane Frazee) arrives in town. In a case of mistaken intentions Frazee constantly thwarts Roy's attempts to bring the bad guys to justice.The ghost town set and dark abandoned hotel form the stage for this action oater. Roy's nine pictures with Andy Devine marked a real difference in style from earlier movies. Andy was brought in after Gabby Hayes left the series in 1946. While Andy still provided comic relief, the villains grew more ruthless and Roy sang less. Here there are only three pretty good non-action stopping tunes in the movie. Comedy of Errors inspired sequence in the spooky hotel about halfway through seems a little out of sync with the rest of the movie.Originally filmed in "Trucolor", seemingly only the black and white prints remain on this one. Unfortunately as with a lot of the later Roy Rogers movies, this one was later chopped to bits to reduce the runtime from 67 minutes down to 54 to fit for television. Good news here is that unlike a few of Roy's other movies where the chopped footage appears lost forever, Grand Canyon Trail can still be found intact in the full length version. For Roy Rogers Fans it's worth the effort to find to 67 minute unedited format.Pretty decent Roy Rogers flick. 6 of 10*

classicsoncall I'd have to say that this was a little embarrassing for the 'King of the Cowboys'; made in 1948, the picture came out a decade after Roy Rogers' earliest pictures in which he had a starring role. Roy's character comes off as a bit clueless in this one, along with his female co-star Jane Frazee, who alternates her allegiance between Roy and Robert Livingston, portraying chief bad guy Bill Regan. The whole story seems kind of muddled, with missed opportunities for what could have been an entertaining hour or so. Like the legend of the 'Hangman's Hotel' for example, which says the hanged man comes to life at midnight. With Andy Devine in the cast as Cookie Bullfincher, you would think the story would get a little mileage out of that set up. Instead, you have some convoluted proceedings that would have been better served if this had been a Bowery Boys flick. It was a sad attempt at a haunted hotel gimmick that relied on poor old Genevieve, who truth be told, wound up getting more screen time than Trigger, who's contract as 'Smartest Horse in the Movies' didn't have anything to say about getting upstaged by a mule. And then you have Foy Willing and his Riders of the Purple Sage replacing Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers for your musical interlude. I don't know about you, but it was already half way into the picture and I was still looking for Pat Brady - oh well! Yet there was still an interesting element to be found here if you were looking hard enough, and that turned out to be Roy's athletic dismount of Trigger while still on the run from the bad guys. OK, it was probably a stunt double, but I haven't seen that one before in a couple hundred Westerns.Jane Frazee does the honors as the female lead in this picture, as she would in four other films opposite Roy in the 1947/1948 time frame. In "Under California Stars", she appeared as Andy Devine's cousin, appropriately named Caroline Bullfincher. You're never quite convinced what side she'll come in on in this story though, since she starts out pretending to be someone she's not, and winds up on the good guy side almost by accident.Fans of the old Laurel and Hardy films might be as surprised as I was to see James Finlayson here as the Sheriff of Sintown. I would have liked a little more comedy relief written into his role, but he played it pretty straight after all. I had to wonder, when it was all over, why he and old Vanderpool (Charle Coleman) wound up in the mine shaft with Cookie when there was no reason for that to be. Just a way to close it out I guess, with about as much thought as went into the rest of the picture. I hate to be that harsh, but if you've seen enough Roy Rogers flicks, you've got to know that this was not one of his finer efforts.Say, Sintown - I wonder if that's the same place that grew up to be Sin City?

bsmith5552 "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.