SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Leofwine_draca THE DESERT TRAIL is a somewhat unremarkable early outing for John Wayne in which the actor's larger-than-life presence, although not quite as out-there and assured as later on in his career, is the best thing about the movie. He plays a rodeo star who finds himself accused of a crime he didn't commit, forcing him to leave town with his buddy. Much of this is a bickering comedy which is workable enough, but there's not much in the way of action to get excited about and the whole thing is more than a little dated. The driving orchestral score seems to have been added on at a later date as it sounds very modern.

James Hitchcock "The Desert Trail" is one of many B-movies which John Wayne made in the late twenties and early thirties before he became a major star. Most of these were Westerns, and many of them were made for Lone Star, a production company specialising in that particular genre. In 1935 alone Wayne starred in eight such films; in each of them he played a character with the Christian name John. This was presumably a deliberate move by Lone Star and their successors Republic Pictures to create a distinctive identity for their leading man.The title "The Desert Trail" might suggest either a hunt through the desert for a fugitive or a group of pioneers making their way to a new life in California, but in fact the film deals with neither of those subjects. It was probably just a generic Western title which could be applied to virtually any plot. The film concerns John Scott, a rodeo star, and his gambler friend Kansas Charlie, who are wrongly accused of murdering a man in the course of an armed robbery, and their attempts to expose the real villains.The acting is almost universally poor; Wayne is the only well-known name here, but he shows little of the talent and charisma which were later to make him one of Hollywood's biggest names. The action sequences are unconvincing, including a badly choreographed fist-fight with obviously pulled punches. The story is often difficult to follow. The film-makers even seemed to lack much of a budget for costumes. Although the action presumably takes place in the late nineteenth century, Mary Kornman as Wayne's love-interest Anne appears throughout dressed in the fashions of 1935 rather than 1870 or 1880.By modern standards, at just under an hour, the film is absurdly short, but this was a normal length for B-movies in this period. What struck me most, however, was not the film's length but how cheap it seemed, having evidently been made on a minuscule budget. It reminded my forcibly of just why studios like Monogram (Lone Star's parent company) specialising in B-movies earned the nickname "Poverty Row". It might be more accurately categorised as a C- or D-movie, as everything about it shouts out "not so much second rate as third or fourth rate". If it had starred anyone other than Wayne, that future American cultural icon, it would doubtless have long since been forgotten. 3/10

FightingWesterner Rodeo star John Wayne and his hard-gambling sidekick are forced to take Wayne's winnings from a crooked promoter. After they leave with the cash, two thieves murder the promoter and frame them for the killing. However, the boys are too busy chasing after a young Spanish woman and a pretty shop girl to try and clear their names!Coming near the end of Wayne's contract with Lone Star/Monogram Pictures, this is more spare than some of the earlier films in the series. It's still a lot of fun (and funny) with more comedy in this than usual, resulting in some very amusing scenes like the one where Duke leers at the shop girl's backside!The comedy here is reminiscent somewhat of the slapstick in Wayne's later films.

John W Chance One of the more 'literate' Lone Stars, with time spent on character development and interaction, dialog and acting business. The opening scene sets the stage (literally) for the personalities of the gambler, Kansas Charlie (Eddy Chandler), and his buddy, John Scott (John Wayne) the rodeo (say Roh-Day-oh) star, both of whom are slightly randy. The film follows their adventures, as they try to best each other in the pursuit of the Mexican Juanita, and later in their pursuit of perky Mary Kornman, who has the inevitable evil brother (though he'd been led astray by the real villain, and wants to repent). And oh, of course, they're being wrongly accused of two crimes and have to serve jail time before escaping and being exonerated at the end.The high point is Scott continually and deliberately ogling Mary's butt in her grocery store, and knocking away the ladder she's standing on so he can catch her and grab her as she falls. It all seems a little contemporary for a 30s western, but it sounds better than it actually is. Sadly, the exciting action elements we find in many other Lone Stars are sorely missing here. No Yakima Canutt. Cheap and bad uses of stock footage of riders falling off horses. No George Hayes. Tedious Stooge-like bi-play between Scott and Charlie, with Charlie swinging at Scott, Scott stomping on his foot and then punching him (repeated two more times!). The skilled Paul Fix is underused. Eddy Chandler himself, here in his big star turn, is not really believable as a randy side kick. The villain looks too old and fat. So does Chandler, who spent his later career in 300 more movies as an uncredited meatloaf. Mary Kornman, of the twenties "Our Gang" (see 'Mary, Queen of Tots' 1925) is cute in her scenes with John Wayne, but that's about it for this one. Seeds of a better western lie buried here.P.S. The ultra-short colorized version, which looks good, moves along so fast, it's over if you blink more than once. Thankfully though, the embarrassing scenes with Eddy Chandler have been cut.