Western Wednesdays: Three on the Trail (1936)

     Three on the Trail was released on April 24th, 1936. It is the 5th film in Harry Sherman's Hopalong Cassidy series and is directed by Howard Bretherton and written by Doris Schroeder and Vernon Smith. In this installment Hoppy and Johnny Nelson (played by William Boyd and James Ellison respectively) come to the aid of the new schoolmarm Mary Stevens (Muriel Evans), rescuing her from the clutches of saloon owner Pecos Kane (Onslow Stevens) who tries to coerce her into working for him. It turns out that Kane is up to all sorts of mischief, from robbing the local stage to rustling cattle, and it's up to Cassidy, Nelson, Windy and the rest of the Bar-20 gang to bring him to justice. 

     Johnny, of course, falls for Mary and becomes jealous when he sees her dancing with Hoppy. This is a bit tedious but, thankfully, the film doesn't focus on it too much. On a similar note the main problem with the film is that it is generally lacking in focus. Johnny's romance with Mary is not really connected in any way with Kane's schemes except for the fact that they happened to witness his men holding up the stage. As with many villains in the series, Pecos is unable to effectively combat Cassidy. The only reason he is successful at all is because he has paid up the corrupt Sheriff Sam Corwin (John St. Polis) and the gullible rancher J. P. Ridley (Claude King) who, for some unexplained reason, has the authority to issue arrest warrants!

     All of the cast acquit themselves well. Onslow Stevens is a thoroughly despicable villain even if his goals are a bit vague. Muriel Evans is a fine ingenue and has decent chemistry with Boyd and Ellison. John St. Polis is a good choice to play the crooked sheriff as is Claude King for the well-intentioned but naive European rancher. Gabby Hayes is featured once again, here for the first time playing the woman-hating Windy Halliday (he played another character named Windy in the Bar 20 Rides Again, the third film in the series). His constant complaining about "dern persnickety woman" would become something of a trademark for the actor after this. William Duncan and Clara Kimball Young do a good job as Buck and Muriel Peters, the the latter has some fun moments with Windy.

     The film moves at a decent clip and features a really top-notch climax, where the Bar 20 gang faces off with Pecos men in an awesome gunfight around his saloon but it's not enough to save the film from its flimsy plot.

 Score: 6/10