Near the Trail's End (1931)

Written by CinemaSerf on June 13, 2022

Somehow, it is hard to take someone called Bob seriously as a gunslinger, but here he's the marshal "Johnny Day" who arrives in town and takes a shine immediately to "Marion Shockley" (Jane Rankin) - much to the chagrin of local kingpin "Morgan" (Hooper Atchley). When "Morgan" tries to force the issue we just know that they'll be a-hootin' and a-shootin' until someone gets his gal. Snag is, this really does flow like glue. It's not even an hour long, but the director (Wallace Fox) seems to think he has all the time of a David Lean film. Si Jenks "Texas" takes on the lively Gabby Hayes style role - which helps a bit, and it hots up a tad at the end, but really the whole thing needed a kick in the pants right from the start.