Sagebrush Trail (1933)

Written by CinemaSerf on June 13, 2022

When "Smith" (John Wayne) is wrongly accused of murder, he escapes from jail determined to track down the true perpetrators and to clear is name. Coincidentally he meets "Conlon" (Lane Chandler) who takes him to his gang's secret hideout where he soon becomes an integral part of their antics. On a visit to the local store, he manages to get a message about an impeding robbery to "Miss Sally" (Nancy Shubert) and when the sheriff is waiting for them, "Smith" becomes suspected by the gang of betraying them. Now he has the law and the gang to consider as he tries to identify the killer. Sadly, the version I saw was colourised - a practice that ought to be banned by the Geneva Convention - and it robbed the production of much of it's soul; but the dialogue is quite pacy, Yakima Canutt excels in the fisticuffs department and the story is actually quite solid.