A United Artists rfelease, 1 July 1948, directed by George Archainbaud.CAST: William Boyd, Andy Clyde, Rand Brooks, Elaine Riley, John Kellogg, Helen Chapman, John Parrish, Cliff Clark, Anne O'Neal, Earle Hodgins, Herbert Rawlinson, Don Haggerty, James Harrison. Running time: 59 minutes. (Available on an excellent Platinum Disc or Echo Bridge DVD). COMMENT: This one not only offers a plot line that's rather dull but cheats outrageously in order to bring about a "surprise" ending. Obviously aimed at a kiddies' audience, it wastes an enormous amount of time in the school room. True, Anne O'Neal does well by the typically spinsterish school marm, but Andy Clyde has obviously been encouraged to way over-act. Fortunately, Helen Chapman makes a dandy saloon girl, but she's not in the movie all that much. Admittedly, John Parrish does his best to fill in for Morris Ankrum as the villain and it's good to see barkeep Byron Foulger stooging for Clyde, as well as Earle Hodgins making the best of his running gag as an always-late sheriff. All told though, it's a disinterestedly directed entry that out-stays its welcome even at 59 minutes.

This is a bit of a change of pace for a Western. A spinsterish schoolmarm (Anne O'Neal) declares a running feud with saloon owner Mawson (John Parrish) about to open a new establishment right across the street from her school. When Miss Abott breaks the windows of The Golden Mill, Mawson naturally assumes it was done by Davis (Cliff Clark) of the rival Big Dome Saloon. Right there a big old question mark arose in the story for me - why wouldn't Miss Abott be opposed to both gin mills instead of just Mawson's? The Big Dome was just down the street from the one about to open.Well I guess one wasn't supposed to wonder about things like that. Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) and his pals Lucky Jenkins (Rand Brooks) and California Carlson (Andy Clyde) arrive in town just in time to help settle things down before they get too riled up. There's a nice scene of Hoppy interacting with the school kids, and the youngsters have a fine time propping up a dunce cap atop California's head when he falls asleep watching the classroom.Meanwhile, Miss Abott is kidnapped by Davis's henchmen with the dual objective of blaming it on Mawson and getting his potential competitor to close down. As Hoppy gets to the bottom of the real high-jacker's identity, Miss Abott thwarts a shootout between Davis and Mawson when she targets one of her trusty apples at Davis's gun - talk about an apple a day!Well it's always interesting to catch an old Western like this where the story doesn't revolve around your standard rustling or mineral rights issue. The inclusion of Miss Abott as a surprisingly refreshing comic figure was an added bonus, and I had to chuckle over the way she characterized the three R's the saloon owners brought to town - 'rye, rabble and roulette'.

This entry in the Hoppy series is pretty much a matter of taste. There's not much hard- riding or fast-shooting; however, the Lone Pine locations do provide some good big rock scenery. Also, the plot's a little different. Saloon owner Mawson is feuding with both rival saloon owner Davis and with schoolmarm Abott who can't teach with a saloon next door. When Abott mysteriously disappears, Hoppy and the boys investigate. The entry may be a little short of action, but the dialog and interplay between characters is better than usual. Anne O'Neal is excellent as the spinsterish schoolmarm with several good throwaway lines— (On their first meeting), Hoppy, "My name is Hopalong Cassidy". Schoolmarm, "That's not my fault. Maybe you should change it !". The ending is also something of a departure and surprise. Then too, I suspect the series was aiming for both a change of pace and a story more directly involving kids (here, it's the amusing school kids). Lucky (Rand Brooks) has his usual mock romance, this time with a dimpled saloon girl (Chapman). Nonetheless, I think the series lost a lot when Russell Hayden withdrew from the cast as Lucky. He was so good at being moonstruck in these romantic situations.Anyway, this rather offbeat 60-minutes in the Hoppy series is short on action but long in other departments, and remains largely a matter of taste.

Completed during the final year (1948) of Hopalong Cassidy feature film-making, this effort unsuccessfully blends humour with a customary action element, relating of quarrels among a crusty schoolteacher and two rival saloon owners, with Hopalong (William Boyd) and his two sidekicks, Lucky Jenkins (Rand Brooks) and California Carlson (Andy Clyde) finding themselves trying to mediate the various conflicts while Hoppy and California fill in for the schoolmarm (Anne O'Neal) who has been kidnapped as punishment for breaking saloon windows with apples. Produced by Boyd for United Artists and filmed in California's picturesque Inyo County, the work fails to maintain a consistent tone and, although the cast provides good performances from veteran supporting players Byron Foulger, Earle Hodgins and Cliff Clark, tepid direction from generally reliable George Archainbaud, along with very sloppy editing, leave their markings; there is, however, a nifty score by Darrell Calker who composed for many "B"s, and always adroitly.