Copyright 22 April 1938 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Central, as the top half of a double bill with State Police: 15 April 1938. U.S. release: 22 April 1938. Australian release: 5 January 1939. 6,116 feet. 68 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Sheriff Hawley attempts to restrain Belle Starr from returning to her ranch after serving five years in prison for an unjust conviction of being implicated in the cattle rustling activities of her ruthless husband. Hopalong Cassidy gallantly comes to her rescue, and by lending his horse, allows her to escape. "Twister" schemes to deliver Bar 20 cattle to Trimmer Winkler, crafty cattle speculator, but is thwarted by Artie. Available on an excellent Image (and also a Platinum Disc) DVD.COMMENT: I don't share the general enthusiasm for this one. True, on a credit side is Harlan's enthrallingly picturesque location photography. But debit weak action, an uninteresting plot with appalling dialogue, and some truly abysmal acting. Even the villains are unattractive.OTHER VIEWS: This is just about the best Hopalong Cassidy film - and Cassidy is tops in his field today - that we have encountered in long months of double-billing at the Central. - Thomas Pryor in The New York Times. P.S. Despite Pryor's endorsement, Heart of Arizona was the final William Boyd movie noticed by The New York Times.

I can't recall another Hopalong Cassidy film where William Boyd got involved with a character from the real west. Possibly fans more versed in Hopalong Cassidy films can correct me, but in this film Hoppy gets to meet up with none other than the legendary female outlaw Belle Starr.Belle's a good stand by your man kind of woman. When her husband was caught at rustling and as Hoppy explains it we're not clear if she knew anything about it. Still when the posse came she shot it out with them and did a stretch in the joint. Now she's back and as luck would have it her spread is next to the Bar 20. She's got a daughter Jacqueline Starr and the Starrs Belle and Jacqueline are played by Natalie Moorhead and Dorothy Short. Unbeknownst to Belle her foreman, Alden Chase, is still using the Starr ranch as a cover for rustling. It's up to Hoppy and his two trusty companions Russell Hayden and Gabby Hayes to set things right.The real Belle Starr was born in Missouri and did her outlaw thing in Oklahoma then called Indian Territory. In fact Belle's husband Sam Starr was an Indian. Unlike sweet innocent Jacqueline, Belle's real daughter Pearl Starr became a known prostitute and operator of several bordellos in the Old west.There was a famous film with her as the central title character that starred Gene Tierney. But it wasn't any closer to the truth than this film.Still it's not a bad film for the Hopalong Cassidy series.

First, a trivia question for those of you who have seen this film already: what was the name of the horse Hoppy rides throughout most of this movie? This is a fairly good Hopalong Cassidy movie with too little of Hoppy. He's known for being off-screen more & sharing more of the footage with his side-kicks & other characters than his main rivals, Gene Autry & Roy Rogers. And indeed, one of the reasons the Hoppy movies were better than the others is that he was not center screen at all times. But in this movie, he "underdoes" it, & there's just too little seen of him during the film. The main character of this film almost seems to be Lucky, & he may well have more on-screen minutes than Hoppy. We do learn some interesting things, though, about the main film characters. If we're to believe George "Gabby" Hayes (in his character of Windy), he says to Hoppy "I learned you how to ride" (& Hoppy accepts the statement as if it were true). We learn that a "California collar" is slang for a "noose" (so why was Andy Clyde known as "California" in the later Hoppy movies?). We learn how Windy lost his teeth ("A Cheyenne chief knocked all my teeth out in a hand to hand duel...That happened at the Battle of Bull's Tail" (ha! Get it?). We learn that Lucky has been at the Bar 20 Ranch less than 5 years at the time of this story. This film is more violent than later Hoppy movies (Windy is seemingly shot, Lucky is grazed in the head with a bullet, Hoppy is wounded in the arm, & the character of Belle Starr is shot twice). After a few moments, I noticed how beautiful the rock scenery was (but the story is set in Arizona, near Nogales, Mexico); little did I know how significant the rocks would be to the story. Hoppy is dressed all in black (a good sign, see my other Hoppy reviews), but he lends Topper to someone else, & rides a plain brown horse for most of the movie. How odd! And (answer to trivia question) the name of this horse was Yuma. Strange that Hoppy should mention that horse's name but never mentions that his own horse is named Topper. Uncharacteristically, Hoppy really loses his temper in one scene where he slaps a baddie silly, & says "Say something, or I'll smash your brains in!" My, what violence! Mistake: Gabby Hayes trips over William Boyd's foot while trying to mount his horse. Since there was no comment on this, & no laugh, I'd have to assume that it was accidental. Second problem: Natalie Moorhead (a decent actress) plays Belle Starr as if she were on the Broadway stage. Her mannerisms & speech are too refined for a wild west rustler who just spent time in jail. Unlike most movies, everyone in the listed cast had a part big enough to be readily identifiable when the end credits came on. Despite all the shooting, Hoppy himself was involved in only one of the gunfights. I rate it 6/10.