One of 51 Republic B westerns in the late '30s and early '40s under the banner of The Three Mesquiteers: a combination of mesquite and musketeer. The identity of the actors varied. John Wayne was in only 8 of them, this being the last one before he graduated to A pictures. It's an early example of the directing of B westerns by George Sherman, who would eventually move to Columbia, then to Universal, always directing almost exclusively B westerns. Here, Wayne is Stony, Ray Corrigan is Tucson, and Ray Hutton is Rusty......Just after the Civil War, Major Braddock decided to move from the decimated South to the Wild West. He landed in The New Hope Valley, as he called it, and started a community. Now, they are celebrating their 50th anniversary, which would make it about 1915. But, aside from one bulldozer, it seems it should be more like their 25th anniversary, as there is no other hint of motor vehicles nor electricity use.......As part of their celebration, they have a curious reenactment of the Pony Express riders, featuring the 3Ms as the riders(who were way overweight compared to the real scrawny riders!) The 3Ms hand the mail pouch off to each other out in the boonies, where no one could see them, then are chased into town by a trio of 'Indians'. Of course, the real riders went extinct 55 years before, after their 18 month existence.......The screen play, at least, is a bit different from that of the usual B western of this era. The central problem is that the government wants to build a dam to provide more water and electricity for the neighboring growing city of Metropole, and the dam will flood the area of New Hope Valley, meaning that everyone will be dispossessed, with no evident suitable nearby area to resettle. Naturally, the residents are hopping mad that the government could do this to them. They try, to no avail, to get the court to declare the project too costly in disrupted lives. Therefore, some harass the surveyors and other workmen. At one point, there's a serious confrontation, when the supply wagons try to roll in. The workmen roll a flaming oil tanker wagon down to crash into the barricade erected by the settlers. Later, when the dam floodgates are being opened to flood the valley, the settlers again attack the dam crew, and close the floodgates, after learning that their promised new homes are still located in a waterless rocky desert, with the promised water pipe not even started. Then, the film comes to an abrupt ending, Supposedly, a tunnel has been dug, in record time, through the intervening mountain, to allow the pipeline to reach the New New Hope Valley....... Not too bad of a story. See it at YouTube......Forgot to mention that this was the first film role of Jennifer Jones. She played Celia: daughter of Major Braddock, who founded the New Hope settlement. Not much of a role compared to her next film.

Three Mesquiteers film starring John Wayne, Ray 'Crash' Corrigan, and Raymond Hatton. This time around the trio are helping ranchers fight crooked land grabbers. This was Wayne's final entry in this series of B westerns before moving on to bigger and better things. It's also the film debut of Jennifer Jones, billed under her pre-Selznick name of Phylis Isley. She does a fine job. Corrigan and Hatton are fun. Nice support from Eddy Waller. LeRoy Mason plays the heavy for the second consecutive Mesquiteers film. This is a pretty standard B western with a wonky timeline (supposed to be the 1910s but it's more like the 1870s). There's little to recommend about it outside of its appeal to Wayne (and maybe Jennifer Jones) completists.

New Frontier (1939) ** 1/2 (out of 4) The final Three Mesquiteer film for John Wayne has the boys trying to help some settlers who are about to lose their land to some bad men. At the moment I can't recall how many of the Wayne films I've seen from this series but this is just like most of them. The film contains some pretty good action scenes and Wayne is good as usual but the stories aren't really that strong. Jennifer Jones has a small supporting role and does a pretty nice job.As of now the only way to view these films is by AMC, which also includes commercials.

Starring: John Wayne, Ray Corrigan and Raymond Hatton.A great western style movie full of action. This story is about Three Mesquiteers who trade their property to these guys who capture them and they don't have time to warn their friends, The Ranchers. A fantastic movie that the whole family will enjoy!