Posses on horseback chasing after Model T Fords has never been my idea of a Western. Though I tolerated it from Roy Rogers (as a child of the 50s) I can't take it as an adult fan of The Duke. If there are cars in the picture 'it ain't a western'.We do have the obligatory hide out in a cave and John Wayne diving in to river-he must have been a heck of a swimmer because he sure jumped in to lakes and rivers a lot in these B films of the 30s. It actually is not a bad story line as far as these old b&w movies go-but I go back to my previous point-cars and horses don't mix in my mind as to what a western should be. I'm not asking for my money back though-just my least favorite of the 30s western genre that helped launch the Duke's career.

A government agent (John Wayne) goes undercover as part of a traveling medicine show to stop a counterfeiting operation. For awhile, he believes the head of the show, "Doc Carter" (Earl Hodgins), is the head of the operation. His belief is backed up with the fact that "Carter" spent the last decade in jail.Now, he has to go after the real criminals into Mexico and bring them to justice.I have seen some John Wayne movies via Hulu in the last couple of weeks, and this is easily one of the better ones the site currently has.The acting in this movie is very decent, and pretty believable all around. Not one performance was weak in fact. You had good chemistry between the main players, and none of them looked as if they were just there to get paid.Wayne stands out as the leading man in this film. His presence is one of the strongest in the film. This was his last movie for Monogram Pictures, and it's a very good send-off for "The Duke." As for other performers, they all did pretty good performances for the amount of screen time they had.Some of the supporting cast were poorly written in this movie. There are two members of the traveling medicine show who basically were there to perform a couple of songs, and deliver a few lines. They were there mostly for show, and not much else.There is quite a few action scenes in this movie, but nothing too spectacular. You get one horse chase, and some gunfighting, but nothing memorable.One thing that limits this movie is the length of it. This makes some subplots rushed. There is a taste of a romance between Wayne and Marion Burns, who plays "Carter's" daughter and performer in the medicine show. It didn't have time to blossom because the main plot had to be advanced.When the story moves over the border into Mexico, I felt the characters introduced at that point were not used well. They added little, if anything, to the plot.One big problem was the audio. Due to the movie being 75 years old, the audio just didn't hold up. The audio makes it hard to understand what is being said at times. At some points, the people were pretty muffled for a few seconds. You could understand what was being said, but you had to strain to hear what they were saying.I would say that this could be something to watch if you can catch it online on sites like Hulu, or on television. Only rent the movie if you are a die-hard John Wayne fan.

This film is structured like the formulaic Republic westerns to come from 1937 on. Too much talking, not enough action, unfunny comic relief, bad songs, and too many stationary locations. We can bid goodbye to the fast paced action of the earlier 'Lone Star' films.Here, while John Wayne is again a 'Federal' agent sent to track down a gang of, in this case, counterfeiters, the action gets bogged down in too many side characters and slow story. Wayne joins up with 'Doctor Carter's Medicine Show', which was somehow involved in the appearance of fake money. Finally he catches Curly Joe (Yakima Canutt), the head of the evil gang, who had captured and tied up Doctor Carter (Earle Hodgins) and his daughter Linda (Marion Burns). It's always great to hear Yakima Canutt as the villain, though, with that gravelly voice of his! Marion Burns and Reed Howes (here a 'henchman') helped to make 'The Dawn Riders' (1935) a much better film than this, since it was about a love triangle between her, Howes, and John Wayne. Everything in this one just plods along until it's action time going towards the end.One highlight is the extensive screen time given to Earle Hodgins as Doc. In one too long scene he goes on and on as a barker. The director, not R.N. Bradbury, probably said, "Let him go on! He does it so well!" Sure enough, he turned his carnival barker style of acting schtick into most of his over 300 movie and TV appearances! Although I love music, the duo singing here is strictly Republic (that is, highly forgettable). I give the film a 3.

In Paradise Canyon, John Wayne is a federal man looking for some counterfeiters. Suspicion is falling on Earl Hodgins, the feds are circling in on him. Looks like the work he was sent to prison for a 10 year stretch for.Hodgins back in the day operated his racket from a carnival medicine show and the medicine show has been started up again. Wayne helps Hodgins skedaddle out of town and in gratitude Hodgins lets Wayne join the show as a trick shot artist.Of course Hodgins's daughter Marion Burns is also quite the distraction for Wayne. With some detective work and a little help from the Mexican Rurales, the Duke uncovers the real counterfeit mastermind. Paradise Canyon has a weak story line and the VHS copy I viewed wasn't particularly good. However this particular film was stolen by Earl Hodgins as the garrulous carnival man. Hodgins is quite good in a part usually reserved for Gabby Hayes in these Lone Star Productions.