A reasonably exciting Randolph Scott western, supposedly taking place in the interior plateau country of British Columbia, where caribou used to graze the abundant grass. Scott and his partners hope to establish a cattle ranch in this virgin grazing region, along with some gold prospecting to help establish their ranch, as they have little money. They are joined by Grizzly(Gabby Hayes): an old prospector, down on his luck, who will soon help them get started in panning for gold, after they lose their herd, as well as gear, to a nocturnal stampede engineered by a gang of larcenous cutthroats, headed by Frank Walsh, headquartered in the little town of Carson Creek, up ahead. A later run-in with the Blackfoot Indians, while prospecting for gold, nearly ends their lives, except for a lucky turn of events. Walsh would later engineer yet another nocturnal cattle stampede, this time via the Blackfoot, who became allies of the Walsh gang. Fortunately, most of their gear was undamaged this time. Scott had thrown in with Grizzly and his kin, who had brought this cattle herd up the Cariboo Trail. Presumably, after rounding up most of their cattle, they continued on to their promised land. The film is actually considerably more exciting than what my summary suggests. ....There are some questionable events in the screenplay. Perhaps most glaring is the manner in which the 3 prospectors escape from the Blackfoot. Supposedly, their pack mule started kicking up a storm, thus freaking out the Indians, who were mostly gathered in a bunch. Scott, and presumably the others, got away by stealing an Indian pony, along with a rifle(Yea, right!). They didn't consider that they might have similar ruins with the Indians when they brought in their cattle. After escaping the Indians, Grizzly made it to Montana and brought back that new cattle heard, with his relatives mighty quickly. Simultaneously, Scott was panning for gold, presumably without proper equipment or survival equipment and supplies! Presumably, he spent the better part of the snowless season collecting his gold, so that he would meet up with Grizzly and kin. The final stampede involved the Blackfoot, Scott and bunch, Walsh and gang, and a citizen group headed by Mike Evans, who had recently defected from the larcenous Walsh. Along with the cattle, in semi- darkness, this made for a very confusing several minutes, as shadowy forms raced back and forth on the screen. Nothing is said about the task of rounding up most of their cattle, which they had failed to do with their first herd. ...This was Gabby Hayes' last role in a feature film, having been a beloved sidekick for many a western hero over the past 15 years....Unlike some reviewers, I didn't notice a problem with the Cinecolor cinematography. The copy I saw said it was an upgraded version. See it at YouTube.

Turner Classics offered up this Randolph Scott Western a few nights ago and it opened with a fairly extensive explanation on how the picture was restored from it's original Cinecolor filming process. I'd never seen that before, as it looked almost like it was part of the picture appearing right after the opening title. I don't know if it had anything to do with the restoration, but a cattle stampede instigated by Walsh's (Victor Jory) henchmen a little into the movie appeared to take place during night and day both! The story takes place in British Columbia, with displaced Montana cattle man Jim Redfern (Scott) heading out along the Cariboo Trail to find a nice place to settle down and take up ranching. His partner Mike Evans (Bill Williams) would rather prospect for gold, and when he loses an arm in the stampede ambush mentioned earlier, he has a falling out with Redfern. I think the picture could have explained Redfern's action in amputating Evans' arm, say along the lines of it being horribly mangled or prone to gangrene, but the story offered no explanation. Failing that, there was an opportunity for Dr. Rhodes (Charles Hughes) to offer a medical opinion along the same lines, but again, nothing to be said about it.I didn't realize this was George 'Gabby' Hayes' last film role, but I did look it up to see how old he was when he made the movie knowing that most of his work took place in the Thirties and Forties. Turns out he was sixty five, but not looking much older than any of his earlier screen appearances. Still feisty as ever and pretty nimble, I had to wonder why his movie career just stopped right there, though he did host a mid-Fifties TV Western show bearing his name. Gabby had a pretty good line in the story when he described how hungry he was - "My stomach's crowdin' my backbone". I'll have to remember that one.If you're watching this film with a critical eye, there's a good chance you'll be disappointed because some of the elements just don't come together too believably. Captured at one point by Blackfeet Indians, Redfern and his crew are saved by Grizzly's mule Hannibal! There's also the improbable rescue by the town folk of Carson Creek at the finale, engineered by Mike Evans when he has the sudden change of heart regarding his former partner. Still, it's not a terrible send off for one of movie Western's iconic character actors, and another nifty notch in Randolph Scott's belt in mid-career.

I won't bother to summarize the plot, as all of the previous reviewers have done so and there's nothing new I can add. As others have noted, this is not one of Scott's best films, or even one of his better ones. Director Edwin L. Marin has done some good westerns in the past--John Wayne's "Tall in the Saddle" comes to mind--but he doesn't seem to have had his heart in this one. Direction is perfunctory, performances are nothing special--although Bill Wiliams as a bitter one-armed cowboy has some good moments--and the action scenes are routine and not particularly well done. The worst thing about the film, however, is the photography. For some reason producer Nat Holt, who had done many of Scott's previous westerns, saw fit to use the cheap, crappy Cinecolor process for this film instead of the much superior Technicolor or Deluxe or even the chintzy Eastman Color, which would still have come out better than Cinecolor. The colors are muddy, everything is way too dark--even the day shots--actors' faces seem to fade into the background, and the major action setpiece takes place at night and the colors are so dark and muddy that, while the battle is certainly noisy, you can barely see anything.All in all this is a decidedly below-average Scott western. The lousy photography definitely detracts from the film, but it didn't really have anything going for it in the first place.

Randolph Scott is leaving the USA for the greener pastures of Canada's British Columbia. He wants to start a cattle ranch there with partner Bill Williams and cook Lee Tung Foo. They stampede their small herd over a toll bridge erected by Victor Jory. Later Jory rustles their cattle and Williams loses his left arm during the fracas.From 1945 until 1962 when he retired, Randolph Scott made a series of good adult themed westerns, some of them considered real classics. Unfortunately the Cariboo Trail will never be listed among his best westerns. It's more like the material that Roy Rogers or Gene Autry might use. The story is downright silly at times. Williams who was along for the ride with Scott, he wanted to go prospect for gold as there was a big strike at the time. He doesn't blame the rustlers, he blames Scott for convincing him to make the trip for the loss of his arm. Also there's a scene in the film when Scott, Lee Tung Foo, and Gabby Hayes are captured by Indians. They escape because Gabby's mule has been taught to kick on command and he kicks away at the Indians allowing our heroes to escape. I'm not sure that would have played in a Rogers film.Furthermore the story actually wants you to believe that tyro prospector Randolph Scott accidentally stumbles on a gold strike after just a few lessons from prospector Gabby Hayes on how to find gold. This was Gabby Hayes's farewell feature film part. It would have been better had he gone out in a good western and in fact he had done a couple of better ones with Randolph Scott before this.I will say this, though no Caribou made any appearance in the film, this is one of the few Canadian locale films from the past that did NOT have any Mounties. But if I were you unless you are a big fan of Randolph Scott or Gabby Hayes, take the next detour off The Cariboo Trail.