That was an excellent one.

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

THE DESERT TRAIL is a somewhat unremarkable early outing for John Wayne in which the actor's larger-than-life presence, although not quite as out-there and assured as later on in his career, is the best thing about the movie. He plays a rodeo star who finds himself accused of a crime he didn't commit, forcing him to leave town with his buddy. Much of this is a bickering comedy which is workable enough, but there's not much in the way of action to get excited about and the whole thing is more than a little dated. The driving orchestral score seems to have been added on at a later date as it sounds very modern.

Well, this is the first I've seen one of John Wayne's B-westerns, pre-Stagecoach, and I watched for one reason only: It's the only one that features a grown-up Mary Kornman, formerly of the silent "Our Gang" series. Her charms are still ample here as when she was a pre-teen but her part mainly calls for her to react to the "arguments" between Wayne and his conman cohort, Eddy Chandler. There's a funny scene in the beginning where Wayne manages to woo Carmen Laroux while Chandler has to sit silently because earlier the latter promised to act "dumb" so he wouldn't get mixed up with another woman but the way Wayne stomps on Chandler's foot every time the latter tries to punch him never became funny with me. A later scene with the Duke asking for some tonic on the top shelf is funny though since Kornman seems partly aware of John wanting to check her out! The story itself fits the 52-minute running time so there's no stretching at the seems. All in all, The Desert Trail was a somewhat enjoyable time-waster. P.S. There's a mix of both actual score music by Lee Zahler from the original print and latter-day additional scoring from William Barber that are obvious depending on how the music sounds though Barber's score isn't too distracting. And Ms. Kornman eventually became an expert horsewoman herself before she died on June 1, 1973.

One of the more 'literate' Lone Stars, with time spent on character development and interaction, dialog and acting business. The opening scene sets the stage (literally) for the personalities of the gambler, Kansas Charlie (Eddy Chandler), and his buddy, John Scott (John Wayne) the rodeo (say Roh-Day-oh) star, both of whom are slightly randy. The film follows their adventures, as they try to best each other in the pursuit of the Mexican Juanita, and later in their pursuit of perky Mary Kornman, who has the inevitable evil brother (though he'd been led astray by the real villain, and wants to repent). And oh, of course, they're being wrongly accused of two crimes and have to serve jail time before escaping and being exonerated at the end.The high point is Scott continually and deliberately ogling Mary's butt in her grocery store, and knocking away the ladder she's standing on so he can catch her and grab her as she falls. It all seems a little contemporary for a 30s western, but it sounds better than it actually is. Sadly, the exciting action elements we find in many other Lone Stars are sorely missing here. No Yakima Canutt. Cheap and bad uses of stock footage of riders falling off horses. No George Hayes. Tedious Stooge-like bi-play between Scott and Charlie, with Charlie swinging at Scott, Scott stomping on his foot and then punching him (repeated two more times!). The skilled Paul Fix is underused. Eddy Chandler himself, here in his big star turn, is not really believable as a randy side kick. The villain looks too old and fat. So does Chandler, who spent his later career in 300 more movies as an uncredited meatloaf. Mary Kornman, of the twenties "Our Gang" (see 'Mary, Queen of Tots' 1925) is cute in her scenes with John Wayne, but that's about it for this one. Seeds of a better western lie buried here.P.S. The ultra-short colorized version, which looks good, moves along so fast, it's over if you blink more than once. Thankfully though, the embarrassing scenes with Eddy Chandler have been cut.

The opening scene in the stagecoach is hilarious. Wayne shows a real comedic talent here and throughout this tongue-in-cheek 60 minutes that he seldom showed as a super-star. The dialogue surrounding Wayne's and Kansas's competition over the girls is delightfully funny. So is the scene with Anne having to stretch out for Wayne's ogling benefit. Credit should go to writer Lindsley Parsons and director Lewis Collins who keeps Wayne loose and in the mood. And where did the guy playing Kansa come from. He looks more like a banker than a side-kick. But he sure knows his way around a laugh line. Pairing him with Wayne is almost inspired.I guess an entry like this is largely a matter of taste. It departs from the matinée formula by emphasizing a rather adult level of humor. Probably, most kids didn't much like it. The plot is pretty good, more coherent than most, with the usual hard-riding, big-shooting action. One thing for sure-- Lone Star didn't pop for locations on this one. I can almost see the LA outskirts in the distance. Anyway, this one gave me a lot more chuckles than I ever expected, and I may be wrong, but I don't think Wayne ever again reached quite this level of relaxed comedic acting.