Doomed Caravan

Doomed Caravan (1941) starts with a bang. Literally. In fact, it starts with a whole bunch of bangs as the opening credits fade directly into a gun battle. Jane Travers (Minnie Gombell) and her men are defending her freighting company against outlaws who were trying to burn her out.

It's a great start to another fun Hopalong Cassidy film, with the battle staged against the light of a burning building. The director was Leslie Selander, a B-movie vet who oversaw over 100 Westerns during his career and made just about all of them look cool. Like so many B-movie directors, he was a skilled visual storyteller.

The screenplay for this one, by the way, was co-written by Johnston McCulley, creator of Zorro.

Anyway, Hoppy shows up the day after the fight, escorting in a shipment of gold he wants Jane's freighters to transport for him. Being Hoppy, he agrees to stick around and help her against the mysterious enemy who is trying to destroy her company.

But when a dozen soldiers show up to escort the next wagon train Jane is organizing, Hoppy seems to chicken out, taking his crew with him as he rides away.

This is because Hoppy had picked up on several clues that told him the soldiers are impostors. Actually, some of the outlaws had ambushed the real soldiers and taken their uniforms. The idea is to wait until the freight wagons are out in the middle of nowhere, then take over.

Hoppy puts a stop to that, but when the freight wagons get to Mexico, the bad guys come up with a clever plan to get the drop on Hoppy, Jane and their crew of drivers. Soon, Hoppy finds himself on the run, without allies. Well, almost without allies. A spunky young lady and a goofy sidekick are also loose and willing to help.

William Boyd made 66 films as Hopalong Cassidy and I don't think there's a single one of them that isn't fun. This one has a strong plot, several excellent action set pieces and a great supporting cast. One member of that cast is Georgia Ellis (billed as Georgia Hawkins), who plays the spunky young lady who helps Hoppy in the Mexican village. Georgia would, of course, be playing Kitty on the radio version of Gunsmoke about a decade later.

This one is on YouTube, so you can watch it at your leisure: