Twilight on the Trail
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Howard Bretherton
William Boyd
Andy Clyde
Brad King
Wanda Mckay
Jack Rockwell
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Rangers Hopalong Cassidy, Johnny Nelson and California arrive at Jim Brent's ranch posing as fussy East Coast detectives. Although Jim's daughter Lucy doubts that they will be of any use, Jim is an old friend of Hoppy and is counting on him to find out who has been rustling everyone's cattle and driving them out of business. Hoppy and his pals pretend to be new to the Western way of life so that the rustlers will not take extra precautions. Unknown to Jim, his foreman, Nat Kervy, is the head of the rustlers. When Jim tells Hoppy that the cattle tracks always seem to disappear near the creek by Steve Farley's cabin, they talk with the elderly prospector, who claims that he has neither seen nor heard any cattle. One day, Johnny is wounded while defending the herd against a raid, and the rustlers fail to get any cattle. Kervy reprimands his cohort, Tim Gregg, for letting the detectives get the best of him, but Gregg insists that the "greenhorns" are expert riders and gunfighters. Suspicious, Kervy inspects their luggage and discovers that they are Rangers. In order to get rid of them, Kervy pretends that he has located the rustlers' hideout, and leads Hoppy, Johnny and California into an ambush. However, the three defend themselves so well that the attackers retreat, and after returning to Jim's ranch, they give up their impersonation and go back to wearing their regular clothes. Still suspicious of Farley, Hoppy and California watch his house and see three horsemen ride into the barn and cover their tracks. When Hoppy and California follow them inside the barn, they find the barn empty, then discover a secret door leading into a mine shaft, where the cattle are hidden. Hoppy and California are captured and taken hostage, and when Johnny sees their horses being led into the barn, he rides for help. Upon Johnny's return with Jim, Kervy and some ranch hands, Kervy alerts his cohorts, who set up an ambush while Jim and Johnny investigate the barn. Hoppy and California free themselves as a gunfight erupts between the ranchers and the rustlers. Hoppy and Kervy face off in a dark mine shaft, where Hoppy finally beats Kervy, and presents him to Jim as the leader of the rustlers. The rustlers are then apprehended and the stolen cattle are reclaimed.
Director
Howard Bretherton
Cast
William Boyd
Andy Clyde
Brad King
Wanda Mckay
Jack Rockwell
Norman Willis
Robert Kent
Tom London
Frank Austin
Jimmy Wakely Trio
Crew
Louis Alter
Chas. Althouse
Ralph Berger
Johnny Bond
J. Benton Cheney
Glenn Cook
Ellen Corby
Fred Feitshans Jr.
Russell Harlan
Cecile Kramer
Emile Kuri
John Leipold
Sidney D. Mitchell
Earl Moser
Lewis J. Rachmil
Ralph Rainger
Leo Robin
Sherman A. Rose
Harry Sherman
Irvin Talbot
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Modern sources include the following actors in the cast: Bob Kortman, Clem Fuller, Johnny Powers, Frank Ellis and Bud Osborne and state that the film was shot at Kernville, CA. For further information on the "Hopalong Cassidy" series, consult the Series Index, and see the entry for Hop-Along Cassidy in the AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.1990.
