I recently saw several John Wayne films shown on the Encore Channel. I was shocked when I heard the soundtracks on these public domain films. Instead of the original music, the films all featured modern electric music--stuff that sounds really out of place with films from the 1930s. In addition, the music and new sound effects are just too loud and out of place during much of the film--making it pretty annoying viewing. My advice is to instead follow the IMDb link and download these films and watch them the way they were meant to be viewed.

This finds Wayne playing nursemaid to a small girl who is heir to a fortune in oil. He's taking care of her until he can locate her missing father, but baddies want to kidnap her and steal her claim. The child is supposed to be half American Indian, but frankly aside from the silly black wig, she looks and sounds just like a typical Hollywood child actor--a.rather poor one at that, as she often flubbed her lines or delivered them very unconvincingly. Perhaps I should cut her some slack, as she was pretty young. But teaming any cowboy with a kid like this is a recipe for disaster or, at best, mediocrity. Even a small appearance by an uncredited Gabby Hayes wasn't enough to overcome this. Now this isn't because it's a bad film--it just isn't all that great either.

"Daddy" Chris Morrell (John Wayne) is the guardian of a young Indian girl who stands to inherit fifty thousand dollars, whether or not her rightful father is ever found. Bad guy Sam Black wants that money, and is hot on the trail of Morrell and the girl. The action takes place in Snake River, used as the locale in a much later (1951) Durango Kid film - "Snake River Desperados".

Safe to say, with John Wayne in these mid 1930 Lone Star films, Yakima Canutt or George (later Gabby) Hayes are usually close by, in this case both are, Yakima as gang leader Sam Black. Sheila Terry portrays the love interest, as the sister of a local bandit who trades shirt and scarf with a battered Wayne early on, putting him on the defensive in a plot line that goes nowhere.

There's a very cool horse dive off of a rock face near the end, that actually looks pretty exciting. But everything else is fairly standard for the day, as John Wayne ends up in a clinch with Terry in the closing scene, with Gabby and Indian girl Nina giggling their approval.

Cowboy John Wayne goes in search of the long-lost father of a half-Indian girl in order to for her to cash in on her late mother's oil rich property, while a nasty gang of cutthroats plan on snatching her for their own enrichment. Complicating things is a gang of armed robbers who attempt to frame Wayne.

Despite a few good stunts and the presence of Yakima Cannut and George "Gabby" Hayes the first two-thirds of this entry in Lone Star/Monogram Pictures' John Wayne films is mediocre and bland. Fortunately, the last third brings it all out of the muck with probably some of the best suspense and action in all of the series!

Overall, it's worth watching.