''Trail Street'' is a 1947 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Ray Enright Ray Enright (March 25, 1896 – April 3, 1965) was an American film director. He directed 73 films between 1927–53, many of them for Warner Bros. He oversaw comedy films like Joe E. Brown vehicles, five of the six informal pairings of Joa ...

and starring

Randolph Scott George Randolph Scott (January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987) was an American film actor whose career spanned the years from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of ...

Robert Ryan Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an American actor and activist. Known for his portrayals of hardened cops and ruthless villains, Ryan performed for over three decades. He was nominated for the Academy Award for ...

Anne Jeffreys Anne Jeffreys (born Annie Jeffreys Carmichael; January 26, 1923 – September 27, 2017) was an American actress and singer. She was noted as the female lead in the 1950s TV series '' Topper''. Career Jeffreys was born Annie Jeffreys Carmichae ...

and

George "Gabby" Hayes George Francis "Gabby" Hayes (7 May 1885 – 9 February 1969) was an American actor. He began as something of a leading man and a character player, but he was best known for his numerous appearances in B-Western film series as the bewhiskered, c ...

. Based on the novel ''Golden Horizons'' by William Corcoran, and a screenplay by Norman Houston and Gene Lewis, the film is about the legendary

Bat Masterson Bartholemew William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a U.S. Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, and journalist known for his exploits in the 19th and early 20th-century American Old West. He was born to ...

who brings law and order to the town of

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, and defends the local farmers against a murderous cattle baron. Filmed on location in

Agoura Agoura Hills () is a city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Its population was 20,330 at the 2010 census, which decreased to 20,299 in 2020. It is in the eastern Conejo Valley between the ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, at the Andy Jauregui Ranch in Newhall, California, and at the Encino Ranch of

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...

. The film made a profit of $365,000.Jewell, Richard, and Vernon Harbin. ''The RKO Story''.

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

: Arlington House, 1982. p. 218.

Plot

The town of Liberal in southwestern Kansas needs the help of a lawman; so does the law-abiding land agent Allen Harper. Eager to help, stable keeper Billy Burns sends for his longtime friend, the legendary Bat Masterson. Allen's sweetheart, Susan Pritchard, is pursued by Logan Maury, a corrupt cattle baron. Hired gun Lance Larkin, who works for Maury, beats up a farmer and has a fist fight with Harper until Bat arrives and throws Larkin in jail. Bat is appointed the town's marshal and appoints Billy as his deputy. Ruby Stone, a saloon singer in love with Maury, tries to keep him away from good girl Susan. When a farmer is murdered, Allen is framed and faces a lynch mob. Ruby ends up betraying Maury who shoots her in the back. Maury's own men are offended by the death of Ruby and block his escape. Bat fires, killing Maury. Allen can now marry Susan, while the town makes Billy the new marshal as Bat rides away to become a journalist back East.

Cast

as Bat Masterson *

as Allen Harper *

as Ruby Stone *

as Billy Jones *

Madge Meredith Madge Meredith (born Marjorie May Massow; July 15, 1921 – September 16, 2017) was an American film actress who appeared in numerous films and television series between 1944 and 1964. However, she may have been best known for her wrongful convi ...

as Susan Pritchett * Steve Brodie as Logan Maury *

Billy House William H. Comstock (May 7, 1889 – September 23, 1961), known by his stage name Billy House, was an American vaudevillian, Broadway performer and feature film actor. After devoting most of his career to live performance, he moved to Hollywood ...

as Carmody *

Virginia Sale Virginia Sale (May 20, 1899 – August 23, 1992) was an American character actress whose career spanned six decades, during most of which she played older women, even when she was in her twenties. Over the 46 years she was active as an actr ...

as Hannah * Harry Woods as Lance Larkin * Phil Warren as Slim * Harry Harvey as Mayor * Jason Robards, Sr. as Jason (as Jason Robards)

Production

The screenplay for ''Trail Street'' was written by Norman Houston and Gene Lewis, based on a novel by William Corcoran that was published as a serial in ''Cosmopolitan'' under the title ''Trail Street''. According to a news item in the ''Hollywood Reporter'', Barbara Hale and Lawrence Tierney were originally cast in the leading roles. According to the August 1946 edition of ''Hollywood Reporter'', five hundred extras were hired for the fight scene between the farmers and the trail riders.

Reception

In his 1947 review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Bosley Crowther wrote that ''Trail Street'' was just another in a long line of Western about frontier marshal Bat Masterson, "no better nor worse than most of the rest". Crowther continued: In his review, Mike Grost wrote that although the film was no masterpiece, ''Trail Street'' contains "fresh visual thinking" and shows "graceful mise-en-scène". Grost continued:

References

External links