Following completion of the "Trail Blazers" series, Bob Steele and Hoot Gibson were paired in three other Monogram westerns, with the only connection to the "Trail Blazers" series being Steele and Gibson in the cast and production and distribution by Monogram, with various Monogram people serving as production supervisors i.e., William Strobach on this entry and Victor Hammond on the other two. This one finds Jack Slade (Mauritz Hugo) and Mary Conway,alias Blanche (Veda Ann Borg), being recognized as known and wanted crooks by deputy marshal Harry Stevens (Steve Clark) and, when he orders them out of town, Slade kills him. His son, Bob Stevens (Bob Steele) and friend Parkford (Hoot Gibson) become U.S. Marshals and proceed to rid the town of the cut-throat gang that has been terrorizing the citizens. Bob goes undercover as an outlaw and works his way into the gang, while Hoot poses as a Dude who goes about making fiery speeches on behalf of law and order. The Gibson role here is limited in the action scenes to none, as he and his Monogram stunt double, Ben Corbett, were both getting a bit long in the tooth for such, and the nominal second lead was played by a relative newcomer to the screen, Ralph Lewis (II) as a good guy/bad guy outlaw, who is not the same as the older Ralph Lewis (I) who was making films in the 30's. Rule of thumb here for those who don't know what either one looks like is that any Ralph Lewis credit in the 1930's belongs to (I) and any occurring circa 1943-47 belongs to (II). Chezzez la femme! some bad acting–particularly by supporting actors Bob's uncle wants him to become Marshall–wants to see world first but then uncle killed.<br/><br/>familiar–Bob poses as baddie and Hoot is good guy Veda Van Borg–terrible accents Monogram Studios was a low-budget so-called 'Poverty Row' outfit. However, among all these independent companies producing B movies, Monogram was actually one of the better ones and made some decent films. Even their lesser films had a sort of professional look that many other Poverty Row studios would never match. So, it's surprising that "Marked Trails" is such a bad film. Even a lower-status B from Monogram should have been better than this one–with MUCH better acting! Clearly, this was among the poorest westerns produced by Monogram–and much of it might be because Bob Steele and Hoot Gibson were well past their prime and were no longer bankable stars.<br/><br/>The film begins with Bob's uncle encouraging him to become a US Marshall. However, Bob wants to see the world and worry about a life in law enforcement sometime in the future. But, when only moments later the uncle is murdered, Bob accepts the job and takes another Marshall (Hoot) with him to investigate. Like practically EVERY team cowboy western of the era (such as in Three Mesquiteer and Rough Rider films), one of them (Bob) poses as a bad guy and the other as a good one (Hoot).<br/><br/>"Marked Trails" is at times decent but never particularly inspired or interesting. And, at other times it's pretty bad. Part of it is mentioned above–the plot is VERY familiar. Most of it is because aside from Steele and Gibson, the rest of the actors could barely act–delivering their lines almost robot-like at times. Some of these 'actors' were downright embarrassing–it was THAT bad. In fact, I would say that this is probably the worst Monogram and worst Steele or Gibson film I have seen. It's a shame, but it barely limps along and is only for the most die-hard fan of the genre. A crooked couple (who like to tie up loose ends with a knife in the back!) set their sights on a town surrounded by oil-rich farms. Unfortunately for them, the last man they knifed was the uncle of Bob Steele, who infiltrates their gang, with partner Hoot Gibson working from the outside.<br/><br/>It's always fun to see B-western stars team up for double the thrills. However, this time around there just isn't enough action to make it really worthwhile, though one really shouldn't expect much from a 1940's Monogram picture. Top-billed Hoot looks a little long-in-the-tooth here, leaving all the rough-and-tumble stuff (whatever there is) to Steele.<br/><br/>Anyone bothering to tune in pretty much knows what they're getting into and will most likely be modestly entertained.
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295 weeks ago