a5c7b9f00b Steve Gordon is falsely accused of robbing an army payroll and has been found guilty in a court-martial. Knowing his only chance to clear his name is to find the real robbers, he escapes from the guardhouse, with the help of his orderly, Smiley Burnette. He finds that the man he thinks can clear his name has been murdered, and the daughter, Mary Ann Jarvis, now runs his ranch, which is being sought by a gang for unknown reasons. He uses his alter-ego, a masked rider known as The Durango Kid, to find the culprits who stole the payroll and also are after the Jarvis ranch. Mary Ann Jarvis' father and uncle and an army paymaster are murdered by mysterious conspirators in order to gain control of her ranch but good guy Steve Gordon is falsely accused of the crimes. Charles Starrett has been accused of stealing an army payroll, and the man he hoped to help clear him has died, so he has to also help pretty Adele Roberts hold onto the ranch in this middling Durango Kid B Western.<br/><br/>By the standards of most B-Westerns, the Durango Kid movies of this period were fully written affairs with some interesting plot twists. This one seems a bit lighter than most, with the musical interludes by Walt Shrum and his band and Smiley Burnette filling in a lot of time.<br/><br/>For me, the highlight is the camera-work of William O'Connell. In the 1920s, he was the director of photography on top projects for Mary Pickford and F.W. Murnau, but during the sound era he retreated to B features and shorts. Even so, the compositions in this one are very pleasing; he moves the camera smoothly and his outdoor shots shimmer beguilingly.
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