Review of The Lonely Trail

It seems that after the Civil War ended, some resentful Yankees took on the land of Dixie with a vengeance, sending in "Carpetbaggers" to try and teach the people of the south a lesson for having separated from the union. In doing so, these people are breaking the law themselves, stealing their land, increasing taxes to unspeakable amounts, and shooting rumored enemies on sight for no reason other than just trying to fight for their rights. John Wayne plays a Northern soldier who tries to expose the injustice, and takes up with an old childhood pal (Ann Rutherford) who at first doesn't think he's on their side. It's ironic to see Rutherford here, as just two years later, she would be the much younger Andy Hardy's girlfriend in a series of MGM comedies where she appeared to be younger than she was rather than someone who could be the same age as John Wayne. This mixes both comedy and drama with political intrigue, and ranks as one of John Wayne's best Republic films before he went on to superstardom with "Stagecoach". The print released through Olive Films is much better than some of the same films which he did at the same time that fell into the public domain, so that makes this one a lot more watchable, even though many of those films are entertaining in their own right.