Associate producer: Sidney Picker. Copyright 29 October 1945 by Republic Pictures Corporation. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 14 November 1945. Never theatrically released in Australia. 6 reels. 57 minutes.
COMMENT: Begins none too promisingly when it turns out that the Colorado pioneers are a group of young boys, fresh from an 1889 Chicago orphanage/reformatory.
However, whilst this plot strand does move along predictably conventional lines, it's well acted by all concerned, particularly by patronizing villain Roy Barcroft and determined-to-go-it-alone youngster Billy Cummings.
It's also good to find our favorite sheriff Jack Rockwell given a fair bit of business, and amusing to see George Chesebro (in a suit, yet) playing the part of a storekeeper instead of a snarling henchman.
Nonetheless, the film's major boost is not provided by the reformed reformatory boys but by a sub-plot involving a jovial heavy (a nice touch!), enacted by heartily underhanded Frank Jaquet. It's this intriguing foray into ranch rivalry which comes to the thrilling fore in an excitingly staged, edge-of-the-seat buckboard race.
True, the process screen is a bit too prominent at times, but the race itself is lensed for real (maybe it's spliced in from another movie) with lots of really fast-moving tracking shots and a couple of quite spectacular spills.
COMMENT: Begins none too promisingly when it turns out that the Colorado pioneers are a group of young boys, fresh from an 1889 Chicago orphanage/reformatory.
However, whilst this plot strand does move along predictably conventional lines, it's well acted by all concerned, particularly by patronizing villain Roy Barcroft and determined-to-go-it-alone youngster Billy Cummings.
It's also good to find our favorite sheriff Jack Rockwell given a fair bit of business, and amusing to see George Chesebro (in a suit, yet) playing the part of a storekeeper instead of a snarling henchman.
Nonetheless, the film's major boost is not provided by the reformed reformatory boys but by a sub-plot involving a jovial heavy (a nice touch!), enacted by heartily underhanded Frank Jaquet. It's this intriguing foray into ranch rivalry which comes to the thrilling fore in an excitingly staged, edge-of-the-seat buckboard race.
True, the process screen is a bit too prominent at times, but the race itself is lensed for real (maybe it's spliced in from another movie) with lots of really fast-moving tracking shots and a couple of quite spectacular spills.