The Devil's Playground (1946) User Reviews

One of the best in the series!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 8 February 2018]

The Devil's Playground. United Artists, 15 November 1946, directed by George Archainbaud. CAST: William Boyd, Andy Clyde, Rand Brooks (as Lucky Jenkins), Elaine Riley, Robert Elliott, Joseph J. Greene, Dewey Robinson, Francis McDonald, Ned Young, Earle Hodgins, George Eldredge, Everett Sheilds, John George. 62 minutes. (Available on an excellent Platinum Disc DVD).

COMMENT: The series now resumes under the aegis of William Boyd himself in association with Carl Leserman and Lou Pennish. This is definitely number 55 in the series, not number 57 as some reference sources foolishly claim. And a most promising start to the new regime it certainly is! On the other hand, it also turned out to be the best of the Boyd dozen, although Dangerous Venture certainly comes close.

This one has the advantage of a very clever script which not only utilizes all the atmosphere inherent in the Alabama Hills for a good chase story with some unusual mystery elements, but also introduces some real humor into the events and then cleverly uses these quirks to advance the plot.

This highly accomplished "original screenplay" is credited to a "Ted Wilson" who has never been heard from before or since. Now you can't tell me that a super-shrewd showman who has risked his entire capital buying the Cassidy rights is going to risk his entire future on some unknown writer. It's quite likely that the script is a team effort and that it was a polished up and the whole business of the comic sheriff who turns out to be not such a comedy cut-up after all was added by Ned Young. It's an even better guess that Young either added or expanded Dewey Robinson's role. So in this one it's Greene and Robinson who carry the comedy (and carry it superlatively) while Andy Clyde's fussily unfunny "business" has been cut to the bone. The enigmatic heroine was astutely played by Elaine Riley whom Boyd hired again for Sinister Journey and Strange Gamble (both 1948).

"Oh that Hoppy's sure askin' for trouble!"

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 13 January 2015]

I've had occasion to view a number of Hopalong Cassidy films over the past few weeks and the Alabama Hills of Lone Pine, California happened to be featured prominently in a handful of them. It's a landscape of huge boulder formations with passable trails, and in the restored Hoppy movies I've seen they're magnificent to experience. For this picture, the film makers decided to give them a somewhat mystical connotation, and for a while there during the opening segment it looked like we were going to see a ghost themed Western. I would have liked it if they followed through.

Instead, we eventually learn that a woman on the run (Elaine Riley) is attempting to locate some stolen gold so she could have it returned to a bank in Soledad from which it was taken. She's pursued by a posse of outlaws led by Judge Morton (Robert Elliott) who want the gold for themselves naturally. The Judge claims the woman is his daughter, so Hoppy and his pals have some work to do to sort things out. You know, I've seen it in a few of his films now where Hoppy (William Boyd) almost magically seems to know what's what and eventually brings the viewer around to his solution, but it's only until later events reveal what he's been thinking. In that regard, he strikes me as the Charlie Chan of the Wild West.

Regarding our heroine, there's a bit of a twist written into her role, and not to the satisfaction of Hoppy's buddy. The Miss is a Mrs., so scratch off another doomed romance for Lucky Jenkins (Rand Brooks). Elaine Riley made for a pretty heroine, but to be quite honest, she was a terrible actress and her performance pretty much defined the term wooden. She has a pretty extensive credits list here on the IMDb, with a fair amount of TV episode appearances in the Forties and Fifties, so maybe she just had a bad day.

Energetic and unusual

[coltras35 · 7/10 · 7 March 2022]

Hoppy finds a wounded girl and later finds Judge Morton who claims the girl is his daughter and he is looking for her. But Hoppy soon learns the girl is looking for stolen gold she wants to return and the Judge in not her father but only wants the gold. Hoppy and the girl find the gold but the Judge and his men find Hoppy and the boys and trap them in a cabin.

A rather energetic and unusual mix of mystery and treasure hunt with plenty of chase sequences, night riding and Alabama Hills adding to the atmosphere. But it's the serpentine plot and the interesting characters that make this film, especially the card playing sheriff, who must be the most useless sheriff ever. It's amazing that Hoppy didn't slap him in the face. Just comes to show how he respects a lawman, no matter how thick he is.

Superb Western Parable

[dianerpessler-46164 · 10/10 · 3 August 2015]

French born director George Archainbaud crafted a superb entry in this series and it is distinguished by one of star William Boyd's finest performances. The action sequences are very exciting indeed and the story is certainly well done by screenwriter Ted Wilson. The characters in this particular film are given depth and allowed the time required to develop as the motion picture progresses. There is certainly the influence of the continental film industry on view, not so much that of German Expressionism as the early work of French pioneers. The setting of the Old West is the perfect stage for this parable of good and evil to play out, reflecting the end of the world crisis in 1946. Stunning black and white cinematography captures the symbolism of the characters themselves and serves as a powerful metaphor for the manner in which moral issues were handled during the period.

Don't Call the Sheriff

[dougdoepke · 10 November 2010]

Catch that spooky opening. I've seen a ton of great daytime shots of the rocky Alabama Hills. This is the first night time segment I've seen and it's very effective. The movie itself is solid Hoppy as the Bar-20 boys try to get the stolen gold before the bad guys. Hoppy also has to deal with a portly sheriff more interested in a poker hand than in law-enforcement.

The chuckles are also more spread around than California's (Clyde) usual silliness. It's a little hard at times knowing who is chasing whom since the cast of speaking parts is bigger than usual. And, unless my recollection is slipping, this is a Hoppy without a single fistfight! Also, catch that neat little twist with the winsome leading lady that leaves Lucky dumbfounded.

In passing—Curly is played by Nedrick Young who had an interesting Hollywood career. As a writer, he penned such popular prestige films as The Defiant Ones (1958), Inherit the Wind (1960), and even Elvis's Jailhouse Rock (1957). Many of his credits were under pseudonyms since he was also blacklisted during the McCarthy period. Not the kind of career you'd expect in a Saturday afternoon programmer, to say the least.

Hoppy's Back

[girvsjoint · 9/10 · 17 August 2020]

After a couple of years break the Hopalong Cassidy series resumes with the William Boyd produced films, this is the first of the dozen and a great start, nice moody night scenes set the stage for an interesting plot, and newcomer to the series Rand Brooks is the best 'Lucky' since Russell Hayden left. I'm sure in the immediate post war years, for the kids of America, young and old, it was just wonderful to have Hoppy back!

Lacklustre story and villain

[malcolmgsw · 5/10 · 22 February 2008]

I know that it is difficult for there to be much originality in a Hopalong Cassidy western.However sometimes you feel that the writers have tried a bit to hard.They have come up with certain story lines and mixed them together but they just don't jell.To add to this the actor playing the villain doesn't do a particularly good job.Also there is a particularly inept Sheriff who is a sort of comic Eugene Palette and it just doesn't work.I would also wonder if Hoppy is so clever why does he do the dumbest things.He is being chased on horseback with Lucky,and California and the girl.They decide to hide in a shack,which of course is soon surrounded by the villains,Hoppy has to give up because they have run out of shells!Wouldn't common sense dictate that if you were being chased the last place to go would be a confined space? So i would have to say that this is not of the teams better efforts.

The film has a HUGE problem....no sheriff could be THAT stupid!!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 1 October 2020]

"The Devil's Playground" is a very flawed Hopalong Cassidy film. While I generally love these old B-westerns, in this case bad writing really hurt my ability to enjoy one of the Hoppy pictures.

When the story begins, Hoppy and his pals discover a woman who's been shot. They nurse her back to health and soon Judge Morton and his men arrive...saying the girl is the Judge's mentally ill daughter. But their story makes no sense and Hoppy is reticent to let them see the girl, though it hardly matters since she's apparently vanished from their cabin.

According to the young lady, she was shot by the Judge's men because she knows where some stolen gold is buried...and they want the gold. This makes sense for many reasons and it's pretty obvious the Judge is a scum-bag. So, after she disappears, Hoppy heads to town to talk to the Sheriff about this. Here is where the film starts to stumble...the Sheriff is the most unconcerned and incompetent character I can recall seeing in a film. Instead of investigating the Judge, he keeps wanting to lock up Hoppy and his men....and this pattern happened several times throughout the story. The worst time was AFTER the Judge pulled a gun on the Sheriff and threatened to kill him. After the Judge and his gang run away, the Sheriff doesn't want to chase after the Judge but tries to lock Hoppy and his partners up!!! Does this make any sense?! There's incompetence and there's the Sheriff has an empty skull and he's dumber than a tomato....which is this film.

Overall, not a bad idea for a film...in fact it's a good one. But the Sheriff character makes zero sense and only would have made sense if the Sheriff had been in league with the Judge. He wasn't...he was just tomato stupid. And, perhaps, the same can be said for the writer....expecting the audience to believe this! A decent story idea...ruined by a dopey character.

A treasure hunt

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 27 November 2016]

Driving cattle through the region, Bill Boyd, Rand Brooks, and Andy Clyde pass a group of rocks called The Devil's Playground, good for absolutely nothing unless you're hiding stolen gold there. That's what Ned Young did and a lot of people are looking for it.

Including Elaine Riley who lies to Hoppy and the guys about her motives. But her lies a little fibs next to Robert Elliott playing a former judge who does not let people know he's an 'ex' and that he's a crook which is why he's an 'ex'.

This little treasure hunt with a few more participants ends up back at Devil's Canyon where the truth is sorted out and the good guys come out on top. Would it be any other way in a Hopalong Cassidy film?

The law in this case is absolutely useless, I suspect Joe Greene playing the sheriff will not be re-elected. Greene is hilarious as the fiddle-footed sheriff who will not let duty interrupt his poker game. Western perennial Earl Hodgins is his deputy who has some decent set of priorities.

Nice set of performances, the story could have been better told though.