Fool's Gold (1947)

Director:

George Archainbaud

Writers:

Clarence E. Mulford (characters)
Doris Schroeder (screenplay)

Release Date:

31 January 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

William Boyd as "Hopalong Cassidy" in...

Plot:

The son of an Army friend is about the join an outlaw gang. Hoppy prevents this and brings the gang to justice.

Plot Keywords:

Hopalong Cassidy | Beautiful Woman

Cast

William Boyd	...	Hopalong Cassidy
Andy Clyde	...	California Carlson
Rand Brooks	...	Lucky Jenkins
Robert Emmett Keane	...	Professor Dixon
Jane Randolph	...	Jessie Dixon
Steve Barclay	...	Bruce Landy (as Stephen Barclay)
Harry Cording	...	Henchman Duke
Earle Hodgins	...	Sandler, the Prospector
Robert Bentley	...	Henchman Barton (as Bob Bentley)
William 'Wee Willie' Davis	...	Henchman Blackie
Forbes Murray	...	Colonel Jed Landy
Glen B. Gallagher	...	Lieutenant Anderson
Ben Corbett	...	Sergeant
Fred 'Snowflake' Toones	...	Speed

Also Known As:

Twin Buttes (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Kernville, California, USA

Company:

Hopalong Cassidy Productions Inc.

Movie Connections:

Follows Lost Canyon (1942)

Lacking in Action & No Real Mystery

Hoppy's in black only for the first few minutes of this film, which, as readers of my other Hoppy film's reviews know, is a bad sign. This time, he plays a cattleman. There is very little action in this film. The only gunfight occurs in the last few minutes, & Hoppy isn't even involved in it, so he never actually fires his gun in this film! There isn't even a legitimate horse chase, although Hoppy & Topper do chase a buggy at one point! There's the standard latter day Hoppy-type mystery (in the sense of his being "undercover"), but there's no real mystery here either. Let's see, no mystery, no gunplay from Hoppy, no horse chase. What does that leave? Must be a lot of romance between Lucky & the female lead, right? Nope. She's involved with another character & hardly speaks with Lucky at all. Oh well, maybe it has some good funny parts supplied by California? Nope. One of the least funny of all the later Hoppy movies. I think what really happened here is that the cast & crew decided to take the week off, & just threw this product out there. Earle Hodgins is good in his very minor role (uncharacteristically, for him, playing a straight baddie instead of his usual charlatan snake oil salesman). The highlight of the film is actually watching Hoppy watch Hodgins spit on the ground several times while they're talking. And you know, if that's the highlight, this isn't a very good movie, even for the Hoppy fanatic that I am. I rate it 5/10, & would have rated it a point lower, but it never really got silly or stupid at any point. Miscellaneous comments: I thought I found a blooper when California referred to the baddies as "yellow dogs," a term which I had thought originated during WWII, but according to the "American Dictionary of Slang" (Harper Collins Publishers) this term was in use as early as 1881. In this film, a calendar on the wall shows June 1 as occurring on a Thursday. From 1881 to 1900, the only June firsts to occur on that day were in 1882, 1893, & 1899. Wasting my time trying to instill a little historical accuracy in a B western? Sure, but I take my Hoppy movies very seriously, it's all part of the fun!