Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.

JohnHowardReid Not copyrighted. A Lone Star Western, released through Monogram in the U.S.A.: 20 July 1935. No New York opening. U.K. release through Exclusive: November 1936 (sic). 52 minutes. Alternative title: PARADISE RANCH.SYNOPSIS: On the trail of counterfeiters, a government agent joins a medicine show.NOTES: This was Wayne's last official Lone Star. In his next film "Westward Ho" - made for Republic - he continued to play the character "John Wyatt".COMMENT: The last and least interesting of Wayne's Lone Star westerns. True, it has a bit of action but all of it is thoroughly undermined by unimaginative staging and poor direction. A dive by horse and rider over a cliff should have been a highlight, but it is shot from such a pedestrian angle that all the impact of the stunt is lost. There are no running inserts at all, with every chase filmed from uninteresting fixed-angle positions. Even the background scenery is drab and there is no music whatever to generate excitement. The opening chase after the medicine show wagon is ho-hum bland the first time around. But then it is repeated with but a slight variation. The constant cutting between weak sound effects of horses' hooves pounding along and the fuzzy motor roaring is nothing short of irritating. And yet it's given a second run! Incredible!Yakima Canutt has a major role. He's the chief heavy in fact. But good to see him though it is, he doesn't do any stuntwork to speak of. In fact his fist fights with Wayne are among the weakest and phoniest we've ever seen.The real star of the film is not Wayne at all. Here he takes a back seat to the voluble, endlessly verbose, uninterruptedly garrulous Earle Hodgins. No wonder Wayne seems somewhat reticent and even lackluster. Miss Burns is a moderately attractive heroine, but the rest of the players are a write-off, particularly Gino Corrado, a most unconvincing Italian-accented Mexican rurale captain, who sports the most ridiculous prop hat imaginable.I was wrong when I said no music. There are in fact two songs, sung by the Texas Two. It says much for the excitements of the rest of the movie when I say with confidence that these two songs are the most entertaining parts of the whole film. In fact, if Paradise Canyon is fair sample of Mr Pierson's work, he is most definitely a director to avoid at all costs.

utgard14 John Wayne's final Lone Star cheapie has him playing a government agent with a huge hat trying to bust up a counterfeiting ring. He does so by joining the traveling medicine show of Dr. Carter (Earle Hodges) and his pretty daughter Linda (Marion Burns). They always had a pretty daughter in these things. Anyway, the bad guy's named Curly Joe. He's played by stuntman extraordinaire Yakima Canutt. At least you know the stunts are good. Hodges is fun as the medicine show huckster. There's also quite a bit of comedy and some songs including one about suspenders that needs to be heard.Is it just me or are those the loudest horse clops you ever heard? Also, I'm not sure what era this was supposed to take place in. Lone Star wasn't known for caring about historical accuracy in these cheap B westerns. There were usually shots of telephone poles and the like in the background. Here there are 1930s-era cars and clothes but everything else says Old West. This western, like the other B's made in the '30s, will seem pretty much like kids stuff today. But there is some fun to be had with it. Fans of the Duke might want to check it out. Avoid the version with the bizarre modern electronic score added.

Mickey Micklon A government agent (John Wayne) goes undercover as part of a traveling medicine show to stop a counterfeiting operation. For awhile, he believes the head of the show, "Doc Carter" (Earl Hodgins), is the head of the operation. His belief is backed up with the fact that "Carter" spent the last decade in jail.Now, he has to go after the real criminals into Mexico and bring them to justice.I have seen some John Wayne movies via Hulu in the last couple of weeks, and this is easily one of the better ones the site currently has.The acting in this movie is very decent, and pretty believable all around. Not one performance was weak in fact. You had good chemistry between the main players, and none of them looked as if they were just there to get paid.Wayne stands out as the leading man in this film. His presence is one of the strongest in the film. This was his last movie for Monogram Pictures, and it's a very good send-off for "The Duke." As for other performers, they all did pretty good performances for the amount of screen time they had.Some of the supporting cast were poorly written in this movie. There are two members of the traveling medicine show who basically were there to perform a couple of songs, and deliver a few lines. They were there mostly for show, and not much else.There is quite a few action scenes in this movie, but nothing too spectacular. You get one horse chase, and some gunfighting, but nothing memorable.One thing that limits this movie is the length of it. This makes some subplots rushed. There is a taste of a romance between Wayne and Marion Burns, who plays "Carter's" daughter and performer in the medicine show. It didn't have time to blossom because the main plot had to be advanced.When the story moves over the border into Mexico, I felt the characters introduced at that point were not used well. They added little, if anything, to the plot.One big problem was the audio. Due to the movie being 75 years old, the audio just didn't hold up. The audio makes it hard to understand what is being said at times. At some points, the people were pretty muffled for a few seconds. You could understand what was being said, but you had to strain to hear what they were saying.I would say that this could be something to watch if you can catch it online on sites like Hulu, or on television. Only rent the movie if you are a die-hard John Wayne fan.

bkoganbing In Paradise Canyon, John Wayne is a federal man looking for some counterfeiters. Suspicion is falling on Earl Hodgins, the feds are circling in on him. Looks like the work he was sent to prison for a 10 year stretch for.Hodgins back in the day operated his racket from a carnival medicine show and the medicine show has been started up again. Wayne helps Hodgins skedaddle out of town and in gratitude Hodgins lets Wayne join the show as a trick shot artist.Of course Hodgins's daughter Marion Burns is also quite the distraction for Wayne. With some detective work and a little help from the Mexican Rurales, the Duke uncovers the real counterfeit mastermind. Paradise Canyon has a weak story line and the VHS copy I viewed wasn't particularly good. However this particular film was stolen by Earl Hodgins as the garrulous carnival man. Hodgins is quite good in a part usually reserved for Gabby Hayes in these Lone Star Productions.