The Devil's Playground (1946)

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).

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.

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.

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.