Northwest Trail (1945)

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Executive producer: Robert L. Lippert. Copyright by 24 December 1945 by Action Pictures, Inc. Released through Screen Guild Productions. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 30 November 1945. Not released in Australia. 66 minutes. COMMENT: Pleasingly photographed almost entirely in attractively real Canadian locations, this "B" western (or "northern") easily ranks as the finest achievement of director Derwin Abrahams. Admittedly, he was handed a first-rate cast and an interesting script filled with both action and offbeat characters, but he has nonetheless handled the assignment with commendable vigor, using running inserts effectively and drawing winning performances from all his players, particularly Joan Woodbury, Madge Bellamy, George Meeker and John Litel. It is Raymond Hatton, however, in a most unusual role, who walks off with the picture's acting honors. See if you can spot him! I'll give you a clue. For once, he doesn't play the comic relief sidekick. That role is enacted quite ably by Poodles Hanneford, who makes quite a nice change from the usual dumb-as-they-come pardner. As for hero, Bob Steele, he gives a maturely relaxed yet two-fisted portrayal that will delight his fans and even mollify his detractors. He and Joan Woodbury seem brightly and evenly matched and both noticeably do all their own stunt-work, including a great deal of extremely fast riding.

. . . have him watch NORTHWEST TRAIL. RCMP "Mountie" zero "Matt O'Brien" demonstrates at least ten law enforcement tactics sure to disturb the peace and get people killed. Some of O'Brien's more salient failings are a total lack of "shooting range" knowledge. He fires his revolver at targets hundreds of yards away (wasting all of his ammunition, of course). Fortunately, most of the crooks make the same mistake here, packing tiny pistols in situations clearly calling for military assault rifles (the earliest of which were available in the mid-1800s, a century BEFORE the time of NORTHWEST TRAIL). Even Mountie officers are so gullible and child-like that they're easy to kill and impersonate, NORTHWEST TRAIL shows. All the thugs have to do is to pick out a likely Mountie victim wearing a uniform close to their size, and instantly a random low-life becomes "Sgt. Means." One cannot watch a Mountie flick without noticing that joining the RCMP is the equivalent of an American signing on with a dating service. Naturally, Mounties appear to be as thick as bricks in figuring out obvious criminal plots, since dames and chicks possess the only facts and figures that can capture their short attention spans.

It's not exactly Nelson Eddy and Jeannette McDonald from an earlier era, but this is Bob Steele and Joan Woodbury offering their take on a Mountie who gets his man - as well as his girl! This is B-movie stuff, although of pretty good quality. It has beautiful scenery and a decent enough mystery, as Steele, playing Trooper O'Brien (a guy who comes across as a dedicated but not perhaps the best Mountie around), has to escort Woodbury (who played Kate) through the British Columbia wilderness to the settlement where her American uncle is engaged in mining. Unfortunately, she gets robbed of $20000 she was carrying to her uncle (unknown to O'Brien) and the Trooper gets to play detective as he seeks to solve the mystery.This really isn't bad. It's unpredictable, and I didn't see the end coming. The B-movie veteran Steele was earnest in the role but perhaps a bit stiff at times; he was outshone by Woodbury, who was pretty good as Kate. In general, the performances were OK, but not the greatest - which is why this is a B-movie, after all. After an unpredictable resolution to the mystery, the actual ending of the movie was a bit too predictable. It would have been more jarring had Kate been part of the plot rather than simply ending up as O'Brien's love interest. Still, it's a short and relatively interesting movie that overcomes the flaws in some of the performances.

Bob Steele who occasionally diverted himself from westerns with some great character roles in A pictures, still stayed in the B slot with this Northern which is what you would call a Canadian based film. Northwest Trail had the benefit of some outdoor location scenery which put it a cut above the usual B films.Bob's a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who gets to do escort duty of a woman who doesn't bother to tell him she's carrying a $20,000.00 payroll for her father John Hamilton. Steele and Joan Woodbury do kind of grate on each other's nerves, but of course there are sparks underneath.If you think you've got the plot figured out than I can tell you you're wrong. There is skullduggery afoot here, but it's not anything you might initially suspect. Plus the fact the gang here commit a truly horrendous crime by RCMP standards. The real suspense in Northwest Trail is just figuring out who the good and bad guys are let alone what's afoot.I would rate Northwest Trail higher, but the writers copped out in the end in dealing with Woodbury's character. She should have gotten the Mary Astor treatment as in The Maltese Falcon.Silent star Madge Bellamy made her farewell appearance in a role as a battered wife. She's the one who eventually cooks the whole gang.Northwest Trail a nice independent production with much better values and story than one might expect.