Trail of the Vigilantes (1940) DVD-R

StarringFranchot Tone, Warren William, Broderick Crawford, Andy Devine, Mischa Auer,
Porter Hall
Directed by Allan Dwan

Print: black/white
Runtime: 75 min.
Genre: western
Print Quality: B

Trail of the Vigilantes was conceived as a straight action picture, but was reshaped during
filming into a comedy western in the Destry Rides Again mode. Franchot Tone is the unlikely
hero, an undercover agent sent west to halt the activities of rustler Warren William. The
object of ridicule thanks to his dudelike ways, Tone makes a couple of powerful friends in
the form of saloon brawlers Broderick Crawford and Andy Devine. The film proceeds in a
comic vein for several reels (including setpieces featuring Mischa Auer, who'd also been in
Destry) before getting down to business with a lengthy, straight-faced action finale. Trail of
the Vigilantes didn't do as well as Destry Rides Again, perhaps because there was no
counterpart to Destry's Marlene Dietrich (leading lady Peggy Moran is appealing, but hardly
in Dietrich's league).