Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Stephan Hammond It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

JohnHowardReid 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.

Cristi_Ciopron This is northern as delightfulness, a mellowed genre by '45 (but by the year this movie has been made, its genre had another 10 yrs of output ahead of it), with at least 15 yrs of sustained output; the twin of the western had an even more beautiful literary pedigree (which is, Curwood instead of Grey), and 'Northwest Trail' is a celebration of the beauties of the genre: the refreshing poetry, the intense charm of the landscape (I approached this genre on choice, looking for these values), plus a standout cast: Steele as a trooper, Madge Bellamy as a severely beaten wife, Hatton as a bartender, the cast being in itself quite polychrome, and a good score. Here, Steele's ease shows you he was a good actor, no mean accomplishment, he was good when he had a script; his role here came only 5 yrs after 'Billy the Kid in Texas', but much had changed, so that 'Northwest Trail', a title to epitomize a whole genre, has also a dramatic plot, not only an action plot, which in itself was quite a step ahead. The northern movies had bucolic poetry, refreshing landscapes, another take on the American nature. Here, the script has self-referential and parody lines, but it's not a feeling of twilight, but the mellowness of a certain storytelling. Story-wise, a trooper steps into a nest of evildoers, his own life soon jeopardized, and the movie is a mystery tale: the chance for Steele to get a new life on screen as an action actor, doing a very good physical role.I have seen the movie from 10 PM on, with a break after 20'.

zardoz-13 Bob Steele plays a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Trooper in Derwin Abraham's outdoors epic "Northwest Trail" with Joan Woodbury cast as the damsel-in-distress. Actually, according to the goofs section at IMDb, the RCMP never officially had the rank of trooper. Instead, our hero should have been referred to as a constable. Unlike most of Bob Steele's B-movie westerns, "Northwest Trail" was lensed in color. Some familiar faces crop up in this oater, among them John Litel as a grim-faced Mountie and John Hamilton as the heroine's uncle. Charles Middleton who played Ming the Merciless in the "Flash Gordon" serials is on hand as a Frenchman. Poodles Hanneford. Steele and Woodbury have an interesting relationship that goes from adversial to romantic. Anyway, our stalwart hero Trooper Matt O'Brien is told to escort a haughty but hare-brained female, Katherine Owens (Joan Woodbury of "Paper Bullets") through rugged countryside so she can join her father. As it turns out, Ms. Owens has a suitcase packed with $20-thousand dollars. This money is the payroll for her father's . Trooper O'Brien stumbled onto Ms. Owens as he was riding out of the timberlands. She was asleep in her convertible until he arrived and awoke her. She asks for a tow, but the nearest gas station is a day's worth of travel away. O'Brien examines her automobile engine and uses her screw driver to adjust the carburetor of her vehicle because of the high altitude. Suddenly, Owens discovers that her car will crank. They bid each other goodbye and O'Brien is happy to be done with the snooty female. No sooner has O'Brien ridden into the nearest Mountie post than he runs into Ms. Owens again. She is talking to O'Brien's superior, Inspector McGrath (Ian Keith), when O'Brien walks in on them. Owens is heading to Morgan's Post, but she cannot reach it via automobile. During their journey, O'Brien and Owens have to bed down for the night. O'Brien advises that Owens sleep with her feet next to the fire. After the coyotes begin to serenade them, Owens relocated to the side of the fire near O'Brien. The following day a rider steals one of Owens' suitcase, but the doesn't get very far before two other men shoot him and take the suitcase. O'Brien pursues them, but they split up and O'Brien loses them. Meanwhile. Owens' horse goes lame, and she refuses to ride double with the Mountie until they come to a river. Reluctantly, Owens agrees to ride double and they ride into the ranch of Poodles Hanneford (Poodles Hanneford of "The Golden Horde") and his daughter, Jill (Gracie Hanneford), where Poodles is teaching Jill how to ride bareback. Poodles had complained in a letter to Inspector MacGarth about the stream at his place drying up and unseen assailants shooting at him when he tried to investigate. O'Brien leaves the lame horse with Poodles and Poodles loans them a horse. When they ride into Morgan's Post, Katherine relays the bad news to her uncle John (John Hamilton of "The Maltese Falcon") about losing the money. Pierre (Charles Middleton of "Flash Gordon") is just as upset with this revelation because Owens was supposed to buy timberland from him with part of the $20-thousand. The other part of the $2o-thousand was supposed to be used to pay off Owens' men.Whitey Yeager is one of the two men who shot the fellow who stole Owens' suitcase. His wife and he get into an argument. She throws a water pitcher at him and he tries to knife her. The ruckus goes from their bedroom to the barroom. O'Brien hears the fight and intervenes. Sergeant Means (John Litel of "They Died with Their Boots On") takes over the investigation and orders O'Brien back to camp. Means is none too happy with O'Brien's presence. After O'Brien leaves, he returns to see Poodles and they ride out to look into the dry creek. They are shot at and O'Brien captures Whitney after he takes a shot at him. Again, Means isn't happy to find about O'Brien's interference. No sooner has O'Brien ridden off with Poodles than Pierre opens fire on them and O'Brien arrests Pierre.Abrahams and scenarists Harvey Gates with additional dialogue contributions from L.J. Swabacher have fashioned a predictable but interesting modern-day western.

bkoganbing 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.