During the 1950s, many of the great B-western stars had their films trimmed for television...and there was a career renaissance for the likes of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy. Fortunately in the case of the Cassidy films, the original prints were saved...and the Cassidy estate recently restored them and uploaded them to YouTube...which is where I found "False Paradise".
"False Paradise" is the penultimate Hopalong Cassidy film. At this point in time, William Boyd was in his early to mid-50s....and in general he is a bit less tough and action-oriented in the films. He also often did not appear in black like he used to but more middle-aged man tan getup. I really don't mind this, as the writing was still awfully good for a series that consisted of more than 60 films! In this installment, as usual, Hoppy has two sidekicks. Rand Brooks appears as Lucky and, was always the case in the final half of the series, Andy Clyde is on hand as California.
When the film begins, the trio have a weird meeting with the Professor and his daughter. It seems that someone sold the man on some 'wonderful property'...which turns out to be land everyone knew was barren and worthless. Well, at least that is why the Professor was able to get the land...because the man selling it thought it was junk and lied about how great it was. But it turns out the land IS valuable and there's silver. This is great, right?! Well...perhaps not. Because as the Professor sets up a mine and Hoppy and the gang run it, unseen forces are trying to destroy the mine so that they can foreclose on the property and steal the mine. Hoppy needs to figure out who's behind all this and make sure that the Professor gets what's his.
The story is good...very good. So, despite Hoppy getting a bit older and there being a bit less action, the film STILL is very good and worth your time. A worthy addition to the series.
