John Ames has struck it rich in California and is taking a fortune in gold back to his home in Mississippi.
That’s when bandits strike, determined to rob Ames, kill everyone in his party, then burn the wagons to make it look like Indians were responsible.
But one young boy named Bob survives by hiding beneath a blanket in one of the wagons. Rather than killing him, bandit leader Lee Tate (Charles Bickford) decides to raise the lad as his own.
When Bob’s older brother Dick returns from hunting and finds the carnage, Lee knocks him out and leaves him for dead.
He doesn’t die. Instead, he finds refuge with roaming prospector Rafael Lopez (J. Carrol Naish), who adopts him.
Flash forward 15 years, and Lee Tate is a leading citizen in these here parts, waiting for son Bob (James Craig) to return from engineering school.
Meanwhile, Lopez and his now-grown adopted son Arizona (Gilbert Roland) rescue a miner whose wagons have just been attacked.
Seems Lee Tate is determined to buy Jim Morgan’s mine. And his son Bob has his eyes on Morgan’s pretty daughter Amy (Marsha Hunt).
Gilbert Roland as Dick Ames, aka Arizona Lopez, a man with a score to settle in Thunder Trail (1937)
James Craig as Bob Craig, trying to convince Amy Morgan she’s misjudged his father in Thunder Trail (1937)
Review:
A film that’s more interesting for its cast — filled with future Western stars — than on its own right.
Once the brothers are separated and adopted by different men … well, let’s just say the plot is rather predictable.
Gilbert Roland was 31 when the film was released, had already been making movies for a decade and would continue to do so for three more and still not look out of place as a lead in a Spaghetti Western.
This marked the first credited role for James Craig, who would appear in many low-budget Westerns before stepping away from the cameras in the 1970s.
Though she’s lesser known for her Westerns, Marsha Hunt enjoyed a long career in films too. A supporting role in 1960’s “The Plunderers” was one of her more than 100 screen credits.
Her last, in the 2008 TV movie “Empire State Building Murders,” came when she was 91. She died in 2022 at age 104.
This film was reissued under the same name in 1951.
Charles Bickford as Lee Tate, wondering how he can get his hands of the Morgan mine in Thunder Trail (1937)
J. Carrol Naish as Rafael Lopez, the wandering prospector who adopts Dick Ames in Thunder Trail (1937)
Directed by:
Charles Barton
Cast:
Gilbert Roland … Dick Ames / Arizona Lopez
Charles Bickford …. Lee Tate
Marsha Hunt … Amy Morgan
J. Carrol Naish … Rafael Lopez
James Craig … Bob Tate
Monte Blue … Jeff Graves
Barlowe Borland … Jim Morgan
Billy Lee … Bob at age 8
William Duncan … John Ames
Gene Reynolds .. Dick Ames at age 14
Runtime: 58 min.
aka:
Thunder Pass
Marsha Hunt as Amy Morgan, the young woman Bob Tate hopes to marry in Thunder Trail (1937)
Monte Blue as Jeff Graves, Lee Tate’s right-hand man when it comes to causing trouble in Thunder Trail (1937)
Memorable lines:
Lee Tate: “You’ve grown about a foot in the last year. You get any bigger, and the gals will be stakin’ claims on ya.”
Bob Tate: “Anything exciting happen while I’ve been away.”
Lee Tate: “Now, let’s see. We got a new boardwalk the other side of the casino. And old man Thompson died. I guess that’s about all the improvements.”
Gene Reynolds as young Dick Ames, consoled by Rafael Lopez (J. Carrol Naish) in Thunder Trail (1937)
Gilbert Roland as Arizona and J. Carrol Naish as Rafael Lopez, contemplating a showdown with the Tates in Thunder Trail (1937)
){kind=link}