Song of the Trail (DVD)

While Betty Hobson prepares to compete in a shooting match at the Dorcey City Rodeo, her elderly father Ben gets into a crooked card game with gambler Bob Arnold and loses the deed to their ranch. When the old man discovers the swindle, the Arnold gang frames him for murder, Ben makes a getaway and Betty's friend, rodeo champion Jim Carter, attempts to avert a miscarriage of justice by establishing the rancher's innocence.

Trick rider and all-around athlete Kermit Maynard followed in his brother Ken's footsteps by becoming a Western star in the silent-movie days. Kermit's mid 1930s series for Maurice Conn's Ambassador Pictures boasted more than a dozen sturdily if modestly produced outdoor-action films set in the West and Northwest. Song of the Trail, a particularly interesting entry, was directed by prolific character actor Russell Hopton and featured former Paramount star Evelyn Brent in a key supporting role. - Ed Hulse

• western