Sunset on the Desert (1942) User Reviews (9)

Which one's Roy?

[alan-pratt · 7/10 · 7 July 2009]

Two Roys for the price of one here! There's "good" Roy - the singing cowboy we all love and admire - and "bad" Roy - or,rather, bad Bill - easy to spot because he's the one with a black eye! Roy, of course, spends most of the film pretending to be Bill in order to bring the real crooks to justice.

Sadly, the version of this movie that I watched is the shortened one - I suspect I may have lost one of the musical numbers - but there's still plenty to recommend. As well as Gabby and the Sons of the Pioneers, look out for Roy Barcroft. Although cast as a minor villain, he dominates the screen each time he appears. A really class act!

Oh, no...an evil twin!!! I didn't see that coming....ha!

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 8 September 2012]

A county has a typical baddie. In this case, homes are being sold out from under folks and the Sheriff is impotent to help. So, when Roy and Gabby come to town, it's their job to right the wrongs and make all the good people happy.

This is a decent Roy Rogers film but like many you do have to turn off your brain in order to really enjoy it. Part of it is that weird sort of B-western mixture of the old and new---with folks riding horses AND cars! I can't blame Rogers entirely--Gene Autry films also were filled with odd anachronisms--such as folks calling the sheriff on the phone or chasing down horses with their pickup truck! Another part, and this is clearly the worst, is the use of the WAY over-used cliché of the 'identical stranger'. Now if Roy had a twin brother, that might have worked--but here we are expected that an evil killer looks exactly like good 'ol Roy! This is patently ridiculous, that's for sure. Dumb but enjoyable...and not too many songs!

Dueling Double Rogers

[FightingWesterner · 7/10 · 22 May 2010]

A villainous lawyer, along with crooked deputy Glenn Strange, blackmails a judge in order to effect a fake tax scheme in order to steal oil rich ranches. In rides Gabby Hayes and Roy Rogers, who's immediately mistaken for one of the baddies, a situation he uses to get to the bottom of things.

Another watchable Roy Rogers vehicle, this has a few nice twists, as well as enough action and pretty girls to keep this interesting throughout.

Roy and Gabby are in fine form, having to battle the good guys and the bad guys this time around, leading to a nifty climax with Roy facing off against his double.

This marks the third time Roy played dual roles, the first two being 1938's Billy The Kid Returns and the second being 1941's Jesse James At Bay.

Roy seems a fish out of water, masquerading as his villanous double.

[weezeralfalfa · 6/10 · 20 March 2019]

After a 10 year absence, Roy returns to his hometown. But, some people treat him like an enemy, mistaking him for local badman Bill Sloan, who seems to be mixed up in a scheme to defraud a number of ranchers out of their property. Against the advice of his partner Gabby Hayes, he decides to try masquerading as Sloan, who doesn't actually show up until near the end, when he is easily distinguished from Roy by his shiner. Thus, Roy hopes to increase his chances of bringing the criminals to justice by impersonating Sloan. Unfortunately, the habitually polite Roy just doesn't come across as a real, crude, badman, and some people begin doubting if he is Sloan......... The kingpin of this theft scheme is lawyer Ramsay McCall. He instructs the 3 deputies what to do. Probably, he had the sheriff eliminated, so that his crooked deputies would have a free hand in enforcing what McCall wanted. He also has a hold over the local Judge(Kirby), relating to the embezzlement of county money by his brother, which he claimed he paid back, but the receipt for this is missing. .......One humorous event occurred when Roy first meets Sloan's girlfriend, Julie(Beryl Wallace). She rushes up to him and gives him a big kiss and hug. Meanwhile, observer Ann Kirby(Lynne Carver) shows her displeasure with him. Anne has a possible interest in Roy, but he doesn't let his true identity show through yet. Julie comes across as brassy: perfect for Slone, while Ann seems a goody two shoes: perfect for Roy. A bit more humor is provided as a social, where Roy shows up as Sloan. Ann and Julie are also there. Julie gets jealous of Roy's attention to Ann. Roy goes to the booth that says '$1.O0 per kiss' . Roy puts down $4.00, but the girl he hopes will kiss him runs off, saying her time in over. Thus, Roy is left with her plain-looking partner. Roy says 'forget it", and leaves: not very gentlemanly. But, then, he's supposed to be Sloan. Then, Roy takes part in a pie raffle. The high bidder for each pie, gets to dance with the pie maker, as well as take the pie home. Roy bid $10.00, an outrageous amount, on the pie that happens to have been made by Ann. She's not amused, assuming him to be Sloan........I've left out most of the nitty gritty about how McCall and buddies are corralled by the honest people, and there is peace in the valley once more.........See it at YouTube.

Another steady Rogers Vehicle

[boblipton · 6/10 · 30 August 2020]

Roy Rogers reads in the paper that his father's old partner, Frank Thomas is in desert. Thomas is now a judge and has been making some peculiar rulings about a ranch in the throes of repossession. He and Gabby Hayes ride into town, where Roy is mistaken for a hired gun for the bad guys. He adopts this as a cover while he investigates.

It's another nice little B movie in the Rogers catalog directed by Joseph Kane. Lynne Carver is the ingenue, Beryl Wallace the not-so bad bad girl, and the usual complement of competent minor players fill out the cast list. Roy only sings a couple of songs, but I looked at a 52-minute TV print that had 11 minutes removed.

The Cowboy Hero And His Bad Twin

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 12 June 2011]

Sunset On The Desert has Roy playing two roles, Roy Rogers rancher and rodeo star and his evil doppelganger, a gunman in the pay of Douglas Fowley. Fortunately we see far more of the good Roy than the bad Roy because quite frankly Roy just can't cut it as anything less than a cowboy hero.

Fowley has bad Roy and a whole bunch of others trying to get control of a lot of properties in the area. He's got a hold over Judge Frank M. Thomas who thinks his brother who was once the partner of the good Roy's father pilfered some money from the county.

Both the Roys have girl friends, the good Roy is chasing Lynne Carver daughter of the former partner of his dad and Judge Thomas's niece. The bad Roy's got the shapely Beryl Wallace. Needless to say both the women are confused.

I saw an edited version of Sunset In The Desert and a lot was left out, but even so every actor loves the challenge of playing dual roles. But Roy Rogers was not an actor per se, he was a movie cowboy hero. And good what he did, but he should have had a better story. And he just doesn't cut it as a bad guy in the scenes as bad Roy.

"Careful Mister, I'm a regular wildcat when I get riled"!

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 28 November 2009]

Roy Rogers used a mistaken identity gimmick in 1938's "Billy The Kid Returns" impersonating the legendary bad man, and does the same here doing double duty as himself and a henchman named Bill Sloane. The set up involves a crooked town lawyer named McCall (Douglas Fowley) who's blackmailing Judge Kirby (Frank M. Thomas) over money purportedly stolen by the judge's brother. The story probably gets a little more complicated than it has to with all the characters involved, but if you pay attention, you should be OK.

Gabby Hayes is Roy's partner in this one, relying on that often used gimmick calling on heroic associations from his past. He seems to drift in and out of the action depending on Roy's character. The other familiar face I enjoy seeing in these Rogers' flicks is that of Pat Brady, here in featured singing roles for a couple of tunes with Bob Nolan's Sons of the Pioneers. Oddly, the Pioneers aren't mentioned by name, and even though Bob Nolan himself has some decent screen time, he winds up with an uncredited part, as does Brady.

After watching a few hundred of these 'B' oaters, I'm always pleased when an element comes up that I haven't seen before. This one included a 'blind pie auction' where bidders get to win their choice of a home baked cobbler along with a date with the cook.

The other unusual scene involved Roy and Trigger racing down a rocky hillside in which Trigger almost lost his footing, and halfway down the slope, Roy dismounts and awkwardly enough stays balanced to remain on his feet. I had to wonder why they tried that difficult maneuver in the first place, but it was probably under way before they could stop it and then just went with the flow. At the bottom of the hill, Roy gets back up on Trigger and continues the chase.

Interestingly as well, the story utilizes not one, but two female leads - Beryl Wallace as bad girl Julie Craig, and Lynn Carver as good girl Ann Kirby, the judge's niece. Roy is able to convince Ann of his real identity with an almost flashback technique of singing a tune from their past when they grew up together on the Kirby-Rogers ranch.

Whenever these old time Westerns use the dual identity gimmick, I'm always amazed how the good guy and bad guy always show up in the finale wearing the exact same clothes! Same thing here, except outlaw Sloane has a bruised eye to distinguish him from Rogers. In another unusual plot device, look-alike 'bad guy' Sloane winds up getting killed in a gunfight at the finale, taking part in of all places - the OK Corral!

Rogers versus Rogers!

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 8 May 2014]

The title doesn't tell us anything, but this is actually a Roy Roger's double entry with our hero playing both himself and his bad man double. You can't tell the difference, of course, as they look alike and speak alike. I can't help feeling that a great opportunity was lost here, as the double – although referred to earlier – only makes his appearance at the climax (and even then is under-used!) What we have here on The Great American Western DVD is the 53-minutes TV cutdown which seems to be minus at least one of the five songs as well as a bit of background which would help make the boring plot a bit easier to follow. Nevertheless, Rogers is in his usual easygoing form (perhaps a bit too easygoing!) and so, alas, in usual form, is garrulous Gabby Hayes who seems determined to steal the movie from Rogers – and succeeds in that not so admirable endeavor (at least in the TV version which is often all Gabby and little Roy). The movie was directed by Joe Kane in a style that can only be described as a "nothing". And I don't remember any sunsets – or much in the way of desert either! TV cutdown available on a Platinum "Great American Western" disc.

Difficult Plot, But With Compensations

[dougdoepke · 16 July 2022]

Plot - Roy assumes role of his visual double, a bad guy, in order to uncover a complex land-grabbing scheme that's threatening his old homesite.

Here Roy has a double role, a bad guy as well as his usual cowboy hero. So, can you keep them straight, since they dress alike. Anyway, it's an overly complex plot in my little book, but not without compensations.

There's lots of scenic hard riding, even though it's the greater LA area. And catch the scenic rock spires of Vasquez Rocks, a cheap place to film being LA county property, which is why oaters of the time loved filming there.

Also, there's some fast shooting, but no flying fists. And, be sure to catch actress Beryl Wallace as good-bad girl Julie, who almost steals the show. She reminds me of voluptuous B-movie vixen Marie Windsor, e.g. (The Killing {1956}). Too bad Beryl died young in a plane crash.

The flick's also a fine baddie threesome of Fowley, Strange, and Barcroft, enough to please any old movie fan. Happily, Gabby adds his usual toothless mugging in amusing style. But what about Trigger. Catch his and Roy's ride down that steep hillside where it looks like the palomino is about to take a bad fall just as the filming shifts away. I sure hope he didn't.

All in all, it's an okay Rogers entry, but to me, the screenplay needs a re-write into a more appropriate 55-minute format. Still, Roy, Gabby and crew carry us along as usual. Thanks guys.