Having briefly abandoned his standard "Nevada Jack McKenzie" characterization in Flame of the West, cowboy star Johnny Mack Brown was back as Nevada Jack in Monogram's The Lost Trail. Vowing to bring in a gang of stagecoach outlaws, Nevada redoubles his efforts when he learns that the owner of the stagecoach line is pretty Jane Burns (Jennifer Holt).
The Harper wagon train is carrying money and Bull and his gang are after it. When their first attack is foiled by the rangers, Allen trails them. But he is captured and his ranger badge used to divert the rangers away leaving the wagon train unprotected.
O'Brien is "Whispering" Smith, so named because he speaks softly but knows how to fend for himself. The son of a railroad president, Smith is determined to learn the business from the ground up, so he gets a job as a track walker for his dad's rail line. While going about his duties, he meets Nan Roberts (Irene Ware), who is about to sell her Colorado ranch. Smith finds out that there are valuable tungsten deposits on her land and makes certain she won't be cheated by the villains
Tex and Ananias are sent by the government to capture some Santa Fe rustlers. Tex recognizes Hendricks as an outlaw, captures him and learns that Hendricks intends to meet a rustler named Dorgan. Tex goes instead and finds out that Dorgan plans to move rustled cattle through the ranch owned by Graham and his daughter Ruth. Dorgan has Graham Pass set to be dynamited to stop any pursuit.
Mahoney is a sheep man who's framed for the murder of a rancher. It's all part of a scheme by a dishonest cattleman who hopes to extenuate a range war for his own profit. The Durango Kid helps clear Mahoney's name.
Fur thieves, who murder trappers when they refuse to give up their pelts at a low price, occupy the attention of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. The leader of the gang is Victor Renaud, also the mayor of the small Canadian town where the gang is headquartered. Lucky Kerrigan is broken from the mounted service for apparent disobedience to orders, which results in the death of a fellow Mountie. Lucky, working undercover, aids the Mounties in rounding up the gang and gains back his uniform, and also the love of Gabrielle Renaud, Renaud's sister who was unaware of his criminal activities.
Serials usually spawned feature film versions, but with this film, it was the other way around. A 1932 Buck Jones Western, White Eagle was made into a serial nine years later, again starring Jones in the title role, a (supposedly) Native American Pony Express Rider defending his people against a gang of evil Whites.
Local "patriot's league" leader secretly kills off ranchers, buys up their estates, which are undermined with tin ore; Marshal and singing cowpoke team up to find villain and motive.
West of Carson City remains one of the best of Johnny Mack Brown's Universal westerns. The story takes place in a gold-rush community where the locals are taken to the cleaners by duplicitious Eastern gamblers. When it becomes obvious that the local constabulary has been "bought off" by the crooks, two-fisted cattleman Jim Bannister (Brown) swings into action. The film's highlight is an outsized fistic brawl between the hero and secondary villain Breed, played by loose-limbed comic stuntman Frank Mitchell.
Doan is trying to get control of the valley by having his night riders drive the ranchers out. Jack Benson hires on at the Williams ranch, the one ranch Doan must have. When Benson learns that Doan is the boss of the night riders, he joins up with him. He has a plan that both saves Williams' ranch and also brings Doan to justice.
The drama of the Indians of tropical Mexico in the early twentieth century. The Rebellion of the Hanged is the intense story of the rise of the oppressed pawns and their struggle to achieve freedom and independence.
A veteran lawman must escort a brutal and bloodthirsty bandit, Big Bill, back to the prison from which he escaped. On the way, the commissioner is wounded and only finds the assistance of Nick Sanders, a young homeless man with great skill with weapons. The lawman and Sanders establish a friendly relationship, and Sanders agrees to escort the bandit. However, the two protagonists are pursued by hostile forces: the prisoner's gang, and law enforcement officers, who are after Sanders on a murder charge. The meeting point is in a town where the local sheriff tries to fulfill his duty by hosting the prisoner while facing the pressures and fears of the townspeople.
The Mormon pastor Mateo is obsessed by the murder of his father, which he witnessed as a child, but raises a church and preaches against violence. The gunman Gumaro helps the preacher when two outlaws show up and kills one of them. Four brothers of the dead outlaw attack the preacher's ranch and kill his pregnant wife, his son, a worker and leave the pastor for dead. He recovers, forgets his sermons and sets out to take vengeance on the murderers.
'Tuck' Martin, a crooked rancher, plots to acquire possession of the neighboring ranch belonging to 'Pop' Melody, whose daughter, Molly, is in love with 'Big Boy.' Bill Lang, the Melody ranchman, is in league with Martin and succeeds in rendering Melody helpless, although he had originally intended to have him killed. An attack on the cottage discloses the double dealing of the foreman, who is finally brought to justice, with nothing but happiness left for 'Big Boy' and Molly.
In this western, two cowboys are framed as cattle rustlers and tossed in the pokey. Later, honest ranchers spring them and together they ride out against the rustlers.
The strip is being opened to settlers and as everyone heads for the starting line, Thad and his outlaw gang are ready. Learning Rankin has a treasure map, Thad steals it. When Breezy attempts to recover the map he is captured by Thad. With Breezy tied up, Thad heads out to claim the treasure plot.
Richard Dix stars as Dave Morrell, the new marshal of Goliath, Oklahoma. Immediately upon arrival, Morrell finds himself at odds with banker Coy Barrett (Victor Jory), who is actually the leader of all local criminal activities.