Roy Rogers Deals with Black Bart
There is trouble in Nevada City as the local stagecoach company is having to deal with constant attacks by an outlaw who stagecoach company owner Hank Liddell (George Cleveland) believes is working for Mark Benton (Joseph Crehan) the owner of the railroad company. When stagecoach drivers Jeff Connor (Roy Rogers) and Gabby Chapman (Gabby Hayes) meet Benton they believe him when he says he has nothing to do with the trouble and when Jeff sticks up for him in front of Hank he finds himself fired. What no one realises is the outlaw known as Black Bart is really Jim Trevor (Fred Kohler Jr.) who is working for a financier called Amos Norton (Pierre Watkin) who wants to ruin both businesses so he can then sweep in for the valuable government contracts.
Just a trotting alone, that could be a line from an old song from an equally old western but it describes "Nevada City" quite nicely as this 1940s Roy Rogers and Gabby Hayes' western trots along with some action, some drama and some comedy but with not many musical moments. But in trotting along "Nevada City" is in truth just a typical early western with are ever smiling nice guy hero Jeff finding himself in some trouble for doing what is right but finding a way to make sure the bad guy loses by the time the movie trots to an end. Although having said that whilst not overly original the storyline built around an outlaw playing off the railroad company against the stagecoach company is entertaining enough.
What also is entertaining enough is the comedy with George 'Gabby' Hayes typically delivering the movies many comedy moments with a variety of facial expressions especially those of disapproval when it comes to Jeff trying to woo a woman. Oh yes "Nevada City" also features Sally Payne as romantic interest Jo Morrison but to be honest it could be any actress because the role is just a western stereotype.
What this all boils down to is that "Nevada City" is yet another one of those old western b-movies which offer up little in the way of western entertainment but are interesting for those with a passion for old movies especially westerns.
