Review of North of the Great Divide

Roy Rogers find himself outside of his usual Western element to serve as a government Indian agent on the Canadian border. He's a friend of the local Indian tribe, and after trying to broker an agreement between a cannery owner and the natives, the plan blows up when Banning (Roy Barcroft) and his henchman Stagg (Jack Lambert) resort to murder and sabotage against a Canadian canning rival, while attempting to place the blame on the natives. It's sort of a formulaic story line for the genre but made a bit more colorful with the presence of the Indian tribe in their colorful headdress and leggings. Gordon Jones appears as Roy's sidekick in this one as he did in a number of Roy's later pictures. He's not effective as pardners like Gabby Hayes or Smiley Burnette, who earned their B Western credentials as far back as the 1930's. With relations between the Americans, Canadians and Native Americans hanging in the balance, Roy and his native friends Chief Nagura (Noble Johnson) and Tacona (Keith Richards) bring the outlaw cannery owners to justice in short order. The finale is somewhat atypical as Roy borrows a page from the Lash LaRue book of tricks and faces off against Stagg in a bullwhip showdown, right after taking out Banning on a burning barge trying to make a hasty getaway.