JohnHowardReid SYNOPSIS: Stagecoach bandits, the Carson City Kid and his treacherous partner Laramie, hit Sonora. Laramie is soon captured. Promised his freedom if he identifies the Kid, Laramie fingers Warren, an innocent (in both senses of that word) prospector.NOTES: According to Republic publicity, Bob Steele's first role as a heavy.COMMENT: An unusual entry in the Rogers saga, with our hero playing an outlaw, albeit a colorful and most personable one, in a script that gives some great opportunities to the support cast, particularly the beautiful Pauline Moore, dressed to the nines, Alice Faye style, who has two out of the film's three tuneful Tinturin songs and even sings the intro line to Roy's sole solo; Bob Steele, who has a great time as the aggressively smooth-talking villain; George Hayes, who doesn't overstay his welcome for once; Noah Beery, who plays the innocent abroad with enough charm to make this almost impossible character believable; Francis MacDonald, as slimy a partner as the meanest bushwacker could wish; Hal Taliaferro, an appealingly reliable henchman; and even Hank Bell, who is given some worthwhile dialogue and business at last in his career.Doubtless because he authored the original screen story, Joseph Kane has directed his 43rd film with unusual care. Besides his customary vigorously staged action spots with lots of fast riding and running inserts, the dialogue scenes are handled with style and finesse using attractively composed images and even a bit of camera movement. Nobles has excelled himself with the lighting, particularly in the saloon scenes, whilst sets and costumes look unusually rich by Republic standards.The only thing missing is a really slap-up climax. True, the finale is exciting enough, but rabid action fans are liable to feel a bit cheated.As for Rogers himself, here he gives one of his most personable and likeable performances.

classicsoncall The Carson City Kid (Roy Rogers) is on a quest to find the man that murdered his brother, and that trail brings him to Sonora and the Olive Branch Saloon, owned by crooked card shark Lee Jessup (Bob Steele). Although a hero in most of his films, Steele offers a characterization here of a villain you just love to hate, a smarmy, underhanded cheat who can't be greedy enough. George "Gabby" Hayes portrays Marshal Gabby Whitaker, who claims to have ridden with the "Kid" at one time and knows him on sight. That gag gets to be played out a number of times in the film, with Rogers grinning his way through each attempt by Gabby to continue the charade. Rounding out the cast is Noah Beery Jr. as a loose lips prospector who impersonates the Carson City Kid in order to retrieve the money he lost to Jessup in a rigged card game. And as usual, there's a romantic interest - Pauline Moore as saloon singer Joby Madison who catches Rogers' eye and later does some catching of her own. Rogers and Moore also teamed up in "Colorado", released in the same year, 1940."Carson City Kid" is a fast paced film coming in at just fifty seven minutes, and manages to include the standard gunfight, posse chase and rope across the trail trick. A 1940 Republic film, it holds up as one of the more entertaining of the early Roy Rogers Westerns.

Steve Haynie Roy Rogers' title role as The Carson City Kid is another one of those misnomers that makes you think of a bad guy. Of course, Roy is a good guy who has been unfortunately labeled an outlaw. For some reason he rides along with a real outlaw named Laramie (Francis McDonald). Roy looks out for the well-being of the all too trusting Arizona (Noah Beery, Jr.) while he is tracking down the villain, Lee Jessup (Bob Steele).Bob Steele was a leading cowboy hero during the 30's and continued to be a hero afterward, but it is nice to see him in a different role. The bad-guy/saloon owner was a generic part in B westerns, with only the talents of the individual actors making the part memorable. It was the same year that The Carson City Kid was made (1940) that Bob Steele began making a series of Billy The Kid movies for PRC and also joining The Three Mesquiteers at Republic, so The Carson City Kid may have been made while he was searching for a new movie deal. His talents were put to good use in this movie.Gabby Hayes was good, but not at his best in The Carson City Kid. His part as the town marshal provides comedy, but not the special appeal of being a sidekick. Seeing Gabby as Roy's pal makes a difference. In The Carson City Kid we get to see Gabby on Roy's side, but there is no real relationship between them.Overall, The Carson City Kid is an excellent choice for a Roy Rogers movie. The movie is set in the west without automobiles and big band productions. It shows a kind of western that Roy would abandon within a few years in favor of the modern setting movies for which he was known.

beejer The Carson City Kid is a "B" western to be sure, however, this one is a cut above the average.Rogers had not yet evolved into the the yodeling/singing hero of the range. At this stage of his career, the studio was not casting him as himself but as "good" bad guys. In fact in this picture he sings only one song and that is a duet with the heroine.What sets this picture apart is the excellent supporting cast. First, we have Gabby Hayes playing the Marshal and Noah Beery Jr. as Arizona who is befriended by Roy along the way. Heading up the villains are Bob Steele and the venerable Hal Taliaferro. Even Yakima Canutt turns up in an unbilled bit as the bartender. Steele always made a better villain than hero and in my humble opinion, takes the picture away from Rogers.To be fair, Roy was just getting started and didn't do that bad of a job. The Carson City Kid remains one of Roy's better early westerns.