Just when you thought that Warner Archive's Monogram Cowboy Collection had bid western fans "so long" and ridden into the sunset, along comes another volume's worth of fun and six-guns. Scores of stories about wrestlin' with rustlers and clobberin' claim-jumpers filled theaters during Hollywood's golden age, with Monogram Pictures serving as the king of cranking out hour-long adventures on filming schedules as tight as their budgets. Studio stalwarts like Whip Wilson and the Rough Riders were featured in Warner Archive's previous Monogram round-ups, with their ninth and newest set starring the pride of the Crimson Tide himself, Johnny Mack Brown. Along with frequent sidekick Raymond Hatton, Johnny triumphs over all manner of evil and tames the west's wildest challenges throughout this collection's nine movies, which folks will be glad to see saved from a sentence of roaming cinema's dusty trails.　

CODE OF THE SADDLE (1947). When a third party tries to incite a range war between ranching outfits, Brown and Hatton pony up to get to the bottom of matters. Because of the film's easygoing nature, one could easily give Code of the Saddle a pass for its strong adherence to convention...were it not for its inability to see the forest for the trees. So intent is the movie on not deviating from the same old scenario of foiling the not-so-secret villain's power grab, it becomes doubly confounding when the question of whether a rancher's daughter (Kay Morley) is really his kin gets raised and then dropped just as abruptly. Not only are potentially intriguing new angles ignored wholesale, the plot that's there is just barely spared complete snoozer status by the charm of its actors. Code of the Saddle may not be much, but by and large, it amounts to a mostly harmless (if hopelessly cliched) rodeo.

THE FIGHTING RANGER (1948). A lawman (Brown) goes undercover to dig up the truth about a colleague's murder. Fueled by a feisty spirit and an urge to entertain, The Fighting Ranger gallops through multiple layers of fun and arresting adventure. It's a fine example of one of Brown's signature formulas, which has him traveling incognito and stumbling upon even more danger than he initially bargained for. Tension remains taut throughout as Johnny tries to both solve a killing and put the kibosh on a fiend's bid for prairie supremacy, his entire quest engaging until the last bullet whizzes through the sky. The Fighting Ranger is what happens when a familiar tale is told well: its tried and true tropes are used to create a traditional but energetic ride.

FLASHING GUNS (1947). Johnny Mack enters the crossfire when forces conspire to seize a ranch's silver mines. Flashing Guns probably wouldn't have come off like the letdown it eventually did had its first act not seemed to hint at a more dynamic direction for the plot to take. For a while, it looked as though Brown would be getting set for a showdown between rival factions searching for the same prey, only for one's presence to dwindle into nothingness in a matter of minutes. The clever capers this bearing could've led to are sorely missed, especially when the escapades that do play out before us -- involving gamblers, crooked bankers, and claim-swipers -- aren't among the most riveting in Brown's stable. Our hero's folksy disposition always cheers things up to a certain degree, but Flashing Guns only grips you for so long without a spark of originality in its chamber.

FRONTIER AGENT (1948). A telegraph troubleshooter (Brown) is sent to investigate when bandits sabotage his company's newest project. What with its story centered around stringing up wire, Frontier Agent may not sound like a rollicking ride, but it finds ways to wring thrills out of its premise regardless. Though the plot involves yet another land-grab scenario -- which has a double-crossing rancher (Dennis Moore) not-so-subtly trying to deflect suspicion of his involvement -- the film charges onward at a fast clip and loads itself up with plenty of rough-and-tumble action. One of these sequences is ripped entirely from the previous year's Brown picture Trailing Danger, yet there are plenty of scrapes, stunts, and close calls of its own to forgive a little big-screen recycling. Frontier Agent does things by the book, but the means by which said duties are carried out turn out to be fun.

THE GENTLEMAN FROM TEXAS (1946). Conscripted into service by concerned citizens, a Wells Fargo man (Brown) takes on the mantle of marshal in order to combat a corrupt gambler (Tristram Coffin). The longest title in this set at just shy of an hour, The Gentleman from Texas takes its time in accomplishing what little it has to, and it shows. The bulk of the film consists of a tiring back-and-forth conflict between Brown and Coffin, who doesn't boast the presence of a guy who's got the whole town wrapped around his finger, outside of a lot of smug smirks. Although he outsmarts Johnny's tricks on a number of occasions, he still comes across as a boring villain, with the fight to bring him in taking until about the last ten minutes to get exciting (and -- spoiler alert -- only after a prominent female character is needlessly shot down first). By the time The Gentleman from Texas yanks its gloves off and tries introducing a little grit into the proceedings, it's long past the point of our interest being effected.

LAND OF THE LAWLESS (1947). Johnny Mack is summoned to wrestle a town out from under the thumb of a local saloon queen (Christine McIntyre). Land of the Lawless flirts with edgier overtones that, because the picture leaps so quickly into action, fall short of bestowing their intended dramatic weight. The very first scene sees the townspeople beckoning Brown to clean up the place, with only a throwaway line about avenging a friend's murder as his motivation for not only accepting the gig but going about said business so ruthlessly. As both henchmen and good guys meet the business end of a six-gun during its run, the flick displays an uncommon mean streak, yet while it's certainly daring and not unappreciated, there's still not much of a base to it. Kudos to Land of the Lawless for featuring a female antagonist whose gender doesn't make her a target of condescension, but on the down side, it leaves you wishing that more of the film were as well-developed.

THE LAW COMES TO GUNSIGHT (1947). Under the guise of a hired gun, Brown dismantles two criminal outfits, one varmint at a time. In a sort of proto-Yojimbo scenario, The Law Comes to Gunsight has Johnny pitting bands of rival crooks against each other, a familiar premise that's nevertheless given an energetic kick here. As our hero proceeds to shatter both operations and make the land safe for the innocent townsfolk, he sets the stage for a suspenseful showdown in which neither of the villainous parties are all that thrilled with having to join forces. The usual turn of events unfolds during Brown's crusade (with the odd stop taken to mentor Lanny Rees's preteen tenderfoot), but the appealing action, pace, and performances make it a breeze to forgive a story that's seen many a tour around the corral. Though not much concerning The Law Comes to Gunsight is out of turn, the movie does help a time-weathered tale seem fun and good as new.　

THE SHERIFF OF MEDICINE BOW (1948). When a reformed thief (Hatton) is framed for a robbery, the local lawman (Brown) jumps to his defense. At a time when swaths of matinee westerns struggled to scrape enough plot together to reach a one-hour length, The Sheriff of Medicine Bow weaves itself a surprisingly complicated narrative web. Villainous sorts seeking to seize Hatton's property employ a number of lowdown tricks to take him out of the picture before settling on the frame-up, with Johnny's efforts to save him hampered still by the ex-con's stubborn daughter (Evelyn Finley). Though the climax finishes things up with a fairly by-the-numbers gun battle, the story leading up to it is active and exciting, exhibiting infectious energy as it chronicles the tug-of-war battle between Johnny Mack and our resident greedy sidewinders. At first, its basic ingredients might make it hard to delineate it from Brown's other vehicles, but The Sheriff of Medicine Bow whips up a good time out of them, in any case.

TRAILING DANGER (1947). Brown takes it upon himself to prevent an escaped killer (Marshall Reed) from exacting revenge on those who sent him up the river. Hatton's scruffy beard isn't the only unusual flourish brought to the table by Trailing Danger, which tweaks the western formula in ways liable to help genre fans take notice. Perennial henchman Reed makes the most out of his rare chance at playing the lead baddie, a clever coyote with a knack for seeing through our hero's traps. Even the story is a bit on the non-traditional side, operating more like a siege picture as Brown's time is primarily dedicated to defending a wagonload of innocents from Reed's cronies in the middle of nowhere. Driven by its resourcefulness, taut plotting, and a touch of catchy music, Trailing Danger deftly dodges certain western cliches, while doing right proud by others.

(Monogram Cowboy Collection: Volume 9 is available on DVD from the Warner Archive Collection: www.warnerarchive.com)