The Stranger from Ponca City

Charles Starrett rides into town, intending to buy a ranch from real estate agent Virginia Hunter. He finds the town in the grips of tough gangs of cattle rustlers, whom Deputy Marshal Paul Campbell (presumably the real Marshal hs been shot) can't control. Also someone wants the place he's set on buying kept empty.

Ed Earl Repp's script, like most of the writing for the Durango Kid movies. Is underwritten, so it can be filled out with the clowning of Smiley Burnette and whatever band the producers have hired. Here it's Texas Jim Lewis & The Lone Star Cowboys, who seem to be a novelty act, including one guy with a machine that can make a variety of odd noises. The underwriting meant I could figure out what was going on well before the reveal -- the screen time devoted to the actual plot has fewer red herrings to distract me. Still, it's a pleasant not-quite-an-hour, with many of the uncredited players who appeared often in this series: Johnny Carpenter, Jim Diehl, Jock Mahoney, Ted Mapes, and fallen stars like Kermit Maynard and Forrest Taylor.