Nevada City (1941)

No renewal found Free in the US since 1 January 1970, on the registry's reading: registration LP10536 of 1941 by Republic Pictures Corp was not renewed in the volumes searched. Record.

The paper trail of Roy Rogers’s Nevada City records a television afterlife that began before its original copyright term ran out.

The business in danger in Nevada City is not a ranch or a mine but a stagecoach line.¹ The threat is repetition: robberies that make ordinary service harder to sustain. In Nevada City, California, during the early 1860s, Hank Liddell struggles to keep his coaches running.¹ George Cleveland plays Hank Liddell.⁴ Roy Rogers appears as Jeff Connors.⁴ The premise gives the Western a practical centre. A stagecoach business depends on being able to make the same journey again, whereas a robbery turns that necessary routine into an opportunity. What is at stake is continuity as much as any single stolen load.

Republic Pictures produced and released the film.¹ Joseph Kane directed it.¹ Its production trail reaches back to January 1940, when a trade notice announced that Robert Yost had been assigned to write Nevada City.⁵ That is evidence of an assignment, not a settled screen credit. A May 1941 listing named Kane as associate producer and director.² Attaching Yost’s name without qualification would turn a project announcement into a claim about the finished screenplay. The assignment notice alone cannot resolve the authorship of the released film.

Rogers is accompanied by George “Gabby” Hayes as “Gabby” Chapman.⁴ The pairing offers a leading cowboy with a comic counterpart, rather than an isolated gunman. Read alongside the threatened transport business, it suggests an appeal that need not rest entirely on the mechanics of catching robbers. Performance and companionship belong to that account of the film as much as danger does. Cast names, however, cannot substitute for a close account of individual scenes.

The film’s later television life made Rogers’s presence an especially compact way of describing it. A television movie guide for 1958–1959 called it an “Okay Roy Rogers western.”⁸ There is neither much enthusiasm nor much explanation in the judgement. Its shorthand is revealing: the star’s name and the genre are treated as sufficient orientation. The entry prints the film’s year as “(1911),” an apparent misprint that cautions against treating the guide as an exact record of production.⁸ It remains evidence of how the film was presented to those considering Westerns for television.

One later library compilation places Nevada City in the MCA-TV syndication package of 1955–1960.⁷ That is a lead rather than a verified distribution history. The television guide supplies a separate trace of the title’s place in broadcast circulation before the term ending recorded below.⁸ Neither source, by itself, establishes when that circulation began.

A further trace survives in a quite different setting. Nevada City appears among the programmes listed by MPAA-represented suppliers in a 2012 satellite-retransmission proceeding.⁹ Such a listing should not be made to answer a question it does not address. It establishes the title’s presence in that administrative record, not a renewal of the original film copyright. Nor does the television evidence establish that the absence of renewal caused the film’s circulation. The useful distinction is between where a film travelled and what rights remained in it. A distribution list can help reconstruct the former without settling the latter.

The record: Registration LP10536 by Republic Pictures Corp is dated 20 June 1941. The registry found no renewal in the renewal volumes for 1968 to 1970, nor in the Copyright Office's records from 1978 on; on that reading the term ended on 31 December 1969 and the film has been free in the US since 1 January 1970. The record does not settle the status of every later edition. It also leaves open the film’s rights outside the US.

Written 6 September 2026 by gpt-6-astra from the registry record, the atlas's own evidence and the sources below, gathered by Qwen/Qwen3.8-Max with web search and questioned by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4-Pro. Numbered notes are the sources; a claim marked unverified has no source yet; times open the atlas at that second. How these are made and checked.

catalog.afi.com https://catalog.afi.com/Film/26836-NEVADA-CITY?cxt=filmography
archive.org https://archive.org/download/variety142-1941-05/variety142-1941-05.pdf
archive.org https://archive.org/stream/filmdailyyearboo00film_11/filmdailyyearboo00film_11_djvu.txt
en.wikipedia.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_City_(film)
yumpu.com https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/26426727/boxoffice-january-6-1940
catalog.afi.com https://catalog.afi.com/Person/8540-Al-Wilson
dukefilmography.com https://dukefilmography.com/republic_pictures_library.html
worldradiohistory.com https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Radio-Programming/TV-Movie-Almanac-Rati...
crb.gov https://www.crb.gov/proceedings/2012-7/WDS/MPAA-WDS-Satellite-2.pdf
en.wikipedia.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Western_films_of_the_1940s

Inside the film

852 shots over 53:05 · 418 transcript lines · JSON

Every shot, 852 frames with timestamps and on-screen text

How this page was made

852 shots over 53:05, read from the Internet Archive copy nevada_city_ipod (nevada_city.mp4, 640×480, 29.97 fps). Shot boundaries by PySceneDetect's adaptive detector; each frame links to the Archive's player at that second. Registry dossier: Nevada City No renewal found. JSON

Measurements: black-and-white film on its keyframes (0 of 852 shots judged colour), average shot 3.7s long, a frontal face detected in 29% of keyframes. Shots are detected automatically and each is represented by its midpoint frame.

Transcript

Machine transcription of the Archive copy's audio with Whisper large-v3-turbo (temperature 0); the model heard it as en. 418 segments kept, 112 dropped as the kind of hallucination the model produces over music and silence. Each timestamp links to the Archive's player at that second. This has not been checked against the film and can be wrong.

1:53 Now ain't that a pretty picture too bad. We got a spoiler
2:47 Huh?
2:48 Addressed to me as usual.
2:51 Henry Liddell, Esquire.
2:55 Ain't bad enough he's got to ruin me.
2:57 You gotta be elegant about it.
3:01 Hmm.
3:02 What's happening to Morrison and Liddell?
3:06 Can it be that they're not doing so well?
3:10 and lists...
3:12 things go from bad to worse.
3:16 You'd better catch me who wrote this verse.
3:18 Black Bart.
3:20 Might just well be signed with the California Central Railroad. They hire them.
3:24 Hmm.
3:25 P.S.
3:26 to be sung to the tune and listen to the Mockingbird.
3:30 And that ain't all. Just listen to this here.
3:35 Here's one from Mark Benton, the president of the railroad.
3:38 Too bad he can't write poetry, too.

398 more segments

3:41 Dear Mr. Linnell,
3:44 I'm coming soon to Nevada City...
3:47 and hope we can get together to confer in peace and friendship.
3:52 The only way I'll confer with that barman is over a gun. Well, maybe Mark Benton means it, Hank. We haven't any proof the railroad's been back in Black Bart. Well, we got common sense, ain't we?
4:02 At least I have.
4:03 Paul Black Bart wants his money.
4:05 Why would he burn the property unless someone was paying him? And who's paying him but Mark Benton?
4:08 You stick to driving your coast, Jeff Connor.
4:11 and leave the paper to me with it
4:35 Hello, Bob. Hello, Norton. Now, don't tell me you got those clothes in Nevada City.
4:41 What's wrong with them? Salesman said they were the latest style. They're fine, fine.
4:46 You didn't get me down here to talk about my clothes, did you? No, indeed. I've got much more on my mind than that.
4:51 You've been doing a good job breaking Morrison and Liddell. You bet your sweet life I have. But that stage line company is only a link in the chain.
4:59 Those mines up there in the Sierras are booming.
5:02 And this company intends to handle that traffic all the way from the mountains to the sea.
5:06 We're after Mark Benton's California Central Railroad, too.
5:09 But that is a tough customer.
5:10 And he gets tougher with every mile of track he lays. He isn't so tough.
5:14 He's been having financial difficulties. And once he gets in construction difficulties as well... And I suppose that's where I come in. You and Hank Liddell Stage Line Company.
5:23 You're going to join forces to break the railroad.
5:26 Adele and me?
5:28 He'd as soon join forces with a rattlesnake. If he knows who you are.
5:31 But he won't.
5:32 Oh.
5:33 Well, with me handling it, it might work.
5:36 And if I know Mark Benton, he'll fight back. Of course he will.
5:40 There's no law up there with the name.
5:42 And once they started.
5:43 Nothing can keep those two from calling each other to pieces and you'll pick up the pieces and both pieces.
5:49 Here's to Mark Benton and Hank Liddell.
5:51 Long may they fight.
5:53 Says here, California Central laid four and a half miles of track last week. Track? With horses, you don't need any track. If that old railroad was good at all, it wouldn't have to be burning our stages. You tell them, Chick. Now you're talking just like your daddy used to. If my daddy was a lie, the railroad wouldn't be getting away with it. But I ain't worrying, you'll do something. Daddy used to say you was one of the handiest fellas he ever saw. Well, the trouble is, I'm not so sure the railroad's the one that's been plaguing us. We haven't caught one of their men holding us up.
6:23 Benton is going to Nevada City on an inspection trip.
6:26 Inspection.
6:28 Others do the work and he does inspect him.
6:32 I bet he wears a clean shirt every day. No, and him a grown man. When I get big enough so my sis can't run me, I ain't gonna wear a shirt at all. Don't forget, Chick, you're the Morrison of Morrison and Lodell. When you grow up, you're gonna have to dress the part. Why, you might even have to wear two clean shirts every day. Huh? I'm gonna make you general manager. So if I have to dress up, you will too.
7:02 with the heaps.
7:08 If we can beat them to the crossing, come on, Jeff, show them you're the best driver in California. Oh, Pa.
7:19 Come on, Jeff, the horses want to race, too.
7:25 Keep that blamkey kettle quiet. If you want to race, you'll get it. Pa, come on. Come on, Dr. Jeff.
7:32 Show them what the California Central can do. Bring on the timber.
7:44 Get him to the grass. Get him to the grass. Get a horn.
7:53 We're getting on, Jim. Hang on. We'll run that troop to the dead.
8:02 The fools are trying to beat us to the process. We've got to beat them to it or they'll all be killed. More woodpeed. Quit worrying about that steam pressure.
8:17 We can't stop now.
8:33 My spare shotgun. I'll make them pay for it, the robber.
8:37 I think they do a few. What were you trying to do? Kill yourselves? Not half as bad as you were trying to kill us.
8:44 If I know which way that darn thing is shoot, I let you have it, you grease monkey.
8:49 You tell that Mark Pitten you like to get a better smoke wagon than that to beat us. I'm Mark Pitten.
8:54 Huh?
8:55 You ain't neither! Mark Benton wears a clean shirt every day! If you're Mark Benton this time, you will find out what we do to stage robbers.
9:01 You better get back on that ticket of yours. Our temper's running short. Wait a second. You're going to have yourself a lame horse.
9:06 I reckon I don't need anybody to tell me that. Suit yourself.
9:09 But I've got a blacksmith car yonder.
9:11 And to prove to you that I'm a good loser,
9:13 I'll fit this horse a new shoe.
9:15 What a hill!
9:17 What does a railroad man know about fitting a shoe? That depends on the railroad man.
9:21 What do you need a forger on the railroad for anyway? We've got a lot of tools to keep in shape. Besides, I started out as a blacksmith.
9:27 And I don't like to see horses go lame.
9:29 You seem to be mighty worried about this horse. What you driving at? Well, if it's you, I'll tell you.
9:33 Come on over to the car. Don't you do it, Jim. He's up to something.
9:36 I think I can risk it.
9:37 Lead the way, mister. Yeah, and I'll be covering you, too. And I'll keep my eyes on that engine crew in case you fellas start anything.
9:46 Oh, gone, if Jeff ain't got no more caution than a blue-eyed mule.
9:59 This forge is always ready. That's why we're laying almost a mile of track a day. It'll be slower once we start through the mountains.
10:06 You're not figuring on going through the mountains, are you? Why not?
10:09 Well, I just proved to you that this train can't even outrun a good team on the level. You're pretty proud of that, aren't you?
10:15 Then let me ask you a question.
10:17 Your horses just ran a race. Are they ready right now to run another one?
10:20 Of course not, not until they catch their breath.
10:22 That locomotive up yonder don't even know that it's been in a race.
10:26 He could race all day and all night and not even need a breather.
10:30 Divorces can't compete, young sir.
10:31 Is that what you wanted to tell me? That's part of it.
10:34 Mr. Liddell won't even answer my letters. I thought maybe if I could get you to see things my way, you might be able to persuade him to listen.
10:42 Not with all this burning and robbing.
10:44 He figures you're out to break us but back in Blackboard. Why should I want to break you? The railroad has to stick to its tracks. Your job is to bring the freight to and from the railroad. The more we cooperate,
10:53 the faster our business in the country will grow.
10:56 Then you're claiming the railroad hasn't been robbing us.
10:58 I give you my word on it.
11:00 I don't know any more about Black Bart than you do.
11:03 All right.
11:04 I'll tell Liddell that.
11:06 And see.
11:08 Now I see if I've lost my touch.
11:11 Come on.
11:30 Hey, it ain't bad enough you got no passengers. But you gotta be late with no passengers. It's all right, Uncle Hank. We just had a race with a train and we won. You won? Yeah, and Mark Benton was on a train when we did it. Mark Benton was there.
11:47 Steal the bread out of our mouths, will he? Here comes number six from Hagtown. And on time. We'll burn my britches if that fool gal ain't driving again.
11:59 Hi, Finn. Hi, Chit.
12:07 Oh Uncle Hank! Hello Jeff! We left nine minutes late and made the round trip in three hours. How's that for a girl?
12:14 It ain't bad. A thousand times I've told you to keep away from them rains. You're supposed to be running the elder auto house, not go gallivanting around in danger of the lives of paying passengers. It's the lucky thing I was there to do it. That driver you're so proud of is in jail with a couple of gallons of white mule in him. Well, if I catch you on that box again, I'm going to take a wheel of switch here. Dying the fedome.
12:33 Get those coaches down at the bound and get fresh teams on them. We've got schedules to make around here.
12:38 Did you miss me, Jeff? About as much as I could in 12 hours. I'll bet you did. Well, I wasn't missing you none, either.
12:49 Ain't he elegant? He wanted to ride up on the box with me, but... couldn't get the shotgun guard to ride behind. Well, maybe you're lucky at that. Gabby says a shotgun guard's better than a passenger any day. Well, so long, Joe. I gotta seek Hank about something.
13:04 Jeff ain't got no time for gals. Not a driver like him.
13:08 I knew if I went away you'd forget to wash them. You run and do it right this minute and with soap. There you go. Taking that out on me again. When I get big, Jeff and me are going to move this stage line to the North Pole where there ain't no women at all.
13:21 That sounds just like those two.
13:25 And I suppose if Jeff marries anyone, it'll be an Eskimo.
13:29 You ain't hankering to marry Jeff, are you, Joe?
13:31 Why not?
13:32 People have told me I'd look mighty nice in the wedding dress.
13:35 And they weren't blind either.
13:37 Yeah.
13:38 I've only had four wives, and two of them were squars.
13:42 Though I don't suppose I'm no expert, but...
13:44 Maybe that's the trouble. You don't dress up enough.
13:48 I got a simply elegant new dress. You think it'd work? Maybe.
13:52 Jeff sure likes a fancy saddle on a horse.
13:55 By glory, I'll do it right now. I'll show them.
14:01 Listen to this.
14:04 Number seven. Bayes Court of Nevada City.
14:07 90 passengers for the month. Half-bore in half.
14:11 Number 13.
14:12 Dutch flat to Cotaville. Express off nearly 50%.
14:16 and all the work of Mark Benton's outlaw.
14:20 Here's one from someone in Uniontown. I'm holding you responsible for the theft of my gold teeth.
14:26 Value $150.
14:28 I can't eat and I've lost 10 pounds. I figure anybody's worth $15 a pound.
14:34 So I'm billing you for $150 additional.
14:37 Total $300.
14:39 Please remit. After the race I met Mark Benton, Hank, I figure maybe we're wrong about him. Wrong about him? Of course we've been wrong about him. We ought to try it months ago. I wouldn't trust a railroad or an inch for anyone who speaks up for him. That means you. What's it to you anyway? Plenty. Chick-Stab is like a father to me.
14:56 And I owe it to him to look after Chick and the same goes for Joe.
14:59 They own half of this company. And if you go fight in the railroad without any proof, you'll end up ruined. And the stage line two.
15:06 Well, I don't need to stand by and see that happen. Oh, so you're looking after Joe and Chick, are you? What do you think I'm doing? We're going to fight Mark Benton tooth and nail. And if you don't like it, you're fired. You're fired as of 1.23 p.m.
15:21 that dang it why don't they make a watch that run land of all this Joe you sure look fancy
15:43 Now, gum, that's perfume, ain't it? Reminds me of my girl back in Ohio.
15:49 She was wearing perfume the day she married that drummer from Chicago.
15:56 Oh Jeff. Hello Joe. Don't you notice anything.
16:04 You are looking kind of pale. I hope you're feeling all right. Jeff, you're the blindest man in Nevada City. Can't you see this is the prettiest dress this side of Paris?
16:13 It's mighty pretty all right. What you wearing it for?
16:19 You can be sure I'm not wearing it for you, Jeff Connor. That gentleman yonder invited me to the matinee at the new opera house this afternoon.
16:27 And I'm mighty pleased to be going.
16:29 That's fine, Joe.
16:31 I reckon I won't be seeing you for a while. I'm going on a vacation.
16:34 Vacation?
16:35 But you're supposed to take number four out this afternoon.
16:38 Not this afternoon or any other afternoon.
16:40 Hank just fired me.
16:42 fired you?
16:47 Where you going, Miss Joe? Oh.
16:48 Take this dress off. I thought she was wearing her to the matinee this afternoon.
16:53 No, not this afternoon or any other afternoon. Say...
16:57 If you'd like to wear that, I'll go to the show with you.
17:00 Oh, I didn't mean you to hear me. Right, I did.
17:03 How about it?
17:05 All right, I guess.
17:11 It's all right, lady. I never miss.
17:21 Well, you coming in, aren't you?
17:28 My name's Jim Trevor, Mr. Liddell.
17:30 I couldn't help hearing you fighting with the driver.
17:33 And what you were saying about the railroad.
17:34 Yeah, well, what's it to you?
17:36 It's funny.
17:38 You're not the only one that's been pushed around by the California Central.
17:41 That railroad ruined me.
17:42 The me out lock stock and bear.
17:46 It did? Sit down.
17:50 Have a cigar.
17:55 I had a nice freighting business down Sacramento way.
17:58 The minute Mark Benton had his track laid,
18:00 He burned my wagon, shot my horses, scared off my customers. He did?
18:03 It sounds like him, the skunk. What'd you do?
18:06 Nothing.
18:06 I'm a gentleman. I thought I was dealing with a gentleman.
18:09 Until it was too late. But now I aim to start fighting.
18:12 With your help, I can wreck the California Central the same way they wrecked me.
18:15 What do you say? Say?
18:17 If you like cigars, take a handful of them. Fill your pockets up with them.
18:23 It's bad enough losing Jeff, but I don't see why you have to go too, Gabby. It's a free country, ain't it? Jeff entitled to his opinion, ain't he? You've been ranting about the railroad something awful, Gabby. Who, me?
18:36 You do imagine the blameless things, Chick. We'll be seeing you, Chick. Gabby and I are going to try to get a job around close somewhere. This is going to be mighty disappointed that you're leaving, Jeff. She's kind of sweet on you, you know. And I was just thinking, you know how I feel about gals. But if Mary insists would keep you around here,
18:57 Well...
19:09 Can't even tell a new dress from a fancy sandal.
19:13 Now she's going to the Opry with that dude from the city.
19:15 Stand still, will you? I ain't talking to you.
19:20 We'll be seeing you, Tick.
19:28 Don't worry, the loss of one payroll is not gonna break California Central.
19:34 You'll have to wait a while for your money, that's all. Yeah, I'll have to kill somebody. Yeah, how do we know you ain't busted already?
19:40 How do we know you didn't frame this robbery just to beat us out of our money?
19:44 We want our money now. Yeah, anyone can bring a robbery. Anybody that could think a thing like that don't belong here. You'll get your money.
19:51 I'll pay off out of my own pocket.
19:53 Here I'm going to give it my favorite. Yeah.
19:58 I can't have loyal men.
20:00 I don't want any!
20:01 Anyone else want to quit? Tana boy, no one understands very well.
20:05 But we all stay by Mark Benton. You bet we all stay by you. Let's go back to work. Thanks, boys.
20:13 I wonder if we'd better eat a meal around here, free. Maybe.
20:17 Hello, boy. How are you? What are you doing here? Looking for a meal. What's the matter? I thought you were working for Liddell. Not since we asked him to come and talk to you.
20:25 They'll must have a hotter temper than I've heard. I won't forget that you lost your job on my account.
20:30 Yeah.
20:32 This ought to prove to you. You weren't speaking up for a liar.
20:39 Black boy.
20:40 Mark Benton's iron horse is a die.
20:43 Someone stabbed it right through the heart. Mark Benton sits all day and cries his heart away, and the man who's to blame is Black Bart.
20:51 Mark Benton's iron horse is a die.
20:54 Someone stabbed it right through the heart.
20:56 But who else wants to see the iron monster rust?
20:59 Who but the man Mark Benton tried the bus?
21:02 He is.
21:03 Hear Mark Vance.
21:05 If you like this verse, you can sing it to the tune of
21:08 Stars over the prairie.
21:11 Anytime that I see it, it'll be at his funeral.
21:14 Keep quiet about this.
21:16 I ain't showing this to anybody yet.
21:18 There's something in it that I don't quite understand.
21:21 You mean the part about who else wants to see the iron monster rest? Who could it mean but Hank Liddell?
21:26 He's the only man around here that blames me for his troubles. But Hank wouldn't tie himself in with Black Bart.
21:32 Well, it doesn't seem possible.
21:34 After all that Black Bart has done to the stage line,
21:38 Come here.
21:38 I want to show you something.
21:46 I'm short an engineer and a fireman. How about it?
21:49 That? You don't want us to run that sway-back coffee pot on wheels, do we? Anybody that can beat a train with a team can certainly learn to reverse the process. You ain't going down there. I'd come back to see what makes it go. Horsepower. This engine is rated at 900 horsepower. 900 horsepower? Listen, mister, you ain't talking to no children. While we get beat the pants off, we're sick talking.
22:10 It may look complicated, but it's a lot simpler than handling the reins on a six-up.
22:15 And if there's 900 Shetland ponies in that darn thing, I'm a railroad man myself.
22:26 Hmm.
22:27 900 ghosts is more like it.
22:46 Look at them business is sure good since black marks put faster nuts started in on the railroads.
22:53 By the way, I got some bad news for you.
22:55 Guess where I just seen your pal Jeff Connors. Where? He hadn't heard of me. Worse than that, he's running one of them engines. A regular grease monkey. A grease monkey.
23:04 Would you believe a fella like that could take that low? I don't believe it. Still, it's the truth. I seen him with my own eyes, and Gabby was with him. I still don't believe it. I'll prove it ain't so. I'll settle up my pony and write to the real hand. Better not, son. I'm still telling you the truth.
23:22 Oh, my God.
23:25 Get up.
23:45 Hi, Chick.
23:49 Hey, Chick, ain't Jim gonna say hello? No, I ain't gonna say hello. I ain't gonna say nothing.
23:54 Uncle Hank was right. I'm glad he fired you. We've been pals for a long time. Chick, you can't act this way.
24:00 Gabby and I wanted to stay close to you and Joe and this was the only job we could find. We still didn't have to take a job like this. Well, now that Black Bart's robbing the railroad, doesn't that prove to you that Benton wasn't backing him against us?
24:12 Maybe.
24:14 I reckon so.
24:16 Guess I didn't think about that. That's all right.
24:19 You know, I'm still figuring on being general manager of Morrison Modell. You gonna back me?
24:23 Sure.
24:25 Say, Dick, where'd you get all this money?
24:27 Oh, you know that fellow's always hanging around, sis. He gave it to me. You mean that dude that she said she was going to the opera house with? It's worse than that.
24:34 He's always making a poetry about how blue her eyes are and how golden her hair is. It's just something awful.
24:41 Making up poetry? Sis seems to like it, too. If you change your mind about going to the North Pole, you better come see her quick. I reckon you're right, Chick.
24:50 I think I'll do that.
25:05 Oh.
25:13 Whenever stars drift over the prairie, thoughts of you drift into my heart.
25:27 Throughout the dark of night I seem to hold you tight, and you promised that we'll never part. Whenever stars drift over the prairie, in each dream I see only you.
25:56 And I hope and I pray that there will come a day when you'll appear and never drift away.
26:12 Mark Benton's iron horses are dying.
26:17 Someone stabbed it right through the heart. Mark Benton sits all day and cries his heart away. And the man who's to blame is Black Bart.
26:34 Mark Benton's iron horse is a-dying. Someone stabbed it right through the heart.
26:47 The iron monster roused. Who but the man Mark Bitten tried to best.
27:01 Would you like to dance?
27:03 Play a waltz.
27:06 So you got a raise out of him, eh? When he heard that jingle, he looked like he'd seen a ghost. Then he's black bark just as sure as we're standing here. Now all I got to do is find out what he's doing here.
27:22 Sorry, mister, but Cutting M's a custom around here.
27:30 I'd never expected to find myself dancing with a railroad man.
27:36 And what's wrong with him? Just because he dresses better than some people I know and he doesn't treat a girl as if she was a child. That's not what I'm talking about. What's he doing here besides talking poetry to you? Well, at least he doesn't work for the railroad. Whatever he does, he's working for us, not against us. He and Hank are in some sort of business together. That's just what I was afraid of.
28:03 No hard feelings, mister.
28:10 Trevor's in with Hank all right. Joe just told me. Then he's only one thing to do. Get rid of that critter before he drags Hank into real trouble. You can't go in there and shoot a man just because you think he's Blackboard. I'm all for shooting him now and finding out later. We'll trail him until we know who he is.
28:25 Come on.
28:44 Gee, I thought you'd never get back.
28:47 I've been watching Trevor like you said. We had to tell Mark Benton to get himself a new crew. Is Trevor still here? He wrote out that way about ten minutes ago. He's sure a funny fella. His mom's dying and he's pleased as punch about it. He's that dad burned reptile. That's what he is. Hey, how'd you know about his mother? Old man Will's from the telegraph office.
29:07 I had a message for him and gave it to me to deliver. Didn't I tell you never to read other people's mail?
29:12 What did it say? It said mother expected to die tonight.
29:16 And then I'd rather reach it and grinned and then rode away.
29:19 Say, Chick, you're gonna be a detective yet. Come on, Gabby.
29:24 If you need me, I'll be down to Stables. My pony's sick.
29:44 What's the matter, Gabby? Ah, his blamed animals pick up a rock. Sometimes I think he goes around looking for rocks every time he gets tired.
29:52 We'd never caught up with Trevor anyway.
29:55 But he must be heading for the railroad if he has a gang of his men hiding in these hills.
29:59 It might be Benton's payroll instead of somebody's mother that's due to pass away tonight. Why ain't Sam Hilder say what he means in a telegram? We'll see.
30:29 Here's their tracks. They're heading up the creek towards the spring. Well, that's where the train stops to take on wood. They're going to hold her up there sure as shooting. Unless we do some shooting first.
30:55 It's time to go.
30:59 here, but we're ready to bring them in a hurry. Kramer, you and Bullard take care of the engine crew. The rest of you come with me.
31:37 I can't see a darn thing. Maybe they didn't come this way after all. Let's go down and take a look. You mean a foot? You know human beings want me to walk. But they're sure to hear us if we do. Well, they can't hear us anyway if they ain't there. This don't look like no mother's bedside to me.
31:59 jump in here and then the deltoy this never last one of us learned his brain covers blackboard all right and we've got to get it before he gets a payroll come on you are he won't get no payroll not wrong as I got a roaring lightning my hand
32:22 It's Blackboard we want.
32:31 - Come on.
32:40 You men keep quiet.
32:43 They're here, Daley. Yeah.
32:44 Well, Hutch was right, Mr. Benton.
32:46 I knew if they was going to stick up the payroll, they'd do it here.
32:48 Be ready as soon as the train comes in.
32:50 What in tarnation's going on here?
32:52 Must be a trap to catch by the Lord.
32:54 Didn't I tell you ain't nobody gonna catch him but me and Rora and Eliza here?
32:58 I know.
32:59 But Hank Liddell's mixed up in this. We've got to make sure.
33:51 Come on, let's go.
33:57 They're voided from the outside.
34:12 Get your horses. We can get out this way.
34:17 The horses are our only chance to catch them.
34:23 It's true of them.
34:26 Get the guns!
34:28 Daley, take half the men. Get the horses and start after the others.
34:46 You're obviously working for Black Bart, Liddell, or both. A few days starved in jail may persuade him to talk. Can they lock him up?
34:53 You know what to do with the keys come on.
34:55 Come on.
34:59 You never starve anything out of those two. If you don't, we'll never catch up with the rest of them. I've got another idea.
35:07 Can't see nothing but Nevada City, and I've seen that before.
35:18 I
35:23 How soon did you sober up?
35:25 We'll give you six months for damaging railroad poverty.
35:28 Come on.
35:38 You follow the left here?
35:39 Yeah.
35:41 Nice, ain't it?
35:43 How much rent do you pay?
35:46 Hey, you know any tricks? Sure, that's how we got in here.
35:51 Well, I got one I bet you can do.
35:54 Wait a minute.
35:55 Now you take a hold of him there, Rupert.
35:57 All right.
35:59 And then don't go away, don't go away.
36:01 I'll do it just time, dear.
36:04 Now...
36:06 Give me that. I'll show you a trick. It is a trick.
36:12 I'm.
36:36 Hey, Bart, how about a few drinks down at the Eldorado house before we go on? It's too risky. Somebody might recognize you. We're lucky to have fresh horses to saddle after that run Benton's men gave us. Hurry up and get those saddles changed.
37:05 Can you tell me where I can find Jim Trevor? He's usually hanging around here. Mighty pretty gal runs this place. That sounds like him all right. He ain't in there, but I know where you can find him. Oh, you do? Well, where is he? Down the street at the stable. Have my bags put inside, will you? Thanks.
37:55 Ah, that blame T is hoodooed. I'd just as soon try to grope a mosquito on a dark night.
38:12 Hello Bart. What are you doing up here. It's time for the showdown. Benton's got to be knocked out now before it's too late. I just found out the government will give him a subsidy if he can cut a grade through the mountain. Why it'll take him a year. Not to get his subsidy. All he has to do is lay track as far as Nugget Creek the next week.
38:27 But he's never going to do it.
38:29 I found a way to stop him.
38:30 Come on, we could talk better over a drink. How have you been doing with Liddell?
38:35 He's in too deep to get out and doesn't know that's fine. His stage line will make good feet up to the railroad.
38:43 even a bell be best in order to look over some mining property or the bed gotta be my long ago what are you up to a chick paying the town right with the double eagle I gave you I gotta talk to you uncle it's important that sick pony again no it ain't the pony I gotta talk to you
39:00 I
39:02 Come on.
39:05 Jim Trapper and Black Bart are the same man. The same man? Why, why, why? He can't be. He is, Uncle Hank, and he's working for that Mr. Norton there. They're after our stage line. They're aiming to break Mark Benton, too. They're fixing up the scheme right now. Well, why didn't you tell me this in the first place? What do you want to keep wasting the time for? Did you hear? Yeah, I heard all about it. I've heard enough to know that I've been the blamedest fool in history. Well, then hurry and tell him he can't do it. Tell who? Who can't do what? Mark Benton. He's got Jeff in jail. In jail? They're going to hang him for helping Black Bart.
39:35 I just heard some men talking about it in the street. Gee, Hopsis, Pat, why do you suppose Jeff was helping Black Bart? I don't know, but he must have been doing it for us. We've got to make Mark bet and let him go. Oh.
39:46 Where'd that fellow Trevor go?
39:48 He's up in his room with that dude. He's number 12, isn't he?
39:55 Let me try it.
39:57 Well, if I was a betting man, I'd bet you $10 a year.
40:00 do it.
40:00 That is, if I had ten dollars.
40:04 Come on.
40:12 You can't hang him. He's no more bandit than I am. Bandit? Hang him? Who's he? Jeff Connor. You've got to let him go. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you'll have to find yourself a new sweetheart, Miss Whoever You Are. I know who she is, Chief. She's Morrison's daughter. He left her half-interest in the stage line. The stage line again. I didn't realize I had a girl fight me. We're not fighting you. I certainly wouldn't be here to tell you if we were. We're not fighting you.
40:35 I know who Black Bart is.
40:39 Come on.
40:57 Ten thousand dollars reward for Black Bar. Boy, imagine being worth that much money. That's a lot of money for any poet. Well, I'm going to be worth that much, too. Come on, leave me to him. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to wait a while. Hey, where are you doing? Hey, he's a nice fellow.
41:27 If it wasn't for his string, we'd be in there yet. Put these in the drawer. He's probably got some more strings. Or is that all Mark Benton gave me? I've never seen you do a mean trick like that before. No one ever made it that easy for me to break jail before. Easy? With me stringing there all the time? Did you see he isn't as drunk as he seems? He almost broke his neck trying to get you interested in that string. You mean Benton wanted us to escape? Sure, and he wanted him to escape with us. Thought we'd lead him to Black Bar. Hey, come on, let me out of here! Ah, shut up. So you thought you had this fool, did you?
41:57 You didn't fool me none. Come on, let me out of here.
42:02 And Trevor's working for a man from the city who's out to break you and Uncle Hank, too. Who is this man? I think Uncle Hank said his name was Norton. Norton? Norton?
42:10 That must be Amos Norton.
42:12 President of Sacramento Navigation.
42:14 He tried to buy into California Central in the beginning. Then you let Jeff Connor out? Nothing you've said explains why he kept us from capturing Black Bart. He stays in jail. Hey, what's this you've been telling me about Jeff in jail? You better tell him that. I just saw him heading out of town with Gabby Chapman. There was another man with him, wasn't there? What are you talking about, Jeff and Gabby by themselves?
42:42 There goes Bart now.
42:48 what are you doing in that you were supposed to go with them I had Chapman pulled all right but as soon as Connor got a gun he forced me back in here
42:54 He must be Black Bart's brave. Really? I'm offering $5,000 reward for Connor, dead or alive. Get out the posters right now. Now we're getting somewhere. With that much money, every vigilante in the country will be looking for him. You can't do that. That's murder. Wait a minute, Benton.
43:06 Maybe when you hear what I've got to say, you won't waste your time trying to catch Jeff.
43:11 I've been helping Jim Trevor.
43:14 But I didn't know he was Black Bart. Everything pointed to you, Liddell, but... The important thing is now that your railroad's about to be blown to kingdom come.
43:22 Norton is having Black Bart blow up the Three Pines tunnel when the morning train comes through. How do you know? Ain't I got ways of finding out these in my own hotel? Where'd they get that much powder? Well, they could steal it from any mine around here. That train's got a carload of powder on it itself. If their blast sets that off, you won't get that tunnel repaired in a year.
43:37 And I've only got a week.
43:39 How about opening this door? Hey, hey, let me out of here. Hey, you can't do this to me.
43:44 Let me out of here!
44:09 It's no use. They've cut the wires. We've only got one chance. Gather some men and get to the tunnel first. Vidal, this proves you've been telling the truth.
44:17 We're in this together. Are you going to help me?
44:20 Well, I'd be a darn fool to help a competitor.
44:23 But that's just what I'm gonna do.
44:25 We can get to that tunnel a heap faster cutting the cross country on my horses than we can on one of them tea kittles of yours. So let's go.
44:35 Don't see why a man can't have some breakfast. I hate riding on an empty stomach. Don't worry. After this job you'll have so much money you'll have breakfast in bed.
44:45 They're going to blow up the train at Three Pines Tunnel. We'll have to stop it before it gets there. We'll double back and cut across the foothills. If we go this way, they'll spot ashore. Oh.
45:06 It's really a little spare horses at the tunnel in time. If you want to make a getaway. Don't worry boss.
45:11 I guess you won't be leaving no portrait this time, huh?
45:40 Come on.
45:41 Now keep your hands up high.
45:47 Take care of them, Anderson. You come with me.
46:04 You're riding here, Anderson. Have a keg open and a fuel set by the time I reach the tunnel.
46:41 I don't see anything. Maybe they've already planted the powder under the tracks inside. Let's take a look. Hold her!
46:51 They won't find any powder in there. It's coming in the fast freight. All right, boys, get the hardware.
46:59 I wouldn't try it, ma'am, if I were you. I couldn't miss you for trying.
47:09 Ben's crew is a bull-headed bunch, but this ought to stop them.
47:21 I'll stop. You hurt bad, Gabby? Oh, not bad. Get going, son. You beat that train of four and by cracky you can do it again.
48:51 I'm going back with Anderson to make sure that nothing goes wrong with the blast. I'm going back with Anderson to make sure that nothing goes wrong with the blast.
49:21 Keep an eye on our friend here.
49:51 We're almost there.
50:04 Light the fuse.
50:15 We're in the tunnel. She's stopping. Come on.
50:24 Hold it.
50:46 What did those shots mean? I don't know, but I'm going to find out.
50:49 She's not going to blow any minute. If the sensor won't blow, the bark comes out. I hope he goes flying out through the top like a bird.
50:57 Hey, Bart, what happened to the explosion?
51:00 There's your explosion.
51:01 Too bad it didn't make more noise.
51:04 Go on.
51:09 All right, boys.
51:10 Drop your guns. Let's get the guns.
51:29 I'm going to go.
51:37 Watch your hurry. Norton in his room. Just went up.
51:40 This hotel is dropping the guest.
51:43 Oh, leave me alone.
51:49 I ain't had so much fuss made over me since the mule kicked my teeth out.
51:53 Can I sing a song to you, Gabby?
51:55 Ah, go away, will you?
52:03 I'm taking him down to the annex. The one that Jeff and Gabby just left.
52:07 Good idea. Just to show there's no hard feeling between you and me, how about taking a ride up to the railhead?
52:13 What, on that tea kettle?
52:16 Don't mind if I do.
52:32 Would you like to see it?
52:35 Wait a minute. Where are you going? Put on my new dress.