The Dead Don't Dream

"The Dead Don't Dream" is less a western and more a murder mystery...which is not what you usually expect from a Hopalong Cassidy film. While the setting is out west, the rest of the film is essentially a murder in an old house sort of affair.

When the story begins, Lucky has come to the Last Chance Inn to meet his fiancee and get married. However, the girl's uncle is supposed to be there as well but he's disappeared. Later, after Hoppy heads to the Uncle's nearby mine and finds the man's body...and it's likely he was killed at the inn and dropped here.

Shortly after this, another miner comes to stay at the inn. He stays in the exact same room....and the next day he's gone...disappeared. Hoppy suspects he, too, was murdered--most likely for his claim. So he does what anyone would do...he contacts the Sheriff. However, the Sheriff stays at the hotel as well...the same room...and he, too disappears...presumably dead!! What's going on here?!

This film is like so many dark house mystery films of the era...complete with the weird lighting, red herrings and the like. It's not bad...but not the sort of thing fans of westerns might like nor expect. Interestingly, it's the second film like this I've seen with Hopalong Cassidy, as the previous year's "Unexpected Guest" was also a murder mystery! Worth seeing...albeit rather strange and with a really weird gimmick by which the folks were killed!

A lot less action in The Dead Don't Dream than in a normal Hopalong Cassidy film. This story seems to be taken from some old English murder mystery as Hoppy and his pals become detectives. Not that they were all that much use with Lucky Jenkins getting married and California Carlson just being California.

In fact that's what they're all in the locale for, Lucky is getting married to Mary Ware. The guys stay at a hotel in the middle of nowhere and people keep disappearing out of a certain room at said hotel. Anyone who watches old English murder mysteries knows there's a hidden door someplace. One of the ones disappearing is Mary Ware's uncle, another is the sheriff.

Of course Hoppy figures it all out and Lucky proves to be valuable at the final showdown with the bad guys.

Nice, but not the usual Cassidy type film.

Of course

Quite rare to see two genres - mystery and western - merged together, and makes for an enjoyable experience. Add Hopalong and co. In the equation and it's a plus. This addition to the series might lack action but it makes it up with a good mystery plot which leaves you gripped - the night riding shots and the shadows in the buildings are quite effective.

Hoppy, Lucky and California arrive at the the Last Chance Inn for Lucky's wedding only to find that his finance Mary's Uncle, a local mine owner, has disappeared from his room at the Hotel. As Hoppy's suspicions arise he sets out to her uncle's mine only to find him dead. Hoppy soon becomes involved in a series of unexplained disappearances and murders.

This is another movie where Hoppy forsakes the iconic black clad gunfighter outfit and sports his gentleman's western suit attire, which usually means a lot more talking and a lot less action. That's the case here. Dead Men Don't Dream plays out more like a western styled spooky house murder mystery which was a popular theme at the time. It really bears little resemblance in style and content to the earlier Harry Sherman produced Hoppy's. This is a shame because none of the other B-western cowboys of the day had quite as much of a no nonsense, hard edge to them as Boyd did in his earlier films. Here Hoppy is scripted more like an Agatha Christie inspired detective.

Dead Men Don't Dream is one of the last dozen Hoppy movies produced by Boyd himself. The Boyd produced post WWII Hoppy's are an unusual bunch and have a budget meter is running feel to them. Some of it could have been attributed increasing production costs but some could be attributed to Boyd himself. It seemed like Boyd was always searching for a less expensive type movie to make and apparently found it in this script. If your looking for a classic Hopalong Cassidy movie this one isn't it. If you enjoy the idea of the cowboy murder mystery angle it's done better in Gene Autry's Rim of the Canyon.

All in all a pretty Lukewarm Hoppy flick.