The Beckoning Trail was one of several joint vehicles for veteran action hero J. Warren Kerrigan and up-and-coming ingenue Lois Wilson. When first we meet Carter Raymond (Kerrigan), he is a wealthy wastrel whose sole purpose in life is to squander his family's fortune. Inevitably, the financial well runs dry, leaving Raymond with no assets save for an apparently worked-out gold mine in California. Heading westward to assume control of the mine, Raymond discovers a pair of "squatters" on his property: grizzled old Big Jim Helton (Harry Carter), and Helton's pretty daughter Mary (Wilson). Falling in love with Mary, Raymond tries to help Helton fend off the strenuous villainy of all-around bully Placer Murray (Harry Carter), and in so doing our hero proves himself to be a genuine, unadulterated he-man.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
