Released in Republic Pictures' low-budget Trucolor and filmed at the majestic location of the title, Grand Canyon Trail stars
Roy Rogers is a rancher going up against a crooked mining engineer played by fellow Western star
Robert Livingston. The latter, Bill Regan, has conned eastern silver magnate J. Malcolm Vanderpool (
Charles Coleman) into believing that his Sintown mine is worthless. But Vanderpool's pretty secretary, Carol Martin (
Jane Frazee), is suspicious and travels to the ghost town masquerading as the boss' daughter. Rancher Rogers and his hired hands -- Foy Willing & the Riders of the Purple Sage in their first Rogers Western -- have all invested in the mine, courtesy of hayseed blacksmith "Cookie" Bullfincher (
Andy Devine), and are doing a bit of digging themselves. The only person with knowledge of the location of the mine, elderly stage driver Ed Carruthers (
Emmett Lynn), is kidnapped by the gang and later murdered. Carol, whom Roy accuses of being in cahoots with the villains, is kept captive in a cabin during a rainstorm and when Mike Delsing (
Ken Terrell), one of Regan's men, turns up, she mistakenly believes he has come to rescue her and hits Roy over the head with a vase. Realizing her error, Carol later aids Roy and the Riders capture the gang and their leader, Regan, whom she dispatches with a well-appointed rock. In between the action, Roy and the Riders perform "Everything's Going My Way," by Foy Willing and "Grand Canyon Trail" and "Colorado Joe" by Jack Elliott. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide