Wonderful character development!

Why so much hype?

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

An excellent "B" western on all counts: story, characterization, action, acting and especially atmosphere. True, the plot gimmick of hero joining an outlaw gang in order to bust it apart is an extremely familiar one, but "Sunrise Trail" still manages to more than hold the interest thanks to a whole raft of compelling factors including Wellyn Totman's long-on-characterization screenplay, John P. McCarthy's astutely detailed direction, Archie Stout's atmospherically dark-edged photography, plus splendid acting from almost all concerned, particularly hero Bob Steele and the lovely Blanche Mehaffey (in the best role she ever had in her entire career) as well as familiar character players like Jack Clifford and Eddie Dunn who never again received an opportunity to show audiences they were real actors, not just faces in the background.