Heart of Arizona (1938)

I waited a long time for this movie, and finally I got a copy and it was better than I thought. Sadly the tape was used and had seen better days, but I recently saw that it’s available now on DVD, I may have to buy it. This was probably Natalie last leading part, and probably her first in a few years. I didn’t know what to expect, she always plays beautiful women with fancy clothes, very chic, but now she was going to play a cowgirl. She really pulled it off, she was a brunette at this point, I think that helped the look, the short blonde bob probably would have looked strange in that setting. First off this is a Hopalong Cassidy movie, so Natalie isn’t the star, but I would say she was probably third on the list, a leading character. She plays Belle Star, a woman with a troubled past, trying to go straight, and raise her daughter. Hopalong Cassidy and his partner are both in love with her, but of course trouble starts when another rancher tries to frame Belle with stolen cattle. Of course there is a shoot out in the end and sadly Belle gets shot trying to save Hoppy and gang, so much for the happy ending. This was a rare movie for Natalie as she doesn’t play the villain, she is actually Hoppy’s love interest, she did a good job with a western, to bad she didn’t make more, her career could have kept going, she looks great in the western clothes. It was really interesting seeing this woman who usually plays rich beautifully dress women riding a horse, it just seemed so strange, but Natalie could do it all, I hate to repeat myself but, why wasn’t she a star?