Treason Trail

Greasepaint rather than gun smoke distinguishes this bedroom farce set in late-19th-century Colorado, by the author of the nonfiction The '59ers: A Denver Diary . Actor Troy Barrett and leading lady Lily Cushman, whose manager Desmond Donner has just skipped town, are penniless when presented with their troupe's large hotel bill. While Lily distracts the hotel manager, Troy sneaks into the storeroom to recoup some of Donner's already confiscated property. Reading some stolen papers, they learn that Donner is the leader of a conspiracy of ex-Confederate officers who plan to start another civil war. Keeping a step or two ahead of a small army of creditors, lawmen and Confederates, Lily and Troy try to track Donner, figure out his plans and find an honest lawman to thwart them. Many changes of costume and several skin-of-the-teeth escapes later, the thespian duo (chastely in love) triumphs. The initial old-fashioned charm of Keller's unbelievable plot and the appeal of his spunky characters soon wear thin in this tale that reads like a Marx Brothers script--without the Marx Brothers to save it. (Oct.)