I’d always resisted watching John Wayne’s 1930s Western programmers (some of them have been shown on both local and Cable TV over the years) – but, some time ago, my father had purchased a bargain-basement PD triple-bill featuring two of these (plus Clark Gable’s official debut, THE PAINTED DESERT [1931]) and I thought I’d check them out in time for The Duke’s 100th Anniversary. Incidentally, a few other early Wayne stuff is available from my local DVD rental outlet and, now that I’m in the vein for his films, I may get them as well...
Anyway, having watched two such oaters in quick succession, I can say that they’re harmless and enjoyable enough – but, at the same time, charmingly naïve. Curiously, some years back, I had rented a number of PD Westerns and these included a couple of Randolph Scott titles from this same era – TO THE LAST MAN (1933) and ROCKY MOUNTAIN MYSTERY (1935): they share a connection with the two Wayne films I watched in that one was directed by Bradbury, while the other was adapted from a Zane Grey novel; the Scotts, therefore, are similar but also slightly superior.
The plot of this one is pretty straightforward, but Wayne is a likable lead: he plays a sheriff who ends up accused of killing his best friend, resigns, meets and falls for the dead man’s daughter (whose ‘crime’ she’s unaware of) and eventually routs the real villain (who, unsurprisingly, is also interested in the girl). The treatment is completely unassuming (it has to be when the film is a mere 50 minutes long!) – with folksy characters (acting in broad early-Talkie style, particularly the leading lady) and stunt-heavy action (with the horses involved in some incredibly hazardous falls!). Still, the extreme low-budget is evidenced by the baffling intrusion on the Western setting of contemporary contrivances – houses are equipped with telephones, characters attend a dance in dinner-jackets, and Wayne himself is made to drive a car at one point (how a cowboy ever came to understand its mechanism so quickly isn’t worth pondering about, I guess)!
Anyway, having watched two such oaters in quick succession, I can say that they’re harmless and enjoyable enough – but, at the same time, charmingly naïve. Curiously, some years back, I had rented a number of PD Westerns and these included a couple of Randolph Scott titles from this same era – TO THE LAST MAN (1933) and ROCKY MOUNTAIN MYSTERY (1935): they share a connection with the two Wayne films I watched in that one was directed by Bradbury, while the other was adapted from a Zane Grey novel; the Scotts, therefore, are similar but also slightly superior.
The plot of this one is pretty straightforward, but Wayne is a likable lead: he plays a sheriff who ends up accused of killing his best friend, resigns, meets and falls for the dead man’s daughter (whose ‘crime’ she’s unaware of) and eventually routs the real villain (who, unsurprisingly, is also interested in the girl). The treatment is completely unassuming (it has to be when the film is a mere 50 minutes long!) – with folksy characters (acting in broad early-Talkie style, particularly the leading lady) and stunt-heavy action (with the horses involved in some incredibly hazardous falls!). Still, the extreme low-budget is evidenced by the baffling intrusion on the Western setting of contemporary contrivances – houses are equipped with telephones, characters attend a dance in dinner-jackets, and Wayne himself is made to drive a car at one point (how a cowboy ever came to understand its mechanism so quickly isn’t worth pondering about, I guess)!