Alias John Law (1935/I)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Robert N. Bradbury

Writers:

Robert N. Bradbury (screenplay)
Forbes Parkhill (story)

Release Date:

5 November 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Western

Tagline:

BLAZING DRAMA OF SIX-GUN JUSTICE! (original ad - all caps)

Plot:

John Clark (Bob Steele) and his deaf pal, Bootch Collum (Buck Connors), are trailed by U. S. Marshal Lamar Bly (Jack Rockwell)...

Plot Keywords:

Marshal | Badge | Ranch | Courtroom | Oil

Cast

Bob Steele	...	Everett Tarkington 'John' Clark
Roberta Gale	...	JoAnne Vallon
Buck Connors	...	Bootch Collum (as Buck Conners)
Earl Dwire	...	The Kootney Kid, posing as Everett Trakington Clark
Robert McKenzie	...	Judge (as Bob McKenzie)
Steve Clark	...	Henchman Simi
Jack Rockwell	...	Marshal Lamar Blyth
Roger Williams	...	Sheriff
Jack Cowell	...	Attorney Wagner

Runtime:

59 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Supreme Pictures

Movie Connections:

Remade as West of the Brazos (1950)

"Dadburn stink lizard!"

This has to be one of the more amusing and highly entertaining westerns that I have seen in some time.

The plot is simple enough. A villain (The Kootney Kid...hahaha) is a mail-robber who finds a letter relative to identification of the rightful heir - Everett Tarkington Clark (who is Bob Steele, known by friends as John) of his mother's property. The Kootney Kid wants it because of a potential oil deal so he sets about to convince the law that he's really Everett and that Everett (Steele) is HIM.

I guess that it's a good thing that there are driver's licenses and other forms of identification these days, including actual records, which really helps, hahaha. I'm almost sure that there were records and REAL identification methods in the era this movie was set in, but it certainly doesn't seem that way watching it.

The judge is a laugh riot, almost as amusing as Buck Conners as Bootch Collum (Bootch? Kootney Kid? Fun names in this movie as well).

Almost the entire second half of this movie is filled with tongue-twisters, or at least the actors speak their lines as if they were tongue-twisters. You'd have to hear all the actors speak their lines to believe they ever even got through this at all.

Actually, there does seem to be one scene involving the judge where an off-camera voice seems to be holding back a loud burst of laughs and it literally sounds like they are hurting themselves trying to hold back the outburst. It seems that way, but still, there's no edit at the point that I could detect.

Very entertaining and easily worth several views.

I should strongly point out (perhaps even warn) - and it seems a bit strange - that Bob Steele in this looks EXACTLY like a silent film star ready to lick the rest of a pie from his face at a sped-up pace. I don't know why, but that's all I could think of during the courtroom scenes. It does subtract just a little from the western atmosphere, but perhaps it couldn't be helped. Perhaps it was just a combination of the expressions, haircut, and makeup(?)

Earl Dwire (The Kootney Kid, hehe) is also quite entertaining, and even very convincing in his villainous sincerity throughout, unlike the more cardboard characters in similar movies.

I also feel that all of the actors involved in this really are enjoying their roles and trying their best, unlike many other movies.

9/10