Aces and Eights (1936)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Sam Newfield

Writer:

George Arthur Durlam (story)

Release Date:

6 June 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Gentleman Tim Deals A Death Hand In A Crooked Game!

Plot:

A cardsharp comes to the aid of a Mexican family.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Debt | California | False Accusation | Actor Shares First Name With Character

Cast

Tim McCoy	...	'Gentleman' Tim Madigan
Luana Walters	...	Juanita Hernandez
Rex Lease	...	Jose Hernandez
Wheeler Oakman	...	Ace Morgan
J. Frank Glendon	...	Amos Harden (as Frank Glendon)
Charles Stevens	...	Captain de Lopez
Earle Hodgins	...	Marshal (as Earl Hodgins)
Jimmy Aubrey	...	Sidekick Lucky
Joseph W. Girard	...	Don Julio Hernandez (as Joseph Girard)

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (MPAA rating: certificate #2116)

Company:

Puritan Pictures Corporation

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: The bartender in two separate saloon scenes, can be heard asking patrons "another one?" every five seconds.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lucky: [rolls dice into his hand] Ah! Lucky day!
Juanita Hernandez: It is indeed a lucky day for the house of Hernandez.

"Another one...another one...another one...another one..."

Gah! This movie nearly drove me mad, and I'll tell you why. Although I did sort of enjoy it (relative to the plot and the interesting plot nuances), and found it watchable enough considering the unbearable repeating background loop, there were some extremely strange technical elements that I don't quite recall seeing (and hearing) in other movies of this nature and time period, other than a couple other cases where it wasn't remotely as noticeable or as highly distracting.

The strangest one - whenever there is a bar scene (especially noticed at the beginning), you can clearly hear a three or four-second vocal sound loop repeating over and over and over (and over), the same few phrases (a couple which sound like gibberish), which sometimes go on for as long as five minutes or more at a time! The more outstanding one is what sounds like "another one" repeated exactly every few seconds along with the other sounds, which are so repetitive (it IS a rather short loop after all) it ends up sounding like some sort of odd bird-call. I'm sure this has been done with other movies (to save time and resources?); it's just never been so noticeable before.

I can't help but be seriously distracted by this, because it starts to be so amusing, I nearly fell out of my chair. My wife burst out laughing the first time she heard it as well. It may not be as noticeable on a lower volume, though. Even during the one otherwise intensely dramatic and stoic scene after the first card game, you can hear that same bird-like nasal "another one" repeating in the background, which kind of ruins the moment.

In other ways, though, it is like other Westerns of this time period, and the acting is decent enough (in fact, probably better than usual for movies of this nature during this time period).

And yes, this exact same three or four second loop is used through the ENTIRE MOVIE, enough to drive you crazy, especially since it is so loud within the "background". It literally sounds like a skipping record, or perhaps a record with only one groove used for all the background sounds of every bar scene. If you can deal with "another one another one another one another one..." repeated with precise, looped timing for over an hour, then go ahead and watch this, hahaha.

Truly bizarre!