Daniel Boone (1936)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

David Howard

Writers:

Edgecumb Pinchon (story)
Daniel Jarrett (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 October 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | History | Western

Tagline:

With bloodcurdling yells THE RED MAN STRUCK...A handful of whites against a swarm of savages!

Plot:

In 1775, Daniel Boone settles Kentucky, despite menacing Indians and renegade whites.

Plot Keywords:

Daniel Boone | Tied To Stake | Shirtless Male Bondage | Frontiersman | Torture

Cast

George O'Brien	...	Daniel Boone
Heather Angel	...	Virginia Randolph
John Carradine	...	Simon Girty
Ralph Forbes	...	Stephen Marlowe
George Regas	...	Black Eagle
Dickie Jones	...	Master Jerry Randolph
Clarence Muse	...	Pompey
Huntley Gordon	...	Sir John Randolph
Harry Cording	...	Joe Burch
Aggie Herring	...	Mrs. Mary Burch
Crauford Kent	...	Attorney General (as Crawford Kent)
Keith Hitchcock	...	Commissionner (as Keith Kenneth)

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, California, USA

Company:

George A. Hirliman Productions

Quotes:

Daniel Boone: I wish I had let them hang you...
Simon Girty: You'll wish more than that before I get through with you. Tie him up. Get the fire.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Susan Slept Here (1954)

Soundtrack:

ROLL ON, WHEEL

Dated but solid

A well-crafted script efficiently sets up three areas of conflict: white settlers in 1775 Kentucky vs. local Indians stirred up by a renegade named Simon Girty; these same white settlers vs. corrupt officials back in Richmond; and he-man Daniel Boone vs. fancy-man Stephen Marlowe for the affections of the beautiful Virginia Randolph. These conflicts are woven together into a briskly-paced frontier drama which, while showing its age, still holds one's interest. Its chief fault is an ending which, at least on the tape available, seems unfocused and a bit confusing.

Though not well remembered today, leading man George O'Brien was a popular actor in late silents and early talkies. During a fight scene in 1924's "The Iron Horse" his shirt was torn off and audiences got an uncommon eyeful of "beefcake" which earned for O'Brien a nickname: the Chest. Though only 35 or 36 years old when he filmed "Daniel Boone," O'Brien shows signs of middle-age in the form of a somewhat expanded waistline but he's still featured in an extended "beefcake" scene. Captured by Indians he's tied, shirtless, to a post and soon surrounded by burning piles of wood. His bindings allow him to move in a tight circle around the post, (an authentic touch), so O'Brien sweats and squirms as he tries to avoid the tongues of flame. It's a good scene but cut far too short by an all-too-easy rescue. (A shirtless O'Brien also suffered through a prison flogging in 1928's "Honor Bound" but prints of this movie seem to be unavailable.)

John Carradine makes a hissable villain and Heather Angel is an appropriately pretty heroine but Ralph Forbes seems a bit "too, too" as the no-good Stephen Marlowe. No woman would regard him as a serious competitor for George O'Brien! Black actor Clarence Muse has a role surprisingly free of most of the era's usual stereotypes.