God's Country and the Man (1937) User Reviews

A departure for the production line westerns.

[Mozjoukine · 22 March 2006]

While this is neither a masterpiece or a breakthrough, GOD'S COUNTRY AND THE MAN is full of surprises for regular viewers of the series westerns of its day.

To start with, nominal star Tom Keene is a less central character than queen of the Bs Betty Compson, taking her demotion from one time star of the silent spectacular PONY EXPRESS unconcerned. She's a gypsy violinist Dance Hall Entertainer who is done wrong by Charlie King (junior!) and throws in with vengeance bound Keene. Their atmospheric meeting on the trail, by her campfire at night, is one of the film's departures.

King has a bigger part than we are used to seeing him get and ALICE IN WONDERLAND Henry is the romantic interest rather than Compson. They all carry their loads quite skillfully. The ambush and rescue of the Mountie is nicely staged.

There is a bit of the notion of town as character that you get in HELLS HINGES, CAT BALOU or SONS OF KATIE ELDER, before we settle down for the belated arrival of action and background music.

I quite enjoyed this one even with all the expected faults and cost cutting you find in these.

Not bad, but it didn't work for me

[dbborroughs · 5/10 · 16 December 2009]

Tom Keene Western about what happens in the wake of a robbery going wrong and an innocent man is shot. The man's son (Keene) vows revenge, ends up hooked up with the bad guys girl friend (who is a violin virtuoso), finds a vein of gold, ends up in Canada waiting for the villain to reappear. It's a wild and convoluted story that didn't quite work for me. I think part of the problem is the over use of stock footage in the outdoor sequences. It makes for film that seems to come from a much earlier time than the 1937 release date. Actually it makes the film less action packed then it is. Keene, an actor I quite like, also seems rather stiff and overly serious in this film, something I've never seen in any of his other films I've seen. The film is not without its charms, it moves along at a nice pace heading in a direction ( Canada ) that one normally doesn't see in most westerns. There are also some odd twists and turns, chief among them being the ex-girlfriend of the bad guy taking her fortune to open a music hall where she plays her violin in the hope of bringing her ex to justice, that make this far from run of the mill. Still it didn't grab me the way it should have. Not bad but not as good as it should have been