The Law Commands (1937)

Night riders are terrorizing homesteaders, and the town doctor tries to keep the locals from forming a vigilante group. After more towns people are killed, however, the rest of the town ... See full summary »

Director:

William Nigh

Writer:

Bennett Cohen (story)

Stars:

Tom Keene, Lorraine Randall, Robert Fiske

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Tom Keene	...	Dr. Keith Kenton
Lorraine Randall	...	Mary Lee Johnson (as Lorraine Hayes)
Robert Fiske	...	John Abbott (as Robert Fisk)
Budd Buster	...	Kentuck' Jones
Matthew Betz	...	Frago, lead henchman (as Mathew Betz)
John Merton	...	Frank Clark
Carl Stockdale	...	Jed Johnson
Marie Stoddard	...	Min Jones
Charlotte Treadway	...	Martha Abbott
David Sharpe	...	Danny Johnson
Allan Cavan	...	Judge
Horace B. Carpenter	...	Jason the lead farmer (as Horace Carpenter)

Storyline

Night riders are terrorizing homesteaders, and the town doctor tries to keep the locals from forming a vigilante group. After more towns people are killed, however, the rest of the town makes the doctor the town sheriff and tells him to clean up the gang.

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Plot Keywords:

doctor | vigilante | outlaw

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Genres:

Western

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 May 1937 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Crescent Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

58 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Opening crawl: In 1862, the imminent passing of the Homestead Act, giving all Americans the right to acquire 160 acres of government land, started the tide of empire westward. The rich lands of Iowa beckoned, but no sooner had settlers planted their crops when ruthless land sharks made their appearance. Their terror was especially felt in Johnson County where cowardly night riders descended on the farmers and drove them from their lands.

User Reviews

A Crescent Picture!

Produced by E.B. Derr, a former adviser to Joseph P. Kennedy, the Low-budget Crescent Pictures productions starring Tom Keene were not advertised so much as Westerns but as historical adventure yarns. "The Law Commands," however, is the usually sagebrush tale of an upstanding citizen battling a criminal protection syndicate in Iowa at the time of statehood. As such, it isn't half bad and the surviving print remains watchable if slightly on the scratchy side. Of interest to B-Western fans is a large role for good old Horace B. Carpenter, a character star for Cecil DeMille in the 1910s who was offered mostly one-line bits in the talkie era. Always a bit of a ham, Horace chews the scenery with abandon here as well as the head of the local farmers cheated out of their land by greedy Robert Fiske. Budd Buster plays the comic sidekick role in ersatz Gabby Hayes style and Tom Keene is his usual stoic self. The leading lady, Lorraine Hayes, was the sister of B-Movie femme fatale Bernadene Hayes and not, as some sources suggest, the future Laraine Day.