The Anchor (1940)
"Pioneers of the Frontier" (original title)

After Brawley kills his boss Mort Saunders, he and his men take control of all the ranches in the valley. When Wild Bill arrives to help the ranchers he is thrown in jail by the crooked ... See full summary »

Director:

Sam Nelson

Writers:

Fred Myton (original story), Fred Myton (screenplay)

Stars:

Bill Elliott, Dorothy Comingore, Dick Curtis

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bill Elliott	...	Wild Bill Saunders
Dorothy Comingore	...	Joan Darcey (as Linda Winters)
Dick Curtis	...	Matt Brawley
Dub Taylor	...	Cannonball Simms
Stanley Brown	...	Henchman Dave
Richard Fiske	...	Henchman Bart
Carl Stockdale	...	Jim Darcey
Lafe McKee	...	Mort Saunders
Ralph McCullough	...	Lem Watkins
Al Bridge	...	Marshal Larsen

Storyline

After Brawley kills his boss Mort Saunders, he and his men take control of all the ranches in the valley. When Wild Bill arrives to help the ranchers he is thrown in jail by the crooked Sheriff.

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Plot Keywords:

heir | settler | jail | nephew | foreman | 

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Taglines:

A Wild Bill Saunders Adventure

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Genres:

Romance | Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 February 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Anchor

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

58 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Dave (an outlaw) is shown with an arm in a sling even before he's shot by the hero.

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Connections

Follows The Taming of the West (1939)

User Reviews

A Peaceable Man Gets Riled

Wild Bill Elliott is playing Wild Bill Saunders once again in Pioneers Of The Frontier. This story has Saunders coming in to avenge the death of his uncle at the hands of perennial western villain Dick Curtis who was foreman of the uncle's vast Ponderosa like holdings.

The uncle played by Lafe McKee has an interesting scheme whereby he has pieces of his real estate leased by various small farmers and ranchers to make a go of it as he can't possibly oversee the whole thing himself. Something Ben Cartwright sure never tried. But Curtis murders both McKee and Carl Stockdale the lessee of one of the tracts. His daughter is Dorothy Comingore who gets interested in Wild Bill as a savior and maybe a husband.

As Elliott was McKee's nephew and closest heir it seemed to me that if he shows up and says to Curtis and his gun-hands to just clear out that would be all that was needed. But Curtis is far more megalomaniacal than he usually is as a villain and he likes running things even if he hasn't the semblance of a legal title to anything.

That makes Pioneers Of The Frontier a bit hard to swallow. But I'm sure the Saturday matinée kids didn't care at all in 1940.