Rangers of Fortune (1940)

User Rating:

(awaiting 5 votes)

Director:

Sam Wood

Writer:

Frank Butler (writer)

Release Date:

27 September 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Two cowboys come to the aid of a town under the control of a crooked boss. |

Cast

Fred MacMurray	...	Gil Farra
Patricia Morison	...	Sharon McCloud
Betty Brewer	...	Mary Elizabeth 'Squib' Clayborn
Albert Dekker	...	George Bird
Gilbert Roland	...	Antonio Hernandez Sierra
Joseph Schildkraut	...	Col. Lewis Rebstock
Dick Foran	...	Johnny Cash
Arthur B. Allen	...	Mr. Prout
Bernard Nedell	...	Tod Shelby
Brandon Tynan	...	Homer Granville Clayborn
Minor Watson	...	Clem Bowdry
Rosa Turich	...	Caressa

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Victorville, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Agreeable minor western with classy personnel.

At the end of the long run as an MGM contract director, Sam Wood with GOODBYE MR. CHIPS and NIGHT AT THE OPERA on his C.V., found himself doing a B western. That must have been a shock but he had a first rate cast, Dietrich's musician and Ernst Lubitsch's camera man along, so he got stuck into what proved to be an entertaining minor production moved away from the expected cowboy action - note the shift from dramatic to comedy at the end of the big shoot out.

Drifters McMurray, Dekker (doing dumb comic) and Roland battle villain Schildkraut, with Patricia Morrison for female interest. We could have done without the moppet but the mounting is expert and the cast comfortably superior to their material.