Branded (1931)
7/10
Enjoyable Buck Jones "B"
26 January 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Directed at such a fast clip and making such fascinating use of natural locations, most audiences won't really notice any primitive technical shortcomings, such as the complete absence of background music and the variable lighting of the cinematography. The unusually complicated plot-line retains the interest, despite the presence of John Oscar's Swede who not only provides lots of irritating comic relief, but sings a couple of songs as well! The little heroine is realistically unglamorous and in fact realism is what the movie is all about. A far cry indeed from the Roy Rogers' brand of phony, fancy "B"-westerns!

If you like Buck Jones (and who doesn't?), you'll enjoy this largely-filmed-on-location little western. True, it's not as inventively directed as some of Jones' later efforts, and our hero is saddled with an uncommonly unfunny and irritatingly maladroit sidekick, but the action spots are lively enough, with hero and villains doing their own fighting. Yes, the camera does cheat a bit by speeding up the action, but otherwise this little picture is realistic almost to a fault. You can just about smell the dust and sweat of men and beasts.
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