"Arkansas Judge" is a most unusual film. It stars the musical act 'The Weaver Brothers and Elviry' and Roy Rogers himself is there in a supporting role....which is quite unexpected since Roy was a big star by the time he appeared in this movie. I suppose Republic Studio wanted to use Roy's popularity to support the Weavers. It's also an unusual film because Rogers is not playing a character named 'Roy'....which he did in the vast majority of his pictures.
The story is set in a small town that seems, at first, as a nice place to live. However, when a woman loses some money, she begins wildly accusing someone with little evidence. Soon, other folks start accusing each other. And, ultimately, it results in a newspaper article blaming someone, without any real evidence! And, through the course of this, this nice town turns out to be an awful, ugly town full of hypocrites and scum-bags. The story is obviously a story about gossiping and lying....and it's not exactly subtle.
While not at all subtle, the film isn't bad....at least until the court hearing. The hearing is possibly one of the worst written courtroom scenes I have ever seen. Most of the evidence given is hearsay....and the judge even allowed a telephone operator to testify about what she's overheard while eavesdropping on phone calls! Not only is this hearsay but also highly illegal. There also is a woman who CONTINUALLY yells out at the witnesses...but she isn't tossed out of the courtroom. But even more ridiculous is when a guy shoots a gun off in court at one of the witnesses...and the man isn't arrested!! Insane...and badly written....and it really ruins the film...at least for me.
By the way, The Weaver Brothers and Elviry first appeared in the god-awful movie "Swing Your Lady". The film was so poor that it made it to the infamous book "The Fifty Worst Movies of All Time" by Harry Medved....an amazing and clever book if you can find a copy.
The story is set in a small town that seems, at first, as a nice place to live. However, when a woman loses some money, she begins wildly accusing someone with little evidence. Soon, other folks start accusing each other. And, ultimately, it results in a newspaper article blaming someone, without any real evidence! And, through the course of this, this nice town turns out to be an awful, ugly town full of hypocrites and scum-bags. The story is obviously a story about gossiping and lying....and it's not exactly subtle.
While not at all subtle, the film isn't bad....at least until the court hearing. The hearing is possibly one of the worst written courtroom scenes I have ever seen. Most of the evidence given is hearsay....and the judge even allowed a telephone operator to testify about what she's overheard while eavesdropping on phone calls! Not only is this hearsay but also highly illegal. There also is a woman who CONTINUALLY yells out at the witnesses...but she isn't tossed out of the courtroom. But even more ridiculous is when a guy shoots a gun off in court at one of the witnesses...and the man isn't arrested!! Insane...and badly written....and it really ruins the film...at least for me.
By the way, The Weaver Brothers and Elviry first appeared in the god-awful movie "Swing Your Lady". The film was so poor that it made it to the infamous book "The Fifty Worst Movies of All Time" by Harry Medved....an amazing and clever book if you can find a copy.