Man of the Forest (1933) User Reviews

A Friendly Mountain Lion

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 1 May 2006]

Randolph Scott who later became exclusively a western star got his first notice as a western in a series of Zane Grey films that were B films for Paramount his original studio. This is one of several Grey stories that Scott filmed at Paramount in the early Thirties.

It's not one of the best ones. He's a small land owner caught between two enemies, Harry Carey, Sr. and Noah Beery, Sr. They've had a feud going for a score of years. The beautiful niece of one of them comes west and the other sees an opportunity to finally grab the other's ranch.

Of course the niece falls for Scott, but he's got to do some shrew taming at first. And then Carey is killed and he's blamed for it.

Noah Beery the brother of Wallace Beery played a fine line of movie villains in mostly low budget stuff like this. Here's he's a villain in the Snidely Whiplash tradition with designs on the little Nell heroine. In fairness Beery isn't given all that much to work with as his Verna Hillie the heroine.

Of course this is a must for Randolph Scott fans who are a loyal bunch. It's a fine chance to see him in his younger days before those post World War II B westerns that he is now a screen legend for.

By the way Scott has a pet mountain lion who plays an interesting role in his rescue from the dastardly Beery.

"Cats grow big up here, it's the mountain air".

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 10 May 2009]

After watching and reviewing nearly three hundred Westerns on this forum, it's always a neat surprise to find one with an element or two that I haven't seen before. Not that "Man of the Forest" doesn't have one of the typically standard plots for a 'B' oater, because it does. This is one of those flicks where the evil town boss (Noah Beery Sr.) attempts to steal a rival's ranch out from under his niece who's arriving from back East to help out her uncle. Isn't it interesting that most of the time it's a returning niece or nephew instead of a son or daughter - I wonder why that is? Unless you've seen a bunch of these Thirties and Forties Westerns you might not give it a second thought, but it struck me enough today to comment on it, and believe me, I've seen a few hundred of these.

As for something 'new', the picture catches your interest in the opening scene when it looks like a mountain lion is stalking our hero Brett Dale (Randolph Scott), and attacks him from a rocky ledge. Surprise number one is that after wrestling the animal to a standoff, we find out that it's one of his pet lions. Surprise number two is that the mountain lion from the earlier stock footage is replaced by an African lioness! Not only that, but another lioness portrays the male counterpart! I was looking for a way to pluralize lioness (lionesses, lionii), but I came up empty - neither one sounds like it makes any sense. 'Mike' and 'Bessie' had a trio of cubs that looked as cute as all get out, and I think they helped in some small degree to win pretty Alice Gaynor (Verna Hillie) over to Brett Dale's side.

Before that happened though, Scott's character had to rescue Miss Alice from an attempted kidnapping by Clint Beasley's (Beery) henchmen. This is the second time now that I've seen a Western hero spank an uncooperative female in what many would consider to be a politically incorrect scenario (the other was Gene Autry putting Barbara Pepper over his knee in 1935's "Sagebrush Troubadour").

For Western fans, this one is a veritable treasure trove of familiar character actors of the era. Besides Beery, you have appearances by Harry Carey Sr., Barton MacLane, Buster Crabbe, and a slap dash comedy duo consisting of Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams and Vince Barnett. The pair get some mileage out of an ornery mule, and have a stake in making the save for Brett Dale in the finale.

Even though the picture is fairly run of the mill story-wise, I'd recommend it for a chance to see Randolph Scott in an early starring role. Interestingly, both Scott and director Henry Hathaway worked together on another Zane Grey based vehicle, "Heritage of the Desert" in 1932. It was Scott's first lead role and Hathaway's first directorial effort. It also had Big Boy Williams in the cast!

It looked as if Randolph Scott had borrowed Errol Flynn's mustache and one of Clyde Beatty's lions!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 24 February 2011]

The cast for this film is pretty good--with Randolph Scott, Harry Carey, Noah Beery, Barton MacLane, Buster Crabbe, Guinn Williams and many other familiar old faces. Unfortunately, the DVD copy is really bad--very choppy, overly dark and in need of restoration.

This is an early Randolph Scott western--you can tell because Scott was sporting a mustache similar to the one worn by Errol Flynn. This is a bit hard to imagine but what is MUCH more difficult is seeing him playing with his pet lion--yes, lion! While very few would notice, the lion DID change sex in the opening scene--with shots of an adolescent male and female switching repeatedly. Later, you learn that Scott owns several lions as pets...in the American West! It got even weirder in a scene soon after where Guinn Williams is seen wrestling a young mule--literally wrestling! What a bizarre movie! Scott learns that an evil boss-man (Beery) is planning on kidnapping a young lady. So, to thwart his wicked plan, he kidnaps the petulant young woman himself. But in the meantime, the girl's father is killed and Beery frames poor Scott for this. Can the ever-heroic Scott manage to avoid a hanging AND bring justice to the frontier? See this for yourself if you want to know how all this ends.

Overall, this is an enjoyable film despite its eccentricities--or perhaps because of them. The comic relief was actually pretty good, the acting decent (though Scott was a bit wooden--probably since it was one of his earliest starring roles) and the story engaging. Not great but quite enjoyable for a cheap B-movie.

Scenery, Mustache & African Lions

[sflynn22 · 4/10 · 31 December 2006]

This is a standard Western with all the proper elements: do-right hero (R. Scott), do-wrong villain (Noah Beery), henchmen and "characters", pretty scenery, and African lions (???).

It is interesting to see a youthful Randolph Scott with a face-altering mustache and spouting an odd aristocratic Southern dialect ("they ah coming hyeah") while masquerading as a woman-hating mountain man.

The "mountain lions" are of course African lions loaned out from Tarzan.

The scenery, wherever it is, is very nice: mountains and lonesome pines.

Noah Beery makes a nice villain, really very good at it, and Verna Hillie is attractive enough.

The plot and acting are no more absurd than a million other B-westerns.

a neat little western with a great cast

[railyard · 7/10 · 11 June 2007]

First of all, let me say that I'll watch any movie with Randolph Scott in it. My wife and I agree that he was the best of all the cowboy stars whether the movies were A, B, or Z. This was a thoroughly enjoyable film. It had a familiar but good story line, great scenery, and an outstanding supporting cast headed by Noah Beery and one of my favorites, Big Boy Williams. The acting was above average for this type of movie. Scott was handsome and actually dashing with his little mustache. He showed lots of wit and charm and none of the woodenness that would come later to his acting. I couldn't help laughing at some of the lines concerning women, considering his so- called homo affairs with Cary Grant at the same time that this movie was filmed. "I don't like women, I never have!" is quite a line as well as Harry Carey saying to him "maybe this will change your mind about women". The big blooper of the movie was trying to pass off African lions as mountain lions. They must have come from Buster Crabbes's jungle adventures. I did feel bad for the cubs when the mother was killed. Scott even said that they were too young to drink milk from a bowl And I HATE, HATE, HATE leg traps! Didn't he realize that he could have caught one of his own pet lions? In spite of the leg traps, this is a nice little movie that I won't mind watching again in a few months.

Lions and villains and vixens, oh my!

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 19 August 2015]

Yes, those are indeed real African lions playing the part of mountain lions in this western that has a very misleading title. There really is no forest here, although there are a lot of trees. The first "mountain" lion seen is stalking Scott as he prepares to head out of the mountains after having a conversation with landowner Harry Carey over his inability to own land due to a previous incarceration. Carey intends to hand over the deed to his niece (not daughter as the plot description insists) but the nefarious Noah Beery has other plans.

Those other plans don't just include kidnapping the pretty Verna Hillie, but later manhandling her as well, and that totally irks his long-time mistress Blanche Friderici, a widow who has hoped for marriage, but that hope has long been dashed. Scott manages to get Hillie first (Uncle Harry has been brutally murdered), and after convincing her that he's on her side and courting her with some adorable lion cubs, must protect her from the nefarious Beery and his men (which also includes Barton MacLane).

There's a running gag of funny man Vince Barnett trying to "wrastle" an ornery mule. I just wonder why it is that every "B" western must include some buffoon or grizzled side-kick when the plot on its own carries the film well enough. Still, there's enough action and excitement in the hour long running time including trapping the good guys in a burning building, but unpredictability has never been a factor in these low budget oaters, even those made by "A" studios such as Paramount here.