20 Mule Team

This unremarkable film follows the exploits of borax miner Beery, and his Piute sidekick Carillo, in Death Valley as the 19th century winds down. The storyline is rather arbitrary--the promise of discovering a "motherlode" of borax could just as easily have been about gold or silver in another setting entirely--as Beery allies with oily Fowley (so memorable as the frustrated film director in "Singin' In The Rain") and later turns against him when his motives are made clearer. The perfunctory storyline could have been set in any-Western-town-USA and unfortunately does little to exploit the fascinating historical aspect of Death Valley, California. On the other hand, most of the exteriors were shot on location in Death Valley (in the winter, I hope) and the unique scenery is understandably spectacular in glorious black and white.

Baxter is lovely in her film debut, though her character's presence is little more than an excuse to dislike Fowley even more than we do. Beery is his usual blustery self so his fans will not be disappointed. But the film is, alas, just another cookie-cutter western that Hollywood churned out so frequently in the 30's and 40's; in other words, an inoffensive time-filler.