Last night, Buster Crabbe and Marsha Hunt were back, in "Arizona Raiders"(1936), another Ton of Western Fun from the pen of Zane Grey. Crabbe is a cowpoke and Marsha is a ranch owner, and as the movie opens, Buster is about to be strung up for horse thievery. He isn't guilty (he just swapped horses without telling the other guy), but that doesn't stop the law-and-order vigilantes who're holding the rope. Fortunately for Buster, he's able to pull a fast one on the gang and ride away, albeit with his hands tied behind his back. After freeing himself, he rides through the mountains to find that a man named "Tracks Williams" (Raymond Hatton) is about to suffer the same fate. Buster doesn't like the hurry-up-and-hang-em crowd, so he rescues Tracks even though he doesn't know him. When they get to a safe hiding place, Buster sees a wanted poster for Tracks, with every crime in the book listed. Tracks is a goofy sort, though. Buster isn't much threatened by him. They make their way to a ranch owned by Marsha Hunt, who gives them jobs.
Hunt has just broken up the pending marriage of her younger sister "Lenta" (Betty Jane Rhodes). "You're only 17", she tells her. Lenta doesn't like it, she gets all depressed and it's an excuse for a musical interlude where she sings "My Melancholy Baby" whilst accompanying herself on piano.
There's a great scene, in which Crabbe and Tracks, with Lenta's jilted fiancee along for the ride, start a cattle stampede by blowing off fireworks. Marsha Hunt's lawyer is trying to take over her ranch, and plans to steal the cattle, so Crabbe makes his own plan to steal them first and thus negate the lawyer's scheme. The result is an awesome stampede, and you've gotta wonder how they got some of those camera angles without anyone getting trampled. "Arizona Raiders" is high on the hijinx from Raymond Hatton as "Tracks". It could've used a stronger villain (Harry Woods should've been the lawyer) and better production values. They seem to have splurged on the set of the town, but went cheap on the action shots. The kind of wonderful scenic footage that we saw at Garden of the Gods in "Desert Gold" is missing here, replaced by blurry riding scenes that look like they were back-projected. Still, Crabbe is at his best here, adding some gallantry and even a little humor to his role. He was very serious in the other two films we saw previously, so he's more of a matinee idol in this one.
They may have made "Desert Gold" and "Arizona Raiders" back to back, as Crabbe, Hunt and Hatton are in both films, and both were made the same year. This one's almost freewheeling, as if the filmmakers said, "well, we spent most of our dough on 'Desert Gold'. Let's just have fun this time". It doesn't feel like a full-on Zane Grey script, except in the serious parts where Marsha Hunt confronts her sister. I would love to see this movie again, with a better print. The quality was marginal; all the other Zane Greys we've seen were either razor sharp or close to it. The villain aspect is almost non-existent compared to the other ZGs, but for just letting loose and lettin' er rip, "Arizona Raiders" gets Two Big Thumbs Up. You can't go wrong when you have Buster Crabbe and Marsha Hunt, and for that reason it's very highly recommended. ////
The previous night, good ol' George O'Brien was back in "The Dude Ranger"(1934), the earliest Zane Grey we've seen so far. George plays "The Dude"(long before Jeff Bridges), heading west from New York to take over a cattle ranch in Arizona that he's just inherited from his uncle. Zane Grey loves cattle ranches in Arizona, as you may have noticed, haha. When The Dude gets there, after a cross-country train ride, he finds out that his ranch is only worth half its former value, due to an as-yet-unidentified cattle rustler, who is stealing all the Dogies in a mystifying way. To try and catch whoever it is, The Dude decides to pose as an anonymous cowboy looking for work. After all, nobody knows him. He gets hired at the ranch by the beautiful "Ann Hepburn" (Irene Harvey), the daughter of his uncle's business partner. The first half of the movie is devoted to rom/com push and pull between the The Dude and Ann. She's trying to make her current beau jealous, and she does so by inviting Dude to the upcoming square dance. Her beau, the ranch foreman "Dale Hyslip" (LeRoy Mason) wants Dude out of the way, even though Dude assures him he has no designs on Ann (yeah sure).
Dude meets "Sam Hepburn", Ann's dad, an invalid confined to a wheelchair. She can be a prima donna, but she does love her pa, and takes care of him with the help of "Martha" (Alma Chester), the Hepburn's hosekeeper. Meanwhile, Dude partners up with ranch hand "Nebrasky" (Syd Saylor), a banjo strummin' cowpoke who's prone to break out a tune or two. While riding up in the hills, Dude and Nebrasky discover a "box canyon", a canyon with only one exit, and they observe Hyslip moving cattle out the other end. Aha! So, he's the rustler!
What Ann Hepburn doesn't know is that her father isn't crippled, he's just faking it so he can watch what happens when his men think he's confined to his wheelchair and can't observe them. He knows someone is stealing the cows, but doggone it, he can't figure out who. Then we see him jump up out of his wheelchair when no one is around, and ride a horse out to box canyon, where he too sees Hyslip stealing the cattle. George O' Brien is the most athletic of the Zane Grey stars we've seen, including Buster Crabbe, who - although he was an Olympic champion swimmer - doesn't have O'Brien's nimble jumping and climbing abilities. But the real star of this movie is Irene Harvey, who looks and acts modern, like a girl from our time. Is that a good thing or a bad thing, lol? Well, you know what I mean. Watching these old films, and this one is almost ninety years old, I have a theory that people have always been people. Put the right makeup and clothing on a woman from 1934 (or 1834), and the right hairstyle, and she'll look and act like a woman from today. Same with men. The only thing that's changed is the culture created by our inventions. Anyway, another great Zane Grey, this time shot in Arizona with a finale at the Grand Canyon, featuring one stunt during a fight scene where it's lucky someone didn't go over the edge. Two Big Thumbs Up! The picture's a little soft, but as with every Zane Grey, it's very highly recommended. /////
I'm listening to the last Jim Svejda show as I write. Right now, he's playing a piece called "Lux aeterna" by Morten Lauridsen, a choral work that's a perennial KUSC favorite. He began the show with "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" by Richard Strauss, the piece he said introduced him to classical music. For me, as noted in a previous blog, it would've been either Mozart K545, or Bach Minuet in G major, or maybe a sonata by Scarlatti, all of which Dad either had on LP or played himself on the piano. Dad was also a big fan of Richard Strauss, whose "Tod und Verklarung" was perhaps his own personal favorite classical piece.
I've said it before; I can't begin to explain the effect, or the importance, or the meaning of Jim Svejda's influence on my life. He's literally been here every night for me for the past twenty five years, with the exception of maybe 20 nights a year (1& 1/2 a month) when I've gone to a concert or some other event. Really, since I moved in with Mom in 1997, then continuing through my years with Pearl, I've haven't gone out much, and haven't had much of a social life, but I've always had KUSC, and at 7pm, I've always been tuned in to 91.5 fm, to hear the strains of Bohuslav Martinu's Piano Sonata #1 open the show, followed by the unmistakable voice saying, "Good evening..........this is Jim Svejda". Longtime fans are comparing his tenure and cultural significance in Los Angeles to that of Vin Scully, and I agree, he's a legend on that level, but for me he's even more important because I've been listening to him every night, or close to it. I'd say Jim Svejda, more than anyone or anything else, is most responsible for classical overtaking rock n' roll as the music I listen to the most. Nothing against rock - I love it and always will, and still listen a lot. But I mostly listen to classical now, and that's due to the influence of KUSC, and especially Jim Svejda (and Dad, who got the ball rolling).
It's gonna be hard to not have him with us anymore, he's like a family member to so many loyal listeners. I'm hoping the station (or someone) has a Jim Svejda archive. A rough estimate tells me he did around 13,000 shows during his time on the air. Man, if they could do re-runs, even just a program a week would keep us from missing him entirely.
Long live Jim Svejda. The one and only. There'll never be anyone like him.
That's all I know for tonight. I wish you a happy weekend and I send you Tons of Love, as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment