Last night we had Bob Steele going up against Charles King in "Last of the Warrens"(1936). Bob is a fighter pilot returning from WW1, and in the opening scene we see him shot down over Santa Clarita, a town in northern France. His family and friends think he's dead. He's been sending them letters every week to let them know he's okay, but has received no replies. He asks his nurse at the army hospital why this is, but she can't explain it. When he returns home, everyone is surprised to see him, none more than his Dad, who is overjoyed. Dad's lost the mortgage on the family ranch, but the seemingly big-hearted Charles King (wearing a suit and tie and clean cut!) has been kind enough to keep him on as foreman. King owns the general store in town, and as we know, general store owners are high on the list of Western criminals. But King couldn't be a bad guy this time, could he? Oh, he's bought the mortgage on Dad's ranch, but that doesn't mean he's been rustling Dad's cattle so that Dad won't be able to make his payments, does it? You've gotta be joshin' me! What's that you're saying? King also has a secret grudge? I can hardly believe it. He's the last member of his family as well, and their rivalry with the Warrens dates back a generation. King believes they put his family's ranch out of business and has been seeking revenge ever since.
But what King wants most of all is Bob's girl "Mary Burns" (Margaret Marquis). When Bob was assumed dead, King courted Mary, and there's a scene early on where he's trying to sweet talk her into marriage. She's a clerk at King's store, and he soft pedals his proposal, hat in hand like a true gentleman, his hair clean, cut short and slicked back, with his nice suit on. This is as close to King's look from his silent film days as you're ever gonna see, ditto his acting range, which is more subtle than you might imagine. But no matter how much he tries to persuade her, Mary isn't buying. She tells him, "I'm grateful for the job, and for keeping Dad as your foreman, but I don't love you". What is she, nuts? How can she not love Charles King? He even tries the old "you'll grow to love me over time" routine, but she doesn't want it, because she's still pining for Bob Steele. When he arrives back in town after being thought dead, King is incensed. He immediately sends two honchos out to kill Bob, but they fail, so he sets a trap for Bob's Dad and shoots him himself. Then he wraps Dad's body in a sheet and quick-buries it under a pile of leaves in Placerita Canyon.
But Dad isn't as dead as King thought. He frees himself and walks back to the ranch, where the local doc and his old pal "Grizzly" (Horace Murphy) nurse him back to health. By this time, Bob is onto King and swears to take him down if he can prove King is the guy who shot Dad. King gets scared (omg! who wrote that into the script?) and hires a new gunman, a big old scary lookin' galoot named "Slip Gerns" (Blackie Whitford), who's been hanging out at the town saloon. To show King he's getting his money's worth, the big guy produces a wanted poster that shows his picture and a reward offer: "Wanted for Murder, Dead or Alive". King is impressed and hires Gerns on the spot, with instructions for him to kill Bob Steele. "Consider it done," Gerns says, but just when he's getting ready to do it, a huge twist occurs. I can't tell you what it is, but you'll like it, and you'll love this movie, which gives us a different side of Charles King in his biggest role yet. We're becoming big fans of Bob Steele too, just for his overall Bob Steele-ness. I like that they don't portray him as a lawman, which wouldn't work because of his stature and youthful look, but as a scrappy good guy instead. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Last of the Warrens". The picture is worn but sharp.
The previous night, we watched Tim McCoy in "West of Rainbow's End (1938). Tim plays a retired railroad marshal (his characters are always named Tim) who is called in to investigate, after a senior marshal named "Lighting Ed" (Frank LaRue), is killed while trying to solve the murder of a train engineer. Lightning Ed was beloved in town, so Tim stops in at Sally's Donut Shop to inquire about him. Sally's becomes the centerpiece of the film, as Tim learns a lot about the gang that runs the town, headed up by the land office manager "George Reynolds" (Walter McGrail) and his henchmen, who conduct train and mail robberies, and are trying to force Sally's Ma and Pa off their ranch so they can sell the land to the railroad. The henchmen in this movie look like real-life sociopaths; they don't have the "Charles King factor" of affable evilness, but man are they lowdown, shoot-em-in-the-back types. Reynolds their boss is a crumb bum who never does his own dirty work, and of course, the saloon owner (Reed Howes) is in on the deal.
When McCoy shows up, one honcho is chosen by the boss to take him out, but the guy gets his hat handed to him again and again. You'd think Reynolds would choose someone else, but no, he keeps sending this one guy. He looks like a real life Western badman, but of course he's no match for McCoy, who always unwraps a stick of gum before getting ready to draw. This is one of his contemporary Westerns. Sally (Kathleen Eliot) wears 1930s dresses, and as mentioned a lot of the film takes place in her cafe, where the donuts are always fresh. Tim likes the apple pie, and when Sally runs out of it, she invites him home (Mom makes all the pies), and of course that starts the romance, such as it is. Tim McCoy generally doesn't do the romantic front (too stoic), but Kathleen Eliot (who plays Sally) must've been the producer's daughter because she gets maximum screen time and she's an actress with only three credits. She's good though, and it makes for a nice angle to have a donut shop as the unofficial headquarters for a Western. Two Big Thumbs Up for "West of Rainbow's End".
That's basically all I know. I listened to a album by an obscure band called "Home", featuring Laurie Wisefield from the Mark II lineup of Wishbone Ash, which is how I came to discover it. I was watching a 1976 Ash concert from Rockpalast on Youtube and was very impressed with Wisefield's playing (his Strat tone is incredible), and I discovered he was originally from this other band, which also featured Cliff Williams who went on to play bass for AC/DC. The album is called "The Alchemist" by Home, and while it isn't perhaps a classic, as such, it does have a nice, consistent light-prog sound that is very appealing in the vein of, say, Barclay James Harvest or even Kansas. Give it a listen if you shall. I'm also continuing to watch "Captain Marvel" with Tom Tyler. By chapter 5, The Scorpion has lured Marvel into Bronson Cave, where he's promised to reveal his identity behind the mask. But it's all a trap, and when Marvel gets inside, The Scorpion and his henchmen use the metallic scorpion device to turn the inside of the cave into molten rock, which is filling the cave and will kill Captain Marvel if he can't get out. We know that he can withstand just about anything, but he may have met his match this time. Or not.
I hope you are having a good week despite the awful news and the general state of America and the World, and I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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