Last night we watched "Law and Order"(1942) another in the series of Billy the Kid Westerns starring Buster Crabbe. As the movie opens, Billy and his sidekicks "Fuzzy" (Al St. John) and "Jeff" (Dave O'Brien) are being chased by a U.S. Cavalry Troop. As usual, they're suspected of every crime in the area, and when they're caught and taken back to the Army fort (after Fuzzy tries faking his death to avoid arrest), the boys discover that the lieutenant at headquarters is a dead ringer for Billy. They could be twins, in fact, because it's the old Dual Role Routine with Buster playing both parts. This works to their advantage when Billy gets the better of his guard and runs back to the lieutenant's office, where he forces the LT to change clothes with him, then ties him up and escapes with Jeff and Fuzzy. Billy figures he did no wrong since they shouldn't have been arrested in the first place.
While resting on the way back to their hideout, Billy finds a letter in the LT's uniform, from his aunt, "Mary Todd" (Sarah Padden), inviting the lieutenant to her wedding. Billy figures he'd better attend in the LTs place (since they're lookalikes), otherwise, someone might wonder why the LT didn't show up, and get suspicious. But when Billy, Jeff and Fuzzy go to visit Aunt Mary, they discover a plot by Charles King to carry out a false marriage to someone other than her fiance. You see, Aunt Mary is blind. She doesn't know what her fiance looks like, so King, who's the justice of the peace in town (huge lol!), and is also a crook (big surprise) is gonna marry his pal to Aunt Mary, so they can get her money. Mary is the richest woman in town.
King starts to suspect that Billy - posing as the lieutenant - isn't who he says he is. King figures he's an impostor and sends his henchman "Turtle" (John Merton) out to kill him. This leads to some true hilarity as Turtle and some other thugs try and fail, three times, to kill Billy because by now, the real LT has gotten loose and has ridden into town to re-arrest Billy, and Turtle and his boys keep shooting the wrong guy. In addition to Charles King, you also get Ted Adams in this film, as a good guy! Yep, he's the Sheriff, and an honest one at that. How the heck did that happen? Billy's problem is that he has to keep the real LT from arresting him while trying to stop the marriage of the fake fiance to Aunt Mary. A solution presents itself when the boys find another letter from Mary, this time to her niece. They use it to trap the faker, who doesn't know Aunt Mary has a niece. This one is a super-cheapie from PRC, so there's no saloon and no town exteriors, though there is an entrance mock-up to the fort, but on the other hand you've got Buster, Al St. John and Dave O'Brien, the best trio since The Rough Riders, and you also have Charles King and Ted Adams in the same movie, both with prime roles, so casting-wise, it's an embarrassment of riches. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Law and Order" (no "Billy the Kid" in the title this time). Filmed at Walker Ranch, the picture is good but soft. ////
The previous night, we saw an interesting if offbeat Noir that focused on a relationship rather than a crime. In "Moontide"(1942), the great French actor Jean Gabin ("Pepe le Moko", "Touches Pas au Grisbi", "Grand Illusion") stars as "Bobo", an itinerant seaman ashore in a California coastal town. His friend "Tiny" (Thomas Mitchell) is looking for him in a seedy bar. Tiny is desperate to find Bobo because he relies on him for money and leadership. Tiny is a mooch and a psychological weakling, but his size and crude bearing makes him a formidable adversary when crossed. He leaves the bar still in search of Bobo, who shows up a little while later with his dog (a boxer), and proceeds to pretty much empty the joint of booze. He drinks so much that the bartender asks him to stop. After that, he hits on a dame and gets in a fight with her boyfriend. Tiny finally comes back and finds him, and they leave to go bar hopping. This sequence is a montage, showing Bobo dancing, fighting and drinking until he blacks out, which is depicted by "room spinning" photography.
Bobo wakes up on a bait sale barge in the wharf, not knowing how he got there until two Chinese fisherman pull up in their boat and explain that they met him the night before and gave him a place to stay. They offer him a job as a bait salesman in exchange for a dollar a day and a bottle of sake and he accepts, telling another friend "Nutsy" (Claude Rains) that it's a good enough life for him, a place to live and easy work. Tiny comes by and asks Bobo to go with him to San Francisco. He wants status and the high life, on Bobo's back of course. Bobo tells Tiny "no, I've got all I need right here, a dollar a day and a bottle". Then Tiny pulls out a blackmail (donald) trump card: "Hey Bobo, do you know there was a murder here at the wharf last night? Yeah, some old guy named Pop Kelly. He got strangled, and I know you don't remember what happened last night, but I do. I was with you, and I'd like to keep my mouth shut, but I'd also like it if we went to San Francisco if you get my drift." He's insinuating that Bobo strangled Pop Kelly in a drunken rage. The possibility of this is shown in the spinning room blackout scene, but its only that - a possibility. We know Bobo is a brawler, but is he a killer too?
He avoids Tiny after that, and the next time we see him, he's hanging out with Nutsy on the beach. It's late at night, and suddenly they see a fully clothed woman walking into the ocean. The implication is obvious; she's going to drown herself, and Bobo runs into the water to save her. Thus begins the main theme of the movie, Bobo's chance for love and redemption. The woman in the water is "Anna" (Ida Lupino), a waitress at a local cafe. We never find out why she wanted to kill herself, but once she's rescued by Bobo, he becomes her salvation. She comes back to life and cleans his filthy bait barge. They even buy drapes and do some interior decorating, once they decide its their Forever Home.
In the daytime, a doctor (Jerome Cowan) comes by on his boat, which needs repair. Bobo knows engines, and makes a new friend in the process. He tells the Doc, and Nutsy too, that he's thinking about marrying Anna.They think its great that Bobo is settling down, but when Tiny gets word of it back at the bar, he redoubles his blackmail threat, by suggesting again to Bobo that he ditch Anna and move to San Francisco with him. When that doesn't work, he shows up drunk at the bait barge when Bobo isn't there, and attacks Anna. This leads to the final confrontation between Bobo and Tiny over the blackmail. That's all I'm going to tell you about the plot, but it's quite a story and while it isn't a crime film, per se (as noted), the naturalistic acting, especially by Jean Gabin, give the film not only a sense of realism but the feeling that you're watching an actual melodrama play out in front of you. The way Gabin and Lupino speak to each other is like conversation rather than dialogue. The black and white photography is appropriately at the darker end of the grey scale, and the settings appear to be on sound stages. The movie has the feel of a play, with exaggerated supporting players ala Orson Welles. It's great stuff stylistically, and in plot, but the main draw is the acting.
Two Big Thumbs Up for "Moontide". Watch it for something a little different. It's highly recommended and the picture is razor sharp. ////
That's all for the moment. I'm listening to "The Good Earth" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, and I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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