Last night, Tim McCoy was back in another alternative setting, this time as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, in "Fighting Shadows"(1935). The plot could be taken from any of his Westerns, so you can lay it over the snowy context: As Tim is riding through Big Bear, he hears a shot and finds a colleague dying in the snow. Before he expires, the wounded Mountie writes a note that names his killer. Tim goes after the guy immediately and finds him on a nearby slope. He shoulder-shoots him, then he brings him back to jail to make him talk, knowing that no one risks killing a member of the RCMP unless they're in between a rock and a hard place. "Who're you working for?" Tim asks him. "You'd better tell me or you're gonna hang." The guy confesses to being part of a fur trapping ring, "but I swear I don't know who's running it! Go to town and talk to a man named Stalkey. He's their representative!"
Tim finds Stalkey (Otto Hoffman), who turns out to be an old coot, but a tough one. He won't talk, and worse than that, his attitude suggests he's got muscle to back him up. Tim is surprised at the brazenness of the trappers, having the guts to stand up to the Mounties. He figures whoever is running the trapper gang must have some pretty serious connections. Well, next he runs into an old adversary, "Brad Harrison" (Ward Bond), a trapper who claims to have run Tim out of Canada when Tim was a fur trapper, too. Brad swears Tim stole a rabbit hide from him, but what also bugs him is that Tim loves his sister. "I have no time now for personal grudges", he tells Brad. He can't get into fights because the honor of a Mountie is sacrosanct. His Dad, an RCMP Captain, has drilled this into him. As he digs into the mystery of who's heading up the trapping gang, a double cross appears to be in play. Brad Harrison and Stalkey are trying to screw the organised fur trappers, who are price gouging, by stealing all the furs for resale below the border. They are taking an enormous chance because the entire trapper's union is behind the assault on the Mounted Police. Tim tries to talk sense into Harrison by asking him to help break up the racket. Brad agrees to help, but only after Tim bests him in a punchout. Then he reveals where he and Stalkey have stashed the furs, in the basement of his sister's cabin. The plot is very simple, so the main draw is the Big Bear setting. I prefer Tim McCoy on the range, but "Fighting Shadows" still gets Two Big Thumbs Up. It's recommended because you don't see many movies about the Mounties, and the picture is very good. ////
The previous night's movie was "The Return of Daniel Boone"(1941) starring Wild Bill Elliott, who we came to know from his detective flicks a few months ago. The title is misleading, because Elliott's character is actually Bill Boone, Daniel's nephew, who's returned to Pecos Cty to settle down and find a job. He has a reputation as a gunfighter, which gets him noticed after he settles a score outside the local saloon. The Mayor (Walter Sonderling) and his crooked friend "Kilgrain" (Ray Bennett) ask Bill to be the town's new tax collector. The last one was shot and killed by "Ellen Brandon" (Betty Miles), and with justification, because the taxes in Pecos are exorbitant and collected by strong arm tactics. The Mayor and Sheriff are under the thumb of Kilgrain, who owns the saloon and runs the show in Pecos.
Bill accepts the job of taxman, because he's figured out that Killgrain is a criminal, and the only way to stop him - because he has the Mayor and Sheriff in his pocket - is by playing the Devil's Advocate. He brings in his old pal "Cannonball" (Dub Taylor), an accordianist and singer, to be part of the infiltration. Cannonball is happy to oblige, because since the opening scene he's been trying to escape the clutches of Melinda, a singer-guitarist of marriage-oriented songs, who looks at Cannonball with plaintive eyes and corners him with lyrics of everlasting holy matrimony. He's one of those guys who cringes at the word "women", and Melinda is the man-capturing type, the spider to his prey. So, when Bill Boone comes calling, he's only too happy to join the tax-collecting deception, even if it means posing as a singing waiter and sneaking into Kilgrain's office to riffle his papers, and thereby risk his life. For Cannonball, anything is better than having Melinda chase after him, (though to us she's a true Western Sweetheart).
But ol' Cannonball cant win, because Melinda has a twin, a sister named Matilda who works at the saloon, and now she's got her eyes on him, once she finds out he's a singer. The twins are played by real-life Hillbilly singers The Rodik Twins, who are terrific balladeers. Meanwhile, Bill Boone pretends to be a tough tax collector, roughing up the ranchers so he can entrap Kilgrain. But Ellen Brandon keeps getting in the way of his plan because he's too convincing as a bad guy. She thinks he really is working for Kilgrain and tells him, "I've already killed your predecessor, don't think I won't kill you". And even when Bill tries to save her Dad's ranch from being sold at auction, she undermines him by arriving with her posse. They hold the auctioneer at gunpoint and destroy all the progress Bill has made in gathering evidence against Kilgrain. This leaves it up to Bill to trap him with one last chance, by getting him to open the safe at the Mayor's office. After all, why should he have the combination if the Mayor is in charge of the tax money? Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Return of Daniel Boone". There's ample comic relief in this one, from Dub Taylor and The Rodik Twins, and you can't beat Wild Bill Elliott as a laconic Cowboy star. The picture is very good. ///
I have another bonus movie for you, briefly reviewed. It's called "Lonesome"(1928) directed by Paul Fejos of "Fantomas" fame. This film follows two young New Yorkers, who go to their jobs everyday, then come home exhausted and alone. Jimmy works a punch-press in a factory, Mary is a telephone operator. Life is dull and lonely for both of them, and though they each have sets of friends (all in relationships) who invite them on outings, Jimmy and Mary always decline because they don't want to be fifth wheels. Then one Saturday, things change for them when a flatbed truck drives through their neighborhood, with a brass band advertising a beach carnival. A bus is offering rides for a buck, so Jimmy and Mary, each with no knowledge of the other, take a trip to the carnival on their Saturday off work, in the hope of having some fun, and maybe.......just maybe......meeting someone special. Well, of course we already can guess that they're going to meet each other, and they do. They have a magical afternoon at the carnival and the beach, and by the end of the day they're in love. But then they get separated by the hustle-bustle all around them, and I can't tell you what happens after that. However, this movie is an absolute gem, for the photography alone, and for it's depiction of Coney Island and New York City circa 1928. It's also a partial Talkie (mostly Silent but with a few scenes that have dialogue). I'll have to look it up, to see if it was dubbed during the Criterion restoration, but I am guessing it was not, that the talking was in the original film. Maybe they were already breaking in sound technology in 1928, and then it came out full-blown a year later. Anyhow, the two stars are great, you can IMDB them and the movie for more details. "Lonesome" is slightly reminiscent of "Sunset" by F.W. Murnau, though it's not a tragedy, but like that movie it's an absolute masterpiece, 10 out of 10 on every count. That's why I'm giving it Two Gigantic Thumbs Up and my very highest recommendation. Absolutely don't miss "Lonesome", on Criterion. ////
And that's all I know. I'm reading Elvis and listening to National Health and I send you Tons of Love as always! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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