One wonders, and perhaps if a fan of the genre, worries, about the fate of the vintage B Western. A handful of movies of the 1930s and ‘40s will remain immortal, but there aren’t many left who saw “oaters” when they were new in theatres, playing at the lower half of a double bill or paired on a Saturday afternoon with a half dozen cartoons and a serial chapter for the kids. Even those who were introduced to them via seemingly non-stop TV showings throughout the 1950s and early 1960s are getting up there, and while my personal experiences in sharing film history encompasses many styles of films, I’ve never come across a young person yet who asked about Roy Rogers, Lash Larue, or the Cisco Kid.
For those of us who do love these things, though, Warner Archive has been generous, dipping into B Westerns from their RKO, Warners, and especially Monogram vault with a series of much-loved DVD sets, and now we have a very welcome trio of examples of the art, so to speak, of the B western, all very different and quite satisfying, on one punch-packed Blu-ray.
B Westerns were personality driven (stars often used their real, or at least “real stage” names, from film to film), and typically a studio could be counted on to produce series of 6 to 8 films a year starring a box office favorite. Two of the three films here qualify. Western Renegades stars Johnny Mack Brown, a staple of the genre for almost 20 years by this point, and notably past his prime although still able to ride, shoot, and slug with the best of ‘em. Johnny is coming to town to visit an old friend, a retired lawman, only to land in the middle of a murder, frame-up, and inheritance scheme. Every good cowboy deserves a humorous sidekick, and Johnny’s got Max “Alibi” Terhune, formerly of the Three Mesquiteers, who’s brought his dummy Elmer Sneezeweed with him (Alibi’s a ventriloquist, and how he ever got elected sheriff, we’ll never know), with Hugh Prosser as the despicable villain. Not a bad film, but you should’ve seen Johnny in the 1930s in his serials to really appreciate his panache and charisma on a horse.
Crashing Thru has everything you need for a terrific B Western save one thing that we’ll get to later. Andy Clyde, famous screen funnyman (as a young man, he wore a grey wig and fake whiskers and his character was a fussy old man; he eventually grew into the role) is the comic sidekick here, and he walks off with the picture. Whereas Western Renegades was directed by Wallace Fox, who had directed lousy serials, Crashing Thru was steered by Ray Taylor, one of the finest serial directors and a master of non-stop action, notably on display. A lot of favorite faces in this one, including Tris Coffin (King of the Rocketmen) and George J. Lewis (Don Diego’s father on Disney’s Zorro), always a delight. An undercover man becomes the town marshal by taking the place of a dead man, but when the corpse’s sister shows up, it’s going to get tricky.
Oh, and that brings us to the one thing that stops this one from being an A+ example of a B: Whip Wilson, starring in his first feature and with all the charm and charisma of a horse trough. He didn’t last in movies very long, and we can all see why (I’d never seen him before, and didn’t know which character in the movie was him until I saw a guy with a bullwhip strapped to his belt). He looks the part, knows his lines, doesn’t bump into the scenery, and that whip is a valuable and impressive weapon in his hands, but even as B movie actors go, he’s not much. Too bad, this is a fine, exciting movie.
The “big one” of the group is Mississippi Rhythm, and Monogram clearly spent more time and money on it, even bringing in a well-known performer who wasn’t a typical Monogram star: Jimmie Davis, a singer and stage entertainer who wrote “You Are My Sunshine” and turned that song into a career on radio, films, and the road to two non-consecutive terms as Governor of Louisiana. He’s fun to watch (although I wouldn’t pay to see him as Macbeth) and by the last couple of reels of the movie, with nothing else to do, they “put on a show” just like the Our Gang kids or a 1950s Sam Katzman Rock ‘n’ Roll movie and trot out one musical number after another. Lee “Lasses” White is the comic sidekick; Veda Ann Borg is the charming, feisty, and quite appealing leading lady, and The Sunshine Band plays… well, you can guess what they play, among many other tunes. There is a plot here, too, but it’s quickly forgotten once the poker cheats are beaten up, very early in the movie, as if including a story was an afterthought.
All three films look great, include subtitles, and interestingly, they’re all from 1949. Since this clearly states Volume 1, I am already looking forward to the next set, and wonder if it will stick with Westerns or include a variety of Monogram films: I sure would like to see some restored Mantan Moreland offerings. In any case, this is a highly enjoyable collection.
Mississippi Rhythm
Monogram (1949) Dir. Derwin Abrahams
68 min. / B&W / 1.37:1
Western Renegades
Monogram (1949) Dir. Wallace Fox
56 min. / B&W / 1.37:1
Crashing Thru
Monogram (1949) Dir. Ray Taylor
58 min. / B&W / 1.37:1
