Sat 24 Oct 2009
Western Movie Review: LAND BEYOND THE LAW (1937).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[5] Comments
LAND BEYOND THE LAW. Warner Brothers, 1937. Dick Foran, Linda Perry, Wayne Morris, Harry Woods, Irene Franklin, Frank Orth, Cy Kendall. Director: B. Reeves Eason.
Walker Martin sent me an email yesterday morning, suggesting that I give you all a heads up on TCM’s lineup of B-Western movies they were going to show all afternoon, all oaters with “Law” in their titles.
Of course I didn’t see his email until just before the first movie started, but I did get it in time to make sure my tape machine was properly set up and the cable box was set to the right channel. This is the first of the four.
Plot synopsis: Cowpoke “Chip” Douglas (Dick Foran) is persuaded to become sheriff when his father is killed by rustlers. Complicating matters before his father’s death was the fact that Douglas was riding for the man (Cy Kendall) who’s secretly responsible for all of the gunplay and violence in the area. (Not that it’s much of a secret.)
Dick Foran is billed as “The Singing Cowboy,” and indeed the chunky, jovial-looking actor has a voice like Nelson Eddy. No wimpy Roy or Gene is he. The opening scene, with the ranch hands riding into town singing like a grand chorus a song that might have been written by Sigmund Romberg, is a sight to be seen, and something even more spectacular to hear.
This movie is pure horse operetta, through and through. And as thoroughly enjoyable, too, with plenty of plot, lots of action, and a spanking scene to boot!”
October 24th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
These Dick Foran westerns aren’t bad and have good production values. I’ve been told —or read somewhere — that Dick’s horse in these is none other than Trigger, then known as Golden Cloud. I do know Roy bought Trigger from Warner Brothers, and that as Golden Cloud Olivia De Haviland rode him in The Adventures of Robin Hood.
As for Foran’s singing voice, John Ford teamed him with the Sons of the Pioneers, notably in Rio Grande. He turned into a reliable character actor not only in westerns, but comedies, and those inevitable Warner’s gangster films, and worked well into the television age.
These are good B westerns, with a bit more production value, like that operetta style number mentioned here.
October 24th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
I forgot to include Foran’s horse in the credits. It was Smoke “the Wonder Horse.” Or at least that was the name he was going by then.
October 25th, 2009 at 10:42 am
On a blog titled Lauries Wild West, we discuss the fact that Smoke the Wonder Horse sure looks alot like Trigger. Both Laurie Powers and Ed Hulse point out this resemblance. IMDB lists 14 films under the name Smoke.
Ed also mentions that Dick Foran was a guest at a film show and despite looking in terrible shape, he could still belt out a song. I thought the rousing song by over 20 cowboys riding hell for leather to be hilarious.
I liked the George O’Brien B-western the best of all the four that were on TCM.
October 26th, 2009 at 2:24 am
The singing cowboy thing struggled for a while to get started properly. Long before he became a star himself Gene Autry played guitar for some of John Wayne’s Singing Sandy films (aka Whistling Sandy) while someone else dubbed the Duke’s voice, and was ‘discovered’ while working on Ken Maynard films (as Roy got his start in Gene’s films).
I’m not sure why these Dick Foran films didn’t catch on since they are right on the cusp of the phenomena, but it may be that the operetta style singing and Foran’s resemblance to Nelson Eddy may have kept the largely kid audience away. Foran was certainly a good deal more mature than either Gene or Roy. Before he put on the weight he was my ideal to play Fred Harmon’s Red Ryder.
Foran also starred in the ‘million dollar serial’ Riders of Death Valley (1941) with an all star cast that included him, Buck Jones, Charles Bickford, Lon Chaney Jr., Noah Berry Jr., Leo Carrillo, Monte Blue, and if you look closely enough Rod Cameron who was then Buck Jones stuntman and stand in. This is the one where Leo ad libbed one of the great movie lines of all time: “Listen, I theenk I hear footprints.”
As for the Smoke/Trigger question the markings on both horses are certainly similar and Trigger was owned by Warner’s at the time. I owned a palomino and the markings can be distinct from animal to animal, so I would imagine the odds are good that Smoke and Trigger are the same. The blaze and stockings both look to match, and that is where you get the most variation in the breed save for the deeper chocolate color like Autry’s Champion or Randolph Scott’s favorite.
I wonder if anyone knows for certain?
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:32 pm
Smoke and Trigger were not the same horse, they had different builds and Trigger died in the 60’s, Smoke died in 1942.