Tue 23 Dec 2014
A BOB STEELE Western Movie Review: THE RIDER OF THE LAW (1935).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[10] Comments
THE RIDER OF THE LAW. Supreme Pictures, 1935. Bob Steele, Gertrude Messinger, Si Jenks, Lloyd Ingraham, John Elliott, Earl Dwire. Director: Robert N. Bradbury.
Bob Steele was far from being one of the more handsome of the B-western heroes, but he sure made a lot of them before settling down into character parts (still mostly westerns) and ending up on television (and still mostly westerns).
I don’t know why I always liked him as a cowboy hero, though, but as a kid I did, and I don’t even know what movies he was in that I might have watched. (I never watched F-Troop on TV, if that’s what you might be thinking.)
I did not even recognize him at first in The Rider of the Law, and I hope I don’t spoil your surprise when you watch this movie the next time your order of DVDs comes in from Alpha Video, but I suspect you won’t either.
SPOILER ALERT. He’s the bespectacled dude in big city clothes who comes to town with no gun and no idea of how to ride a horse. (He ends up facing backward.) There is a story that might be made of this as an interesting idea, but Law of the Rider isn’t it.
I didn’t time it, but I think Si Jenks gets as much screen time as Bob Steele. As the bewhiskered old prospector who gets talked into becoming the town marshal when the previous one is shot up pretty badly when the Tollivers last came to town and robbing the bank in the process, Jenks is as lovable an old coot as they come, and funny, too.
There are some other small surprises to come, but I have a feeling that at least one of the remaining plot twists was due to a certain ineptitude on the part of the script, rather than anything deliberate. They should have taken the good idea at the beginning and done more with it, but it’s far too late for any of the people responsible for this basically Grade D western to heed any advice from me.
December 23rd, 2014 at 4:08 am
Robert North Bradbury directed some fine B-Westerns but oddly enough his films with his own son–Bob Steele–are generally disappointing.
One critic opined that kids identified with Battling Bob because, like most of us at that age, he was a bit shorter than everyone around him.
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:54 am
There may be something to that. He always seemed to be battling villains much taller and heavier than he was, not surprisingly so, since he was only 5’5″. Donald “Red” Barry was another favorite, and at 5’4″, he was a full inch shorter. (Thanks to Google for the information.)
It must have been their movies on late night TV that I saw them in, not the regular Saturday matinees. This would have been in the early or mid-1950s, and neither of them were being given starring roles by that time.
December 23rd, 2014 at 10:43 am
Bob may very well have been the most unique, if not the best actor, in this group. Often effective, especially as Curley in Of Mice and Men, Canino in the Big Sleep but many more, including a fine cameo in Hang ’em High. A compelling screen presence was undoubtedly the reason for his early success coupled with genuine riding skills and all round athleticism.
December 23rd, 2014 at 12:11 pm
A follow up thought about film acting.
Height, weight, and general appearance may dictate, at least in part, how an actor is used, but success on film always goes to the projection of empathy. So, while Clark Gable was tall and terrific looking, and Charles Laughton rotund and not so terrific looking, both were stars based on the projection of compelling personalities. At a lower level, Bob Steele, as well.
December 23rd, 2014 at 1:24 pm
Personality and a compelling screen presence. You’re quite right, Barry.
Incidentally, I’ve never seen DESTRY RIDES AGAIN, but I’ve been told that there is some similarity in the basic plot line between that film and this one. After doing some Googling, I think I’d have to agree, but if anyone has seen DESTRY and can say more, based on my review of the Bob Steele film, let me know.
December 23rd, 2014 at 1:28 pm
Whatever the resemblance between the two stories, I forgot to mention that the James Stewart version of DESTRY was released in 1939, while the Bob Steele adventure came four years earlier.
December 23rd, 2014 at 1:45 pm
And the James Stewart DESTRY has little to do with the original Max Brand story.
December 23rd, 2014 at 3:37 pm
The dude who comes west and toughens up was a favorite trope for all westerns. It was one Zane Gray used more than once.
Destry is not a dude though, but a born and bred Westerner trying to civilize a tough cattle town. There’s no learning curve, he’s already tough and fast when he arrives.
Barry, Steve,
Steele didn’t waste his time, but learned his craft. He had great screen presence when he matured, and younger a sort of rough and ready persona that made him perfect for westerns. While Bob Livingston (admittedly Livingston had the best film of the series) and the Duke would be more popular Steele was the original, and I think the best Stony in the Three Mesquiteers series, appearing in the original with Harry Carey and Tom Keene.
Livingston and Wayne played Stony as the leader while Steele followed the first film and played him as still young and a bit hot headed, less a leader than one of the team.
Ironically Bogie not only killed him memorably as Canino in THE BIG SLEEP, but again in THE ENFORCER.
Sad to say I can’t watch him today without thinking ‘he was at the Alamo.’
It didn’t hurt he could do many of his own stunts and at Republic he was the perfect size to be doubled by Dave Sharpe.
Randy,
The basic premise of the movie Destry and Max Brand’s is the wild westerner returning seemingly all peaceable and even timid, but beyond that there is little or no tie other than the name.
However since Brand was the highest paid screenwriter and screen doctor in Hollywood (at one point he mad more a week than Gable according to his biography) you have to wonder what he may have contributed to the screen version.
December 23rd, 2014 at 4:14 pm
In my eagerness to not tell more of the story in my review than I should, I see that I failed to mention that Steele is not really a dude, but a state marshal in disguise. And soon enough he is doing all of the heroics he needs to do to see that justice is done. And this even though the girl involved is at one point not very sure of him, but of course by the end she knows better.
December 23rd, 2014 at 6:37 pm
Well thanks a lot for spoiling the suspense, Steve!
(LOL!)