Sat 14 Apr 2007
Western movie review: PRAIRIE LAW (1940).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[2] Comments
PRAIRIE LAW. RKO Radio Pictures, 1940. George O’Brien, Virginia Vale, Slim Whitaker, Paul Everton, Cy Kendall. Directed by David Howard.
Generally speaking, I didn’t intend to include reviews of B-western movies here on the M*F blog, but since there’s more than the usual amount of criminous activities going on in this film’s 60 minutes, I decided to break my own rule, and who better?
A crooked land promoter, Judge Ben Curry (Paul Everton), is taking money from farmers hand over fist, without telling them two things: One, that the former ghost town of Olympia City, where his headquarters are, has no water, and two, that the land he is selling them belongs to cattleman Brill Austin (George O’Brien).
Yes, in this movie it is the cattlemen who are the good guys and not the usual other way around. Among the settlers is the daughter of one of the farmers, Priscilla Brambull (Virginia Vale) – and no, I didn’t think of that until right now, and no, it’s not that kind of movie. Among other legal misbehavior committed by Judge Curry is his blatant attempt to call for an election without proper notice, stuffing the ballot box, and declaring Olympia City the county seat so that the killer of the sheriff, Brill Austin’s Uncle Jim, can be set free.
Later on in the movie while a valid trial is being held in Prairie Rose, the jury does double duty: while deliberating on the verdict, they’re also dodging bullets by the judge’s henchmen. All this in sixty minutes, I remind you, which also includes a song sung by the uncredited Ray Whitley and his band.
There’s nothing here to be taken too seriously, as the players certainly don’t, but other than that, it’s a rather pleasurable experience. As for George O’Brien, a former silent film star who went into non-series westerns like this one when talkies came in, this was close to the end of his steady movie career.
[Truth in advertising: The photo of O’Brien comes from another film of the same vintage and not this one — but it could have been.]
April 14th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
You’ve got a stronger stomach than I do. I find the bulk of B westerns to be unwatchable. There is a significant number of exceptions but twenty years ago I was hired to do an overview of series Bs dating back to the first talkies. I probably watched fifty of them over a year and then told the editor that if it was a choice between watching more of them and killing myself I’d prefer the latter. He let me out of my contract. But then I like some of the 1930s locked room mystery Bs that most people put at the top of their Snoozer list. Different strokes. I should add that the western exception was Buck Jones who, whatever he lacked in acting skill, he made up for with a really dynamic, almost mythic presence — not unlike Clint Eastwood. You have a great site, Steve — I really thank you for it. Ed
>> It’s like everything in the world, Ed. Moderation in all things, including moderation. — Steve
July 17th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
I finally got fed up with watching Casablanca or Citizen Kane for the 50th time each, i.e.classic movies of the past that I have seen numerous times in my life. And for fun I started watching movies I hadn’t seen in many decades since I was a kid, B-westerns. I had so much fun doing it, I decided to create a western movie blog.