I don't believe this short western is officially regarded as a remake of the equally short 1939 "Frontier Marshal". But, after checking my notes on F.M., I found it amazing how many details they have in common, so many that I clearly would label it as a remake. Of course, there are plenty of differences, as well, one being that this was shot in color vs. the B&W of F.M.. Another is that the supposed location for F.M. is Tombstone A.Z., vs. Powder River, for the present film. Well, it turns out there are two famous Powder Rivers in the NW quadrant of the US. One is famous today as having the richest, cheapest, coal mines in the US, and is located in NE Wyoming and SE Montana. The other is located in the Blue Mountains of NE Oregon, and is well known since the Civil War for it's placer gold. In contrast, I'm not aware of any important gold deposits in the Wyoming Powder River area, although the Black Hills are not far to the east. Thus, I would favor Oregon, although it's mentioned that the Homestead Mine is nearby. Well, THE Homestead mine is located in the Black Hills. Typical Hollywood confusion of that era! At least parts of the action were filmed in Glacier National Park, in NW Montana.
Instead of Wyatt Earp and Doc Halliday of F.M., we have facsimiles in Chino Bull(Wyatt-like)and Mitch(Doc Holliday-like). In this film, they have trouble deciding whether they want to be friends or enemies. We see some of each throughout the film, like reluctant buddies. Both films have the Doc-like character suffering from a chronic health problem: TB in F.M. and a brain tumor, causing periodic blackouts, in the present film. In both films, the Doc-like character is scripted as a gunslinger/medical doctor combo, whereas the real Doc was a doctor of dentistry. In both films, the Doc-like character uses his medical knowledge to save a life.
Roy Calhoun plays Chino, while a flamboyant Cameron Mitchell plays Mitch. An equally flamboyant Corinne Calvet plays Frenchie: the sometimes owner of one of the saloons. Penny Edwards plays the prim blond "good" girl arriving from the East, come to take Mitch back East. However, she appears to end up with Chino.
Gold is mostly what the fighting is all about: both Chino's stolen gleanings and a $300,000.gold shipment on the stage. Chino's mining buddy, Johnny, is killed(by whom?) and the gold stolen while Chino is away. This murder and robbery induced Chino to give up mining to become the new town marshal.
One gripe I have is that the stage gold shipment segment is underplayed. When the stage is on a flatboat ferry, crossing a river, the bad guys cut the towline attached to a horse that pulls the boat across. They also shoot the horse driver. The stage then is swept downstream toward a rapids. Chino finds a spare rope and swims to shore attaching it to a flimsy-looking long dead small tree. Even supposing it held the raft against the current, it's unclear how they got it to shore, unless they found the horse and attached the rope to it. One horse hardly seemed enough. Also, why did the bad guys decide to abandon their very lucrative quest when the rope was attached to that tree??
I regard this film as even more interesting than "Frontier Marshal" In fact, it's one of my favorite westerns, despite its clear B status. I won't give away the unusual climactic ending.
Available at YouTube and an expensive DVD.
Instead of Wyatt Earp and Doc Halliday of F.M., we have facsimiles in Chino Bull(Wyatt-like)and Mitch(Doc Holliday-like). In this film, they have trouble deciding whether they want to be friends or enemies. We see some of each throughout the film, like reluctant buddies. Both films have the Doc-like character suffering from a chronic health problem: TB in F.M. and a brain tumor, causing periodic blackouts, in the present film. In both films, the Doc-like character is scripted as a gunslinger/medical doctor combo, whereas the real Doc was a doctor of dentistry. In both films, the Doc-like character uses his medical knowledge to save a life.
Roy Calhoun plays Chino, while a flamboyant Cameron Mitchell plays Mitch. An equally flamboyant Corinne Calvet plays Frenchie: the sometimes owner of one of the saloons. Penny Edwards plays the prim blond "good" girl arriving from the East, come to take Mitch back East. However, she appears to end up with Chino.
Gold is mostly what the fighting is all about: both Chino's stolen gleanings and a $300,000.gold shipment on the stage. Chino's mining buddy, Johnny, is killed(by whom?) and the gold stolen while Chino is away. This murder and robbery induced Chino to give up mining to become the new town marshal.
One gripe I have is that the stage gold shipment segment is underplayed. When the stage is on a flatboat ferry, crossing a river, the bad guys cut the towline attached to a horse that pulls the boat across. They also shoot the horse driver. The stage then is swept downstream toward a rapids. Chino finds a spare rope and swims to shore attaching it to a flimsy-looking long dead small tree. Even supposing it held the raft against the current, it's unclear how they got it to shore, unless they found the horse and attached the rope to it. One horse hardly seemed enough. Also, why did the bad guys decide to abandon their very lucrative quest when the rope was attached to that tree??
I regard this film as even more interesting than "Frontier Marshal" In fact, it's one of my favorite westerns, despite its clear B status. I won't give away the unusual climactic ending.
Available at YouTube and an expensive DVD.