Copyright 28 July 1939 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 28 July 1939. U.S. release: 28 July 1939. Australian release: 28 September 1939. 6,429 feet. 71 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Wyatt Earp cleans up Tombstone, Arizona.
NOTES: Wyatt Earp (1848-1929) was actually not a marshal at this stage of his career, but a deputy sheriff of Pima County, centered in Tombstone, Arizona. Other screen impersonations of him include Walter Huston in Law and Order 31, Richard Dix in Tombstone 42, Henry Fonda in My Darling Clementine 46, Joel McCrea in Wichita 55, Burt Lancaster in Gunfight at the OK Corral 57, James Stewart in Cheyenne Autumn 64, James Garner in Hour of the Gun 67, Harris Yulin in Doc 70. There was also a long-running TV series starring Hugh O'Brian.
This movie is actually a re-make of the Lake novel originally filmed in 1934 with George O'Brien as Earp and Alan Edwards as Doc. It was re-made again in 1946 with Henry Fonda and Victor Mature under the title My Darling Clementine. And re-made yet again in 1953 under the title Powder River.
Although permission had been obtained from Earp's estate (and a fee of $5,000 duly paid) to use his name, lawyers for the estate sued Fox anyway, claiming that Earp's screen romance with "Sarah Allen" was entirely fictitious.
COMMENT: A lavishly-produced western, though most of the money seems to have been spent on the first half of the film. The climax at the O.K. Corral is somewhat skimped - especially in comparison with other versions - and the film as a whole is considerably inferior to Ford's greatly expanded re-make, My Darling Clementine.
Still Frontier Marshal, despite the fact that it is largely studio-bound and that its action sequences are not handled as vigorously as in the other Earp films, has some good things going for it in the cast department. Eddie Foy is a stand-out here. His presence alone is worth the price of admission and his absence from the other versions is to be deplored. And this must be the last occasion that Binnie Barnes, who was to continue as a western heroine throughout the early forties, was photographed sufficiently attractively (skilful make-up and costumes also helped) to justify her casting. Randolph Scott does well by Wyatt Earp while Cesar Romero is in many respects a more convincing Doc Halliday than Victor Mature. Nancy Kelly makes an appealing heroine, while John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr and Joe Sawyer make an admirable trio of villains (in fact we should have liked to see more of them, especially Chaney and Carradine).
Dwan's direction has some imaginative touches (Scott's suddenly being accosted by the vigilante group; his odd entrance from above) and the musical numbers (including Miss Barnes' delightful rendition of "Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl") are handled with gusto. Charles Stevens plays the same role in this film as he does in Ford's re-make, but otherwise the cast is completely dissimilar. Charles Clarke's photography is consistently a thing of beauty, the art direction is pleasing and other production credits are top-drawer.
SYNOPSIS: Wyatt Earp cleans up Tombstone, Arizona.
NOTES: Wyatt Earp (1848-1929) was actually not a marshal at this stage of his career, but a deputy sheriff of Pima County, centered in Tombstone, Arizona. Other screen impersonations of him include Walter Huston in Law and Order 31, Richard Dix in Tombstone 42, Henry Fonda in My Darling Clementine 46, Joel McCrea in Wichita 55, Burt Lancaster in Gunfight at the OK Corral 57, James Stewart in Cheyenne Autumn 64, James Garner in Hour of the Gun 67, Harris Yulin in Doc 70. There was also a long-running TV series starring Hugh O'Brian.
This movie is actually a re-make of the Lake novel originally filmed in 1934 with George O'Brien as Earp and Alan Edwards as Doc. It was re-made again in 1946 with Henry Fonda and Victor Mature under the title My Darling Clementine. And re-made yet again in 1953 under the title Powder River.
Although permission had been obtained from Earp's estate (and a fee of $5,000 duly paid) to use his name, lawyers for the estate sued Fox anyway, claiming that Earp's screen romance with "Sarah Allen" was entirely fictitious.
COMMENT: A lavishly-produced western, though most of the money seems to have been spent on the first half of the film. The climax at the O.K. Corral is somewhat skimped - especially in comparison with other versions - and the film as a whole is considerably inferior to Ford's greatly expanded re-make, My Darling Clementine.
Still Frontier Marshal, despite the fact that it is largely studio-bound and that its action sequences are not handled as vigorously as in the other Earp films, has some good things going for it in the cast department. Eddie Foy is a stand-out here. His presence alone is worth the price of admission and his absence from the other versions is to be deplored. And this must be the last occasion that Binnie Barnes, who was to continue as a western heroine throughout the early forties, was photographed sufficiently attractively (skilful make-up and costumes also helped) to justify her casting. Randolph Scott does well by Wyatt Earp while Cesar Romero is in many respects a more convincing Doc Halliday than Victor Mature. Nancy Kelly makes an appealing heroine, while John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr and Joe Sawyer make an admirable trio of villains (in fact we should have liked to see more of them, especially Chaney and Carradine).
Dwan's direction has some imaginative touches (Scott's suddenly being accosted by the vigilante group; his odd entrance from above) and the musical numbers (including Miss Barnes' delightful rendition of "Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl") are handled with gusto. Charles Stevens plays the same role in this film as he does in Ford's re-make, but otherwise the cast is completely dissimilar. Charles Clarke's photography is consistently a thing of beauty, the art direction is pleasing and other production credits are top-drawer.