User Reviews

One comes to expect B-western cowboys to burst into song from time to time, but in this movie, what they burst into song singing sounds gloomy and dirge like, going on glumly about a "lonely trail". Perhaps they were all depressed about appearing in this movie? Wow, there is a lot of shoot 'em ups in this movie--bodies drop all over the place but NOBODY seems much concerned with either checking to see when the Evil Henchmen are dead or wounded, and nobody bothering to toss a little dirt over the dead.

Rancher Daughter Sweet Joan must be desperate for male attention, because she seems entranced with the hero, even when he is singing the miserable dirge. She all but drools over him in some scenes.

The guy in the dungeon is kind of cool. It's almost like the plot takes brief excursions into another movie, a Gothic horror movie. Does he spend all of his time in the chair with his head sagging towards his lap? Only for the genre devotees.

Even a cool sounding title can't salvage this extremely low budget effort from Poverty Row studio Normandy Pictures. Actually, the history of the picture is more noteworthy than the film itself. This was the first screen adaptation of a Three Mesquiteers novel by author William Colt MacDonald, and fans of that Western cowboy trio will recognize the names of the principal characters here with a slight modification. For starters, there are only two heroes - Tucson 'Two Gun' Smith portrayed by Big Boy Guinn Williams, and his partner Stoney Martin played by Al St. John before he came to be known as 'Fuzzy'. In the Three Mesquiteers film series which began in 1936, the Martin character became Stoney Brooke. That series lasted until 1943 churning out a total of forty three films with a rotating cast of principal players. Big Boy and Fuzzy didn't appear in any of them.

What makes this a lackluster picture is the lack of a credible story and generally poor acting, along with a fair amount of time filler provided by riders on horseback going back and forth. A couple of situations are just plain dumb if you really think about it. For one, there's a scene where Tucson confronts henchman Joe Sanchez (Martin Garralaga) about the identity of villain Rontel (Ted Adams), and Sanchez is shot by one of three riders atop a hill, presumably to prevent him from talking. Now if the goal was to take out the guy investigating the murder of local ranchers, why not just shoot Tucson who was standing right next to him? That just didn't make sense.

The other head scratcher was that whole business of Rontel forcing Englishman Sir Henry Sheffield to sign over power of attorney to him. Rontel kept him captive in his basement, but guess what - Sheffield just sat down there the whole time, he wasn't even tied up! Why didn't he just get up and leave?

Anyway, it doesn't take long for Tucson to corner outlaw lawyer Rontel, even if partner Stoney is put out of commission with a shot to the back. Who ever heard of shooting Fuzzy St. John in the back?! Actually, Fuzzy survives to join his partner again, and in keeping with B Western tradition, Tucson gets to ride off into the sunset with pretty Joan Hayden (Molly O'Day) while all the local ranchers owe the boys a debt of gratitude.

Director: JOHN P. McCARTHY. Screenplay: Robert Emmett Tansey. Based on the novel by William Colt MacDonald. Photography: Robert Cline. Film editor: Holbrook N. Todd. Songs: "On a Lonely Trail", "Las Golondrinas", "Sunset Trail". Stunts: Jack Jones. Assistant director: Myron Marsh. Production manager and associate producer: Max Alexander. Producer: Arthur Alexander.

Not copyrighted by Normandy Pictures Corp. U.S. release through First Division: 1 December 1935. 57 minutes. U.K. release title: the Mysterious Mr Sheffield.

COMMENT: One of the better "Big Boy" efforts, this one has been produced on a much higher budget than usual and features plenty of newly staged action (along with the usual parade of wonky stock footage).

A young Al St John capably backs up "Big Boy" more for riding and shooting than comedy relief, the heroine is reasonably attractive, our old friend Lafe McKee does himself credit in a decent role, and the villain positively shimmers with deep-dyed intensity. Effective use of locations also helps maintain the rage.

"The Law Of The 45's" was originally released back in 1935.

Anyway - As the story goes - Two cowboys come across a rancher being terrorized by a gang of bandits. The gang works for a crooked attorney who is using the gang to drive off the landowners so he can buy up the property at low prices. Our heroes decide it's time to put a stop to the gang's activities and expose their leader for who he truly is.