There’s trouble afoot in Silver City, and the man behind the thievery is Sheriff Mannon (Louis Calhern). In addition to being crooked, he’s got his mind set on winning over pretty saloon girl Kitty Rivers (Margot Grahame), who already has a guy named Orin Tallant.
When Kitty decides to leave town on an outgoing stage, Mannon has his men hold it up to bring her back. She winds up back in Silver City, sure enough, but she returns riding alongside Clay Tallant (Richard Dix), who rescued her from Mannon’s henchmen.
Clay decides to take the marshal’s badge, prohibits guns in town and finds an unlikely ally when Mannon brings in gunman Tex Randolph (Preston Foster), only to watch him switch sides and become a deputy under Clay.
The other complication: Kitty has fallen for Clay and vice versa. But Clay doesn’t feel free to act on his feelings because he knows his younger brother loves Kitty, too.
Review:
After the success of “Cimarron” (1931), Richard Dix wound up appearing in a long string of so-so Westerns, even though he wasn’t exactly the most exciting on-screen personality. In fact, Preston Foster steals the show here as his once-lawless sidekick.
The best thing about the film is the intriguing final scene, in which Clay, Tex and Orin Tallent walk into a haze of smoke from a fire at the jail, guns blazing, for a final showdown with the baddies. When the gunfire ends, only Clay is left standing.
Margot Grahame gets to sing a spirited version of “Roll Along Covered Wagon” early in the film. Etta McDaniel, her servant, brings the film full circle by singing the same song as the surviving heroes leave Silver City after the shooting has ended.
And there’s not an Earp, Holliday or Clanton brother to be found, but the script seems to borrow heavily from the story of Tombstone and the showdown at the O.K. Corral.
Directed by:
Charles Vidor
Cast:
Richard Dix … Clay Tallant
Margot Grahame … Kitty Rivers
Preston Foster … Tex Randolph
Louis Calhern … Sheriff Mannon
James Bush … Orin Tallant
J. Farrell MacDonald … Marshal Jordan
Ray Mayer … Frank McCloskey
Willie Best … Pompey
Joe Sawyer … Keeler
Francis Ford … Mayor Ed Comstock
Etta McDaniel … Sarah
Runtime: 75 min.
Memorable lines:
Town leader, taking the marshal’s badge from Clay: “Don’t you want to keep it. We’ll pay you $200 per month.”
Clay, having just watched an outlaw be fined $25 for killing the previous marshal: “Marshals at $25 a head. I don’t figure this town’s my size.”
Servant woman: “When you do wed, you want to get a woman of experience. Now I’ve had three husbands, and they’s all singing with the angels.”
Harp player: “I ain’t got no ambition to play in that quartet.”
Tex to Clay: “What’s laying out there is too full of lead to hold whiskey.”
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