The Return of Wildfire (1948)

Richard Arlen is Dobe Williams, a drifter who rescues pretty Judy Marlowe after she’s been thrown from her horse and winds up working on her father’s ranch.

Pop Marlowe figures he can use another ranch hand he can trust. He’s losing faith in foreman Frank Keller, who’s been losing big at gambling.

What Pop doesn’t know is that Marty Quinn (Reed Hadley) has offered to cancel Keller’s $6,000 in gambling debts.

But that’s only if Keller helps Quinn acquire Pop Marlowe’s herd of horses. That way Quinn can control the livestock market in these here parts.

Pop has no interest in selling to Quinn. But when he suffers his untimely demise, the fate of the horse herd is left in the hands of his two daughters, Pat (Patricia Morison) and Judy (Mary Beth Hughes).

They’ll get a helping hand from Dobe. On the move since being born on a stagecoach between El Paso and Albuquerque, he’s found something worth settling down for on the Marlowe ranch — one of the two pretty young ladies vying for his attention.

Richard Arlen as Dobe Williams, a drifter who finds a place to settle down in The Return of Wildfire (1948)

Reed Hadley as Marty Quinn, determined to control the wild horse market in The Return of Wildfire (1948)

Review:

Less about a horse named Wildfire than about a battle to control the wild horse market and the romantic triangle between the characters played by Richard Arlen, Patricia Morison and Mary Beth Hughes.

The latter winds up selling the Marlowe horses to Quinn in a fit of jealousy, only to discover her father, before dying, signed a contract to sell the herd to someone else.

In order to fill the contract, Dobe Williams tries to round up Wildfire’s wild horse herd. Naturally, Quinn and his cronies don’t want that to happen.

The film was distributed by Screen Guild Productions. Their very first film was the 1945 series Western “Wildfire,” starring Bob Steele.

Patricia Morison as Pat Marlowe, getting to know the new ranch hand her dad has hired in The Return of Wildfire (1948)

Mary Beth Hughes as Judy Marlowe, jealous over the attention Dobe Williams is paying her sister in The Return of Wildfire (1948)

Directed by:
Ray Taylor
Paul Landres

Cast:
Richard Arlen … Dobe Williams
Patricia Morison … Pat Marlowe
Mary Beth Hughes … Judy Marlowe
James Millican … Frank Keller
Reed Hadley … Marty Quinn
Chris-Pin Martin … Pancho
Stanley Andrews … Pop Marlowe
Mike Ragan … Dirk
Highland Dale … Wildfire, the horse

Runtime: 83 min.

James Millican as Frank Keller, being quizzed about his gambling debt by Pop Marlowe in The Return of Wildfire (1948)

Stanley Andrews as Pop Marlowe, warning Dobe Williams of the danger in trying to catch Wildfire in The Return of Wildfire (1948)

Memorable lines:

Dobe Williams, watching a black stallion race past, followed by a girl on a horse: “Boy, that’s what I call a horse. And that’s what I call a good lookin’ filly. I mean the one in the saddle.”

Judy Marlowe to the stranger who’s arrived to rescue her after falling from her horse: “I usually get what I go after.”
Dobe Williams: “Always?”
Judy: “Yep. Always.”
At which point, she plants a kiss on the total stranger.
Dobe Williams: “Hey, people are pretty friendly out here. Aren’t they?”

Pat Marlowe, glancing at Dobe Williams: “You think a lot of him, don’t you?”
Judy Marlowe, her sister: “Maybe, but that’s not what’s important.”
Pat: “Isn’t it?”
Judy: “No. Just so long as he thinks enough of me.”

Dobe Williams: “Hey, there’s Wildfire. You know, for leading us to his herd, I could kiss that horse.”
Pat Marlowe, having been kissed by Dobe, then having spotted him kissing sister Judy moments later: “After what I saw last night, that wouldn’t be hard to believe.”

Dobe Williams of Wildfire: “That’s the finest horse I’ve never owned.”

Richard Arlen as Dobe Williams, ready for a final showdown with Marty Quinn in The Return of Wildfire (1948)

Chris-Pin Martin as Pancho, getting a surprise when he tries to sober up the Marlowe ranch hands and winds up holding a toupee in The Return of WIldfire (1948)

Mary Beth Hughes as Judy Marlowe and Patricia Morison as her sister Pat, admiring the same man in The Return of Wildfire (1948)

Reed Hadley (right) as Marty Quinn and henchman Dirk (Mike Ragan) caught stealing Marlowe horses in The Return of Wildfire (1948)

Mary Beth Hughes as Judy Marlowe with Frank Keller (James Millican), the other man she has a habit of kissing in The Return of WIldfire (1948)

Richard Arlen as Dobe Williams and Mary Beth Hughes as Judy Marlowe, springing into action when a shot rings out in The Return of Wildfire (1948)