The Texas Rangers (1936)

 

THE TEXAS RANGERS (1936)

By Ralph Santini -***½ 

 

                   It's been said that in the 1930s nobody was making A-Movie Westerns before John Ford's classic Stagecoach was released. That's not true, there were occasionally Westerns that were made on budgets higher than the usual B-Western. There was Cecil B-Demille's big epic The Plainsman from 1936 starring Gary Cooper, Annie Oakley from 1935 with Barbara Stanwyck as the title role (yes, there was another film long before the Film adaptation of the popular Broadway show, Annie Get Your Gun from 1950) among others. 

                   King Vidor's 1936 film, The Texas Rangers, is among one of them, and a surprisingly enjoyable one too. It is fast-paced, well acted, and even unexpectedly funny. The movie stars Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie as two outlaws that reluctantly join The Texas Rangers division to elude the law, while another outlaw (played brilliantly by fine character actor Lloyd Nolan) still operates on his heists.

                  During their manhunt for cattle rustlers, they meet up with each other and the Rangers and the ongoing bandit agree to use some inside information. They later save a brave kid from some savage Native Americans who kill his parents, and decide to give him new life at the Ranger's Major's (played by Edward Ellis from the 1936 film Fury) House.

The main problem with this situation, however, is that the Major's daughter (Jean Parker), wants to give the kid a more civilized life and this annoys the two outlaws making them argue with her sharply about it, that is until one of them (Oakie) begins to sympathize with her after he witnesses her make some Baked Virginia Ham. This however doesn't seem to convince MacMurray to like her enough, until much later on. 

                 Going back to the duties of the Rangers, the two Outlaws learn that the bloodthirsty Native Americans have begun to make more trouble for the white civilization in Texas and along with the rest of the rangers they go on to fight them. This is one fast-paced scene that makes this film recognize that King Vidor's type of action can be very memorable in terms of Western filmmaking. I know it's not politically correct today but i hope we haven't lost out sense of excitement for good action because that doesn't make this scene to be boring at all.

              Another fine scene in this film, is where MacMurray is assigned to patrol a corrupt town and oversee a trial of a ruthless crook for the murder of two innocent brothers where its presiding judge is played by the wonderful George "Gabby" Hayes. As far as I'm concerned he has always been fun to look at, even if he appears in a so-so or bad western, which this film isn't, far from it. It also has a hilarious moment where an old and senile witness doesn't remember the incident of the brothers' killing but then MacMurray insists on questioning him so that there are no screw-ups at the trial, when suddenly, two of the crook's accomplices come to kill the Ranger, but he is then saved by the vigilantist Lloyd Nolan.

            Then we cut to our next Ranger assignment, which is the manhunt for a "Polka Dot" bandit, who's alter ego happens to be Nolan, Fred MacMurray's close friend. At first MacMurray doesn't want to go out after Nolan but he is then taken prisoner after the Major finds out that he and Nolan were outlaws together. Fortunately, one of the outlaws, Jack Oakie, is willing to take Nolan down and he and the kid join forces together for the manhunt.

         I can't give away the ending of this film, but i will say the final showdown between MacMurray and Nolan is one brilliantly staged scene by King Vidor who made four more westerns including Northwest Passage, Man Without a Star and Duel In the Sun. Frankly i have not seen those other films on account on that two of them are not on DVD and the latter third is out of print. But i will say that this is one of the finest pre-1939 sound Westerns ever made.

         With it's memorable blend of action, humor, tragedy, this film remains to be a near-classic. MacMurray, Oakie and Nolan are all excellent and all convincing as the Three Outlaws with extremely different personalities. I also enjoyed Edward Ellis as the fearless major who will do anything to lead his Ranger Company to uphold the law from all of its terrible crimes from Texas.

The Sea Hawk (1940)

THE SEA HAWK (1940)

By Ralph Santini - ****

Ingeniously fast-paced and remarkably exciting, the 1940 pirate film “The Sea Hawk” is one the finest of its genre ever. It is the 10^th film Errol Flynn made with director Michael Curtiz on account of their contract with Warner Bros. and it is another winner all the way along with “Captain Blood” and “The Adventures Of Robin Hood”, in fact, these three are the top of those 12 films. This time Flynn is cast as an English privateer whose mission is, in his “own way, protect and serve the Queen of England”. The plot’s conflict concerns that during the year 1585 the ruthless King Phillip of Spain wants to occupy England in order that his country can be the dominant empire of the world and that is causing heavy caution with Queen Elizabeth of England (an excellent portrayal by Flora Robson), however Her Majesty refuses to let her navy officials to build a fleet against because of her concerns with her country’s people.

Although the film’s title is “The Sea Hawk” which is coincidentally the name of a Rafael Sabatini novel and it was the basis for other film adaptations by the author these two works have nothing in common except the title. This is basically an original screenplay by Seton I. Miller and Howard W. Koch whom the former also wrote other exciting Errol Flynn’s films (including the definitive swashbuckler “The Adventures Of Robin Hood”). This film I have to say is just as brilliant as “The Adventures Of Robin Hood” because, I think, it has the same wit and the same excitement as that film.  

Continuing with the plot analysis, Phillip (Montagu Love) sends diplomat Don Alvarez (Claude Rains) as his ambassador to England along with his beautiful niece (Brenda Marshall) with her maid Martha (Una O’Connor) on a voyage on the Maria Eulelia with Captain Lopez (Gilbert Roland) in command. Suddenly the ship is assaulted by an English pirate ship, The Albatross commanded by Captain Geoffrey Thorpe (Flynn) ordering his men to fire upon the Eulelia after Captain Lopez refuses to lower his flag, thus leading them to the Spanish ship’s assault and attack against its Spanish sailors who had captuered English sailors in its galley ordered by the inquisition. All of this leads from another mission by Thorpe and his men invading Panama without the Queen’s approval which might become eventually risky for our heroes. The film was only nominated for four Academy Awards in 1941 for its best art direction for the Black and White category, sound recording, special effects and even the extremely memorable score by the one and only Erich Wolfgang Korngold. It was truly a pity Korngold did not win the award because the score, I think, is one of the finest in film history. It identifies the film very well and it defines this witty gem quite perfectly. What was also unfair was the Oscar® loss for the equally unfaltering art direction because I found it especially exquisite, particularly for a Black and White photographed Swashbuckler.

I can’t give away any spoilers and especially not the ending but I will tell you this, the film also contains one of the most winning fight scenes ever between Errol Flynn and Henry Daniell, who plays an English traitor to the Queen of England. It is by far one of the very best swordfights in a swashbuckler which is one the main reasons this film is just as incomparable as “The Adventures Of Robin Hood”. Much like that film, it is a perfect candidate for a tie-in as the finest swashbuckler ever made.

Everything about “The Sea Hawk” is great, including the action, the adventure, the humor, the combat, the romance, the conflict, just about everything. I think this is not only Errol Flynn’s second finest Swashbuckler but also among one his finest films ever. It is absolutely compelling and wonderfully inspiring with all the great talent Hollywood ever used of all time. It is also one of Hollywood’s best adventures ever told that’ll put its audience in awe. Don’t miss it. 

The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)

 THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (1955, British)

 By Ralph Santini - ***½

               

Before they began developing a series of “classic monster” pictures such as Dracula (1958), The Mummy (1959) and many others, Hammer Film Productions was actually producing a series of sci-fi featuring the character of Bernard Quatermass. This character is a mad scientist who wants to make new kinds of science possible, even if it means the lives of many volunteers. The Quatermass Xperiment is the first of these, an adaptation of a popular BBC serial teleplay in the United Kingdom of the same name written by Nigel Kneale. The play itself was popular that Hammer wanted to make a film version of it, and the financial results were a success, greenlighting two more film sequels in the coming years.

The movie begins with a rocket ship falling down to a farm in an English countryside and this alarms the public in shock. It’s then later that we first see Dr. Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) and his staff accompanied by a desperate Ministry of Defense official (Lionel Jeffries who was only 29 in this film and he had experienced hair loss since very young) and the wife of one of the astronauts (the attractive Margian Dean) on their way to handle the results of the fallen rocket ship. There is only one mysterious problem during the solution, only one astronaut survived the spaceship and it looks like the other two have vanished without a trace during the experiment. The good news is that the sole survivor is Margia Dean’s husband, Victor Carroon (Richard Woodsworth). The bad news is that Mr. Caroon is developing a strange space fungus inside his body. This is not making Dr. Quatermass satisfied with the experiment he conducted and therefore he must try to stop Mr. Carroon from depredating living things in Great Britain, even if he needs help from a Soctland Yard official played with dignity by the brilliant Jack Warner (no, not the production executive at Warner Bros. but a veteran British character actor whom you British cinema buffs may have seen in the original version of The Ladykillers).

Now I want to get something straight about this movie, I think it is worth seeing because of it’s scary and dark-toned nature and it’s incredible premise about a mad scientist who discovers that his sole-surviving Astronaut is about to become something sinister after falling down from the rocket. It really moves me to see an unfortunate human being become something fierce in the meantime and that’s my favorite thing about this story. Although there is not one significantly spoken dialogue by Richard Woodsworth in this film, he is amazing as the unfortunate victim with a deteriorating body that could result in something hideous. But I can’t tell more because that would be making spoilers and, frankly, I don’t believe in doing that. Jack Warner is another asset in “The Quatermass Xperiment” and he really plays it straight as the brave, no-nonsense Scotland Yard official who is superstitious about space travel. He doesn’t know a thing about rockets, nor reads sience fiction, nor anything concerning Dr. Quatermass’s experiment.

Now what about the main title role of the film, well this will sound a little controversial for my review but I think it’s hard to tell about Brian Donlevy’s portrayal of Bernard Quatermass. Nigel Kneale who wrote the original BBC teleplay was not satisfied with the casting of Donelvy in the role, he said Donelvy was waning too much and cared little for his role. The film’s director Val Guest, however contradicted Mr. Kneale insinuating that he was just obsessed with the way he created the Quatermass character for the BBC Teleplay and Guest thought that casting Donlevy was the more realistic choice. Frankly I agree with the director, Donelvy did a competent job portraying Dr. Quatermass because, at least in my opinion, he took the role rather seriously compared to other hammy performances in many other of his weaker film roles and I think this is his best since 1953’s “The Woman They Almost Lynched”. In fact I think ever since then, he seemed to have cared a lot more of what he has been doing since the beginning of his career decline.

The supporting cast also have their highlights because I think these British actors working for Hammer have enormous talent. The characters ranging from a flamboyant male nurse who attempts taking out Mr. Carroon from Quatermass’s hospital to a more reliable one as demaned by Margia Dean, to a darkly comic, low class old lady who complains to see something strange in her neighborhood. There is also a fantastic scene regarding a Zoo in England where we see many animals scared of something strange they are feeling. And one more thing about this scary and effective chiller, Walter J. Harvey’s B&W cinematography is stunning. I looked at the Blu-Ray of this ageless sci-fi yarn and the image is pristine and crisp. Looking at this film in that format makes me feel good and excited.

This is one of those sci-fi thrillers that manages to take its tone very seriously and treat its cast very well and that’s why, I think, Hammer remains to be one of the top studios in Sci-Fi and Horror. It’s one of the better sci-fi films of the 1950s with great twists and fresh dialogue between Brian Donlevy and his British cast of colleagues in this movie. Val Guest is an underrated director that needs to be reevaluated and “The Quatermass Xperiment” is a spectacular directorial effort for Guest’s standards. I suggest picking this up on Blu-Ray and see it. You will be thrilled by this classic sci-fi gem.