Indomable

I like films like THE SPOILERS because they have absolutely no pretense about them. They are simple B-movie-type films with relatively simple plots and familiar actors but pack a lot of predictable but fun entertainment into them. Sure, since it's a John Wayne flick you KNOW that he will win in the end and you KNOW what to expect. And, for me, that's not a bad thing. I like a good old fashioned John Wayne flick like most of the ones he did in the 40s--good, solid, and entertaining. The only odd thing is that the Duke is billed 3rd when it is clearly his film. Top billing went to Marlena Dietrich--who at the time was the bigger star. However, her part is pretty flat and she clearly acts in support of Wayne. And, second billing went to Randolph Scott. But, once again he was clearly not the leading character but the villain. Now if all this doesn't make sense, you need to understand that although Wayne had made many films by 1942, most were B-movies and he still was only just becoming the break-out star he would so clearly be in just a few short years.

In addition to being a good old John Wayne flick (among his better ones of the 40s), the direction and plot are pretty good as well. A very good movie--nearly deserving a score of 8.

This is the fourth time this novel was adapted to film, and there would be one more after it, which goes to show that the story is worthwhile.

The star-studded cast also seems to point in the direction of this being a great movie, but unfortunately it's not quite as good as that. There's something missing. The dialogues are perhaps not as witty as they try to be. Also, be it far from me to judge old movies by the anachronic standards of modern political correctness, but when you see many movies from this time you do get tired of the stereotypical black servants and the no less tropey comical side characters.

Great fist-fight between Randolph Scott and John Wayne, though, and Marlene Dietrich is also good to see, in a role that is rather similar to the one she played in Destry Rides Again a few years before this.

All in all, solid but doesn't take the extra step to become great.

"The Spoilers" takes place in Nome, Alaska--where men are men and the women work in saloons. It's a two-fisted "western" about hardworking men who staked their claims to Yukon gold and those who tried to jump their claims.

John Wayne plays Roy Glennister, co-owner of a mine operation. Randolph Scott plays Alex McNamara, a man who works in the gold office and wants to stake his own claim to Glennister's girlfriend, Cherry (played by Marlene Dietrich). As owner of the town saloon, Cherry is a tough businesswoman with a soft spot for Glennister, who likes to keep things informal.

Much of the plot of this traditional western is predictable, but the action is nonstop and the story is engaging. It is also a parable of sorts about the difference between law and justice. This was not the first time this story was filmed and it wouldn't be the last. In 1955, "The Spoilers" hit the big screen again. But Wayne's version is more satisfying.

The old Rex Beach chestnut, The Spoilers, has been filmed several times, from the early silent days to the Eisenhower fifties. A durable tale indeed. When the first version was made the Emperor Franz Josef was still on the throne in Austria. All versions feature the famous fight between McNamara and Glennister, that begins in a saloon and ends several miles down the street. Windows get shattered, tables and chairs fly through the air, and people gasp in horror.

This 1942 film, directed by the reliable Ray Enright, is actually genteel compared to the silent versions, and as much a vehicle for Marlene Dietrich as anything else. As she was riding the comeback trail, in the wake of her spectacular success in Destry Rides Again, she plays a saloon singer, which had become her specialty. A rousing "Northern" western, set in the days of the Alaskan Gold Rush (which was, incidentally, closer in historical time to the year this film was made than we are to World War II), The Spoilers has a fairly conventional plot about prospectors, claim-jumpers, and the various hangers-on, honest and crooked, that made mining towns like Nome so exciting,--and so dangerous.

Leading men Randoloph Scott and John Wayne make rugged adversaries, though I find Scott somewhat more appealing, which isn't supposed to be the case. Wayne is competent if a little anonymous here. The supporting cast includes the reliable Harry Carey, Richard Barthelmess, Samuel Hinds, and in a cameo (I'm not making this up), the poet, Robert Service, best known for "The Shooting Of Dan McGrew". I guess if you're going to cast a poet in a film like this you don't go for Edna St. Vincent Millay. Service is most appropriate casting.

The sets are quite good, and at times quite fancy; and the streets are muddy, though I seem to remember the earlier films as having a more realistic, dirty look, as Alaska here is cleaner and at least physically less forbidding than one might expect. As to the climactic fight, it is well enough done, and properly violent, though neither participant seems nearly so bloodied up as he ought to. Overall, the movie is satisfying, more routine than I expected, and yet a worthy entry in that fascinating sub-genre, the Gold Rush Western.

Nice action picture marks "The Spoilers."

Taking place in Nome, Alaska, John Wayne and Harry Carey own a gold mine. Along comes the gold commissioner (Randolph Scott) and a judge who work together as crooks to swindle people out of their stakes.

Marlene Dietrich is along for the ride as a gambling dance-hall queen. Her role is very similar to that of "Destry Rides Again," which was made three years before this picture.

Naturally, the Scott and judge duo want to clip Wayne and Carry. The judge has a niece (Margaret Lindsay) who will not quite make that happen. We've got shoot 'em ups, bar room brawls and dynamite explosions. If that isn't enough, we have Richard Barthelmess as Dietrich's manager who kills the sheriff and tries to frame Wayne for the murder. Barthelmess loves Dietrich and Wayne is in the way. Not bad, 2 women falling for Wayne.

Nice action flick with the theme of watch out for the law. A typical western production that works.