Flame of the West

Johnny Mack Brown is an ex-gunslinger-turned-doctor in a wide open town in this randomly-named western.

With a situation like that, you know from the git-go that it's going to end with him strapping on his old revolvers and taking out the bad guys, but director Lambert Hillyer -- long past his halcyon days directing William S. Hart -- runs this Destry-like plot entirely in a low key and with some surprising casting.

It is perennial screen villain Douglas Dumbrille who's the tough lawman who is hired to clean up the town, and he goes about it in a quiet, efficient manner. He has circuitous conversations with Brown about Joan Woodbury, the saloon singer with a heart of gold, about whom Dumbrille says "Did you ever know a woman you wanted to kill one minute and kiss the next?" All in all, it's a startlingly fine B western from Monogram.

Johnny Mack Brown stars in this western for Monogram that has a bit more plot than your average B film. He plays a newly arrived doctor in the town who has a secret. His secret is that he's a fast gun with an accurate aim at what he shoots at.

This is one lawless town and saloon owner Harry Woods wants to keep it that way. The town brings in tamer Douglass Dumbrille and appoints him marshal with carte blanche. But to finish the job he will need Brown and those colts he carries in his doctor's bag.

Being a law and order marshal in a western is not a role I ever thought to see Dumbrille in. But he does carry it off.

Joan Woodbury has the role of Woods's partner in the saloon. She's in charge of the entertainment at the establishment and PeeWee King and his group who are in this film play at the saloon and work for her. She's also carrying a big secret which we don't learn until the end.

Enough gunplay to satisfy any western fan.

This is really quite a solid B western. Johnny Mack does not dominate the movie, as with many B westerns, where the hero is on screen every moment in every scene. He's very laid back here, & that's good for the movie. Douglass Dumbrille as Sheriff Tom Nightlander is excellent. He's introduced in the movie as kind of a Wyatt Earp character, maybe a little too happy with his gun, or is he? We get to decide for ourselves as we watch him in action. Joan Woodbury as Poppy Rand is delightful. She walks with a Mae West swagger & has a good comedic touch (although she's not the equal of Mae by any means). I've seen Joan twice before. Her first credited role was in `Eagle's Brood' (the second Hopalong Cassidy movie) although she was credited as `Nana Martin' in that film. I saw her again in `Rogues' Tavern' (1936), where she played a bizarre role & was mostly window decoration. Her roles in those two movies were not very significant, so I was surprised to see the extent of her part in this movie & even more surprised to see how convincing she was in the part of a loose saloon girl here. There are many other well known faces & voices in this film, good actors who have played character roles in movies without anyone remembering their names. It all adds up to a good, enjoyable film, perhaps Johnny Mack's best. I rate it 8/10.