Brand of the Devil

"Brand of the Devil" was the 14th entry in PRC's "Texas Rangers" series, and is the last one Jim Newill appeared in before being replaced by Tex Ritter in the remaining films of this less-than-stellar B-western series, even measured by just B-western series standards. It is also the last time Dave O'Brien's role name was Tex Wyatt. When Tex Ritter joined the series, his role name became Tex Haines and (fellow-Texan) O'Brien became Dave Wyatt.

This time out, Texas Rangers Jim Steele (Jim Newill), Tex Wyatt (Dave O'Brien)and Panhandle Perkins (Guy Wilkerson), working undercover,are on the trail of Jack Varno (I. Stanford Jolley) and his cattle-rustling gang who have adopted the insignia of a devil's pitchfork, which has come to be known as "The Brand of the Devil." Varno and his gang---BUCKO LYNN (Charles King). GRIPPER JOE (Kermit Maynard) and Ed (John Cason)--- also don't hesitate to murder their rustling-and-robbery victims.

The Rangers track the gang to Varno's Gold Ace Saloon, where Panhandle, posing as "Fancy Brand" McGee, sells branding irons which he claims can not be changed. This gets the attention and confidence of Varno and his gang. DUKE CUTTER (Reed Howes), one of the gang, steals a valuable horse from Molly Dawson (Ellen Hall.) Molly follows Cutter to the saloon, a fight breaks out and Tex and Jim rescue Molly.

Molly's foreman Henry Wilburn (Budd Buster)is working for Varno. He masquerades as Molly and joins Varno's men in a cattle-stealing raid on Jeff Palin's (Karl Hackett) ranch, and Palin tells Sheriff Parker (Edward Cassidy)Molly was the leader. Molly is jailed but Tex and Jim trail the rustlers and capture Wilburn, still wearing Molly's clothes (and not a pretty sight.) Wilburn takes her place in jail.

The more the Rangers learn about Varno, the more he learns about them and there is a bunch of swapping upper-hand activity before the final shootout in the saloon.

Cousins Arthur Alexander,credited Producer on this one and Alfred Stern, CREDITED Associate Producer here, swapped the Producer and Associate Producer credits back and forth with each other (on every other entry) but the primary faults with most of the films in this series can be laid firmly at the door of the Alexander-Stern Productions, no matter which one took which credit. Jim Newill sings "Goodbye Old Paint" and the always-great "When the Work's All Done This Fall" in his farewell to the Texas Rangers series.

This film essentially begins in 1880 with a cowboy named of "Jim Steele" (James Newill) walking into the Gold Ace saloon in the town of Willow Springs and inquiring about a job. To his consternation, the owner of the saloon "Jack Varno" (I. Stanford Jolley) says that he has no knowledge of any around. Minutes later an angry young woman by the name of "Molly Dawson" (Ellen Hall) bursts in and accuses a cowboy named "Duke" (Reed Howes) of rustling some of her horses. A fight subsequently breaks out with Jim Steele and another stranger in town named "Tex Wyatt" (Dave O'Brien) helping Molly out. One thing leads to another and soon all three ride out of town to safety but not before a calling card known as "the Brand of the Devil" is left on one of the tables. And it's this discovery that terrifies 4 of the cowboys--including both Jack Varno and Duke. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that prior to watching this film, I was unaware that it was just one film out of a total of 22 that were made under the series of "The Texas Rangers". That being said, fans of this particular series probably have more knowledge about the characters and many of the intricacies or nuances of these films than I do. What I can say, however, is that this was a rather short, low-budget movie (57 minutes) which suffered from poor lighting and film quality. Of course, considering the period in which it was made, I suppose that's probably to be expected to a certain degree. Be that as it may, on the whole, I found this to be a rather bland, grade-B film and I have rated it accordingly.

In the 1930s and 40s, there were several cowboy series that were very similar. They consisted of nice guy lawmen coming to yet another town to right rights and punish evil. A few of these series were pretty famous, such as The Three Mesqueteers and the Rough Riders. However, a few, such as The Texas Rangers (Dave O'Brien, James Newell and Guy Wilkerson--hardly household names) also existed--the products of studios even smaller than Republic. In all, they made 14 films in the series.

The film begins with a VERY familiar western cliché. There is a fight in a bar and members of The Texas Rangers are fighting on different sides. Why? So they can ingratiate themselves with the local gang leader and join his group of rustlers. However, rustling is not the only reason they want to investigate the gang--it seems that some of them have a secret. However, they all can identify each other with a playing card referred to as 'The Brand of the Devil'--and they soon learn that SOMEONE in the bar knows who they are, as this card is left for them.

Overall, I enjoyed this film a bit more than I expected. Considering it's full of no-name actors and is from a tiny production company, I expected worse! The acting and action weren't bad though the story was VERY formulaic. It also featured the dumbest on-screen excuse to sing a song I've ever seen (you just have to see it to believe it). It's not a great film by any standard but it decent fare for people who love these old series films.

This entry in PRC's Texas Ranger series has the trio of Dave O'Brien, Jim Newill and Guy Wilkerson work a Mr.Inside/Mr.Outside approach to taking on The Devil's Brand gang who specialize in cattle rustling. Perennial western villain I. Stanford Jolley heads the gang which leaves a calling card of a pitchfork so that everyone knows it's there work. Nice to have a trademark. Personally if I was in that business I think anonymity is where it's at.

O'Brien and Newill help Ellen Hall whose ranch has been pilfered and who can identify the leader. Wilkerson works to infiltrate the gang and his calling card is fine line of running irons, best to change cattle brands with.

These rustlers are pretty dumb to fall for this plan because it's so obvious these guys are working together. It's all pretty dumb and the production is shoddy. But par for the course for a PRC film.