A Holy Terror

Bogart is a running a ranch for a wealthy gentleman in Texas. He is pursuing one lady while another is pursuing him. His job is to bring another man to the ranch to meet his boss. He doesn't carry out his instructions exactly as he should. Somewhat interesting to watch but neither the acting nor the plot are great. There is one good scene involving a plane crashing into a house and catching a woman in the shower.

I have never heard of this little film, from director Irving Cummings, about whom the best and most known film will forever remain BELLE STARR, starring Gene Tierney and Randolph Scott. Except this film, the rest of Cumminngs' filmography is purely very hard to purchase; most is from the silent era. This one is just a rare and curious film, pre Code period, and that's why it is interesting to watch. But you can live without it, it is only destined to gem diggers. I am not even sure it was aired on TCM. I don't understand the title...Terror, i thought of a horror thriller. However, because it is from Irving Cummings - the director of BELLE STARR - I wanted to watch it, at least once in my life.

When the film begins, a rich man, Thomas Woodbury, dies. His son, Tony (George O'Brien), soon learns that for decades his father has been having a man named William Drew watched by private detectives. And, he learns that his father actually had a previous identity and lived originally in Wyoming. So, he decides to head to Wyoming and learn from Mr. Drew himself what the connection is between them. However, a few hiccups occur during his investigation. First, his plane crashes right into a pretty lady's bathroom while she's taking a shower. She's unhurt and Tony is DEFINITELY interested in seeing more of her. Second, one of Drew's employees, Steve Nash (Humphrey Bogart), is REALLY curious about Tony and why he wants to see Drew...and so he takes it upon himself to rough up the young man. But Tony soon escapes. What's really going on here? Who is Drew really and why would Nash act this way?

This is an early film of Bogart and that's the reason I decided to watch the movie. The print is pretty lousy but considering how hard it is to find Bogart's early films, I watched it on YouTube despite its shortcomings. While most folks today recognize Bogart as a top- tier star, he acted in a bunch of films in mostly minor roles for nearly a decade before his talents were recognized. Films like "A Holy Terror" might explain why, as Bogart was oddly cast as a guy from Wyoming...despite his strong New York accent and manners.

So is it any good? Well, since it's a cheap B-movie from Fox, it had a relatively small budget and certainly was NOT one of their premier productions back in 1931. And, I must admit that the secret that Tony discovers is a real DOOZY...making it worth your time waiting for this. But, on the other hand...the film just inexplicably ends...no fade out, no incidental music...almost like the just ran out of film! Odd...but still watchable.

Humphrey Bogart made his western debut in this film A Holy Terror based on the Max Brand novel Trailin'. It had been filmed ten years earlier as a silent under its original name with Tom Mix in the lead. Western star George O'Brien is in the lead with Bogey as one of the villains.

Interestingly enough this might have been Bogart's best outing in a western. He was a villain later in Warner Brothers big budget westerns The Oklahoma Kid where he's too much of an eastern gangster and Virginia City where he sounds laughable as a Mexican bandit. Here he's just right as the foreman of a western ranch who gets a case of the green eyed monster when easterner George O'Brien starts eying Sally Eilers.

But that's just a sidebar to the main story. O'Brien is a polo playing easterner whose dad, Robert Warwick, is found shot to death. Searching his papers O'Brien finds that Warwick's original name was changed and that he had kept tabs on the whereabouts of a certain Wyoming rancher for years.

O'Brien goes to Wyoming to investigate and by the end of the film all his questions are answered. He might be an eastern dude, but his polo training makes him ride with the best of the cowboys as they learn to their regret. In fact O'Brien whose big break came in the John Ford silent western classic, The Iron Horse, got his start in the army horse cavalry before World War I.

As for Bogart he's the foreman who gets his boss's intentions all wrong as far as O'Brien is concerned. He's not bad in the part though and is noticed, especially by his legion of fans for whom he's an existential legend.

I wound up with a copy of this film by accident--and figured I'd watch it before sending it back to the collector who made me a copy of this instead of the film I'd actually requested, so I had little or no expectations...just wanted to see what it was. The first few scenes take place back east and feature Robert Warwick, so I was thinking "oh no, another of those 'dude goes West' films." However, the film soon shifts into high gear with Warwick's death, which motivates George O'Brien to go out to Wyoming. There's some well-placed humor in the film, such as when O'Brien lands his plane in a lady's bathroom (!), but the film is as much a mystery as it is a western. There's also a nice "Bad Day At Black Rock" kind of feel to the small town in which O'Brien arrives, asking questions. The way the plot develops is suspenseful, and the finale, which ends cold right after the climax, is powerful. The film, as with most 1931 productions, has no music, so ending the film abruptly and in silence is a powerful technique. The heavy in the film is played by the young Humphrey Bogart, in what must have been one of his first significant roles, and he is menacing and intense, just as he would be a few years later in PETRIFIED FOREST. George O'Brien, best known today for the silent classic SUNRISE and for his work in John Ford films, can play an upper-class polo-playing young man, but he is also genuinely tough (not a surprise, considering he was a boxing champ earlier in his life), has a keen sense of humor, and has a warm screen presence. He's also a fine horseman. In under one hour, this film tells a complex story, yet is exciting and plays like a good mystery, though in a western setting. Some who aren't that familiar with early-sound films may find it a bit slow going, but it's actually quite fluid for a 1931 film, and I give it a full 10 star rating. It completely achieved what it set out to do and holds up well today. (interestingly, my copy had "fade in" and "fade out" on the screen in between a number of films--was this a television print with those meant for the local TV station projectionist???). I don't get the Fox Movie Channel, but as this was a Fox film, maybe it will be shown there sometime. Watch for it...and don't get up to get a soda or a snack. Watch it uninterrupted.