New Frontier

Three Mesquiteers film starring John Wayne, Ray 'Crash' Corrigan, and Raymond Hatton. This time around the trio are helping ranchers fight crooked land grabbers. This was Wayne's final entry in this series of B westerns before moving on to bigger and better things. It's also the film debut of Jennifer Jones, billed under her pre-Selznick name of Phylis Isley. She does a fine job. Corrigan and Hatton are fun. Nice support from Eddy Waller. LeRoy Mason plays the heavy for the second consecutive Mesquiteers film. This is a pretty standard B western with a wonky timeline (supposed to be the 1910s but it's more like the 1870s). There's little to recommend about it outside of its appeal to Wayne (and maybe Jennifer Jones) completists.

"New Frontier" as it is titled here is a nice enough Mesquiteers effort, but the difficulty it seems to have with time sequencing and time setting makes it tough for anyone who cares about history or logic to watch it all the way through without scratching one's head. One never really knows whether the picture is set in 1915 (50 years after the late 1860s) or in contemporary 1939. And by the way, I think I figured it out... why Stony and Tucson were riding with the Pony Express in "1861" (before the Civil War)...it took me a while! Nonetheless, the producers must have gotten a good horse laugh with this one knowing how confusing it all could be. The picture might have been more aptly titled "The Town that Time Forgot," since the valley of New Hope seems to never have seen nor heard of automobiles, paved roads, or restrictions on open gun play. But when it comes time to build the dam the latest in 1939 trucks and other heavy motorized equipment grind away at the construction scene. Oh well, at least we have the Mesquiteers doing their best to save their friends' and their own homes from the dastardly State and some in-cahoots swindling developers. Ray Corrigan and John Wayne do their work but kind of get lost in all the action. And even though there are some curious moments in the film (like when Wayne nonchalantly knocks a supporting henchman just doing his work into the roaring rapids below) one can rightly get caught up in rooting for the residents in the valley facing eviction from their homes. This movie has an average amount of action (some good horse-mounted riding, for example) and a good cast, including some nice moments with Eddy Waller, who in a decade or so later would find lots of work sidekicking with Rocky Lane as Nugget. Expert cutting and B&W cinematography garner some points, too, so check you logic at the foyer, find your favorite theater seat, and enjoy John Wayne's final Mesqiiteers appearance in a fairly good show.

This is a typical short 57 mins. formulaic film from the budget minded Republic Studios, from 1939.It is interesting only because it was the first attempt at film stardom for Phyllis Isley, aged 20 at the time, whose name was changed in 1942 to the better known, Jennifer Jones, at the request of David O. Selznick, her mentor and later husband.

She plays Celia Braddock who assists the "Three Mesquiteers" (whose number includes a young John Wayne), to prevent a ruthless claim-jumping construction company from stealing ranchers' properties in "New Hope Valley", in order to build a lucrative dam there.She gets to ride a horse but is given rather a trite script to say.After a second Republic Film that year ("Dick Tracy and the G-Men), Phyllis and her then husband, Robert Walker, decided they were not being regarded seriously enough by Hollywood and returned back to New York to pursue their still unrealised dreams of stage stardom.

Due to its short run time, the film on video normally comes with another Republic title, e.g. "Randy Rides Again".The present title is only now interesting to see the embryonic talent of Jennifer Jones in order to compare to her more mature, later work.Otherwise it is mediocre and I rated it at 5/10

New Frontier (1939)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The final Three Mesquiteer film for John Wayne has the boys trying to help some settlers who are about to lose their land to some bad men. At the moment I can't recall how many of the Wayne films I've seen from this series but this is just like most of them. The film contains some pretty good action scenes and Wayne is good as usual but the stories aren't really that strong. Jennifer Jones has a small supporting role and does a pretty nice job.

As of now the only way to view these films is by AMC, which also includes commercials.

"Impoverished by civil war, and faced with the painful labor of reconstruction, thousands of Americans cut the old tries and took the immigrant trail to the free lands of the far west – and a new beginning," according to the opening...

A pioneering family led by soldier Eddy Waller (as Steven Braddock) finds a beautiful area to settle and they name the place "New Hope Valley" because if symbolizes new hope. Fifty years later, the family and other residents celebrate the town's golden anniversary. On hand are Republic Pictures' "The Three Mesquiteers" – leader John Wayne (as Stony Brooke), partner Ray Corrigan (as Tucson Smith) and comic sidekick Raymond Hatton (as Rusty Joslin). They seem to be, herein, based in "New Hope" and riding the (?) Pony Express. Trouble arrives when nasty government men and land contractors declare "New Hope Valley" is condemned, so they can level the town and build a damn. Outraged citizens convince Mr. Wayne to lead the opposition...

This routine round-up was the last series appearance for two of the Mesquiteers. Wayne was obviously off to greener pastures due to his choice role in director John Ford's "Stagecoach" (1939). He would be replaced by returning "Stony" Robert Livingston. Also calling it quits, Mr. Corrigan went on to star in his own series, with Bob Steele taking over the "Tucson" role. Republic remembered they already had a "New Frontier" (1935) starring John Wayne, so they re-titled this "Frontier Horizon". Making her film debut herein is pretty young Phylis Isley, who became very popular after changing her name to "Jennifer Jones" and hooking up with producer David O. Selznick. In Hollywood, being noticed by John Ford or David Selznick certainly helped.

*** New Frontier Horizon (8/10/39) George Sherman ~ John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Raymond Hatton, Jennifer Jones