Law of the Timber

You gotta hand it to PRC, they managed to produce a long series of dreadful films during the life of this poverty row studio--and "Law of the Timber" is yet another.

The film manages to be about lumber AND national defense--no mean feat! It seems that the entire fate of the free world depends on a group of lumbermen harvesting trees which will be used for national defense!! And, Yumpin' Yimminy, they're gonna do it! And, why do I keep saying 'Yumpin' Yimminy'?! Well, because one of the most stereotypical and annoying characters ALWAYS seems to be saying this--as if, perhaps, it's the result of a brain injury! It really got on my nerves and I gave up counting after he said it for the 3723934th time! As for the rest of these actors, they were mostly pretty dull--as was the bizarre script. In fact, I think I am being a bit charitable giving it a 3. Dumb and silly.

Engaging little mystery set in a lumber camp. Yeah, the plot is pretty clichéd - cute blonde inherits her pop's business which greedy crooks are after - but the picturesque forest setting gives the story a new dimension of interest. Someone is sabotaging the H&L Lumber Co's operations and will stop at nothing - even murder - to take over and get H&L's new government contract. Red herrings abound, from the multicultural lumberjacks themselves to the squatters living illegally nearby. And how about that new guy who looks and acts nothing like a lumberjack? As the mystery unfolds we are treated to the great scenery of Big Bear Lake,CA, along with stock footage of the lumber industry in action (kind of funny seeing the same log splash into the river multiple times!) The acting is decent, with the best performance hailing from Sven Hugo Borg as the Swede Olaf; the film's most suspenseful moment revolves around a secret message Olaf scrawls on a poker card...but will that ace fall into the hand of the intended recipient?

With his partner dead, Jack Holmes has been trying to revive his timber company. He has a government contract in hand, and starts hiring the usual bunch of stereotypes, plus the oddity of Hal Brazeale, who obviously has never done a day's worth of hard labor in his life. But there are squatters in the valley who won't be moved, and Holmes gets blown up, leaving his daughter, Marjorie Reynolds, to fulfill the contract. The squatters are gotten rid of, the men seem enthusiastic, but some one is sabotaging the delivery. Why can it be, and why?

Someone must have lit a fire under director Bernard B. Ray, because this one moves at a good clip. Part of that is cinematographer Jack Greenhalgh, who keeps the camera moving. Editor Carl Himm also keeps the tempo up. But the dialogue is corny, the dialogue is directed poorly despite a practiced cast, and the train wreck is some of the worst model work I've seen in a long time. With Monte Blue, J. Farrell MacDonald, George Humbert, and Milburn Morante.