The Frontier Phantom

"The Frontier Phantom" is notable as the final film in Al St. John's canon of 350 or more films that began in 1913 at Keystone, as well as the final film in the regular Lash La Rue western series. One might have wished for a finer farewell for these fellows, but the 1952 material is merely an extended framing sequence for long inserts drawn from the 1949 feature "Outlaw Country." Ironically, the 1952 footage is a little more polished than that of 1949 and has the pacing and style of television. Shortly after this, Ron Ormond created a TV show for Lash La Rue called "Lash of the West" that used a similar format; Lash telling a story about a relative that is illustrated in sequences drawn from preexisting pictures. In the cheater segments, Lash and Al turn in their usual, professional performances and Virginia Herrick puts in a plucky performance as the girl bringing food to the jail where all of the main characters are holed up for awhile waiting for the bad guys. It's mildly entertaining, and certainly not at the level of a great Lash-Fuzzy western as "King of the Bullwhip (1950)." But for fans there is a certain sentimental value in seeing these great B-western characters play out their last parts; while the B-western was still kicking in 1952, it wouldn't be for long. The popularity of drive-ins -- which favored a different kind of B-level entertainment -- drove the B-western onto television briefly, and was then made obsolete by the advent of shows like "Gunsmoke." So this one's mainly for the die-hards, but a well-informed die-hard should thoroughly enjoy this for at least one play.

Taking place four days after Lash and Fuzzy's breaking up of a counterfeit gang detailed in the 1949 film Outlaw Country, Lash is mistaken for his twin brother the Frontier Phantom and arrested. At the jail, Lash relates the events of the smashing of the counterfeit outlaw gang and his meeting the last member of the gang Sam Mantell for a showdown.

The Frontier Phantom stars Lash La Rue and his sidekick Fuzzy and there's the usual chases and gunplay, though most of it is stock footage taken from Outlaw Country - it's amazing how the filmmakers could string the stock footages together and still make an adequately diverting programmer. Not outstanding by any means, it's a bit flat in places, but it's passable enough as a filler if you have nothing else to watch. Plus Lash has a certain charisma and Fuzzy is fairly funny, so they keep things from being yawn-worthy.