Alias John Law

The reviewer arfdawg-1 described this Bob Steele film as 'slow and boring'. Well, after seeing "Alias John Law", I'd certainly have to agree. While I often have enjoyed Steele's film, this one is amazingly low energy and not much fun to watch.

The film begins with some evil folks trying to shoot John (Steele) and Booch. Why, they don't know. However, the sheriff happens along at the same time and helps to drive away the baddies, but he's seriously injured in the process. John knows the sheriff and assumes his identity (???). His reasoning is that when he catches the baddies, he'll give the reward money to the sheriff. Why not just catch the guy and give the money to him after--this is a dumb plot device that not surprisingly comes back to haunt John. And, through the course of the film, it turns out that the leader of this gang is none other than the man that is out to steal John's inheritance--a very common theme in old B-westerns. With the help of his deaf friend*, the pair set out to restore niceness to the west.

There are many problems with the film in addition to its dullness. The plot is often riddled with clichés and holes. For example, twice the evil Kootney Kid is confronted by his underlings and so you KNOW that Kootney will almost immediately murder them! The worst was when one said '...you're not going to turn me over to the sheriff...if you do, I'll spill everything...'--and you KNEW what was coming next!! Additionally, while I like the idea of a deaf sidekick (since my own daughter is deaf), the way they handled it showed that they did no research. NO ONE is that good at reading lips. And, as a man who's been deaf all his life, his speech was way too good--both with annunciation and volume to his speaking voice.

The bottom line is that they made at least 237529351341 low budget westerns in the 1930s--surely you can find one better and more interesting than this one.

Somewhat amusing Bob Steele vehicle here. First off, Bob Steele WAS one of the more handsomer cowboy actors out there, and I actually look forward to his movies. Here he plays a cowboy off to see his Mom after many a year separation. Unfortunately, when he gets into town, he finds out that dear old Mom has passed on, and that someone is trying to hustle his Mom's land to his own uses. With the help of a deaf Sidekick (!!) Steele tries to prove his case in front of a land claims court (wow, exciting.. I'm sure the judge knew this too, since he's bellowing his lines to make it more interesting). The land claims court disagrees, and tries to arrest the two for impersonating a sheriff (don't ask). So Steele has to Take The Law Into His Own Hands! Entertaining for the fact that Steele makes it entertaining, I did like the amusing performance of Buck Conners as his sidekick as well.

Orphaned Bob Steele and sidekick Buck Connors head back home, to discover his mother is dead, and that Earl Dwire - who he is trailing, although he doesn't know it, for wounded Marshall Jack Rockwell - is trying to grab his mother's ranch, which has oil.

You may think this movie doesn't star Steele, but Tim McCoy. McCoy starred in THE REVENGE RIDER the same year; it also was known as ALIAS JOHN LAW. In any case, Dwire winds up with ranch and heading off to kill Rockwell, while Steele and Connors are to be thrown into jail... and that's when Steele busts loose.

It's a handsome movie under the direction of Steele's father, Robert Bradbury. The pacing is excellent. Editor Earl Luby doesn't waste time with extended horseback scenes, nor overlong entrances and exits. Instead, he uses short takes and a rising rate of cuts to build excitement, and cameraman William Nobles shows us the wind in the trees and framed compositions. The story doesn't do anything new, but between Steele's athleticism, and everyone behind the camera doing their jobs well, it's a very well made B western

This has to be one of the more amusing and highly entertaining westerns that I have seen in some time.

The plot is simple enough. A villain (The Kootney Kid...hahaha) is a mail-robber who finds a letter relative to identification of the rightful heir - Everett Tarkington Clark (who is Bob Steele, known by friends as John) of his mother's property. The Kootney Kid wants it because of a potential oil deal so he sets about to convince the law that he's really Everett and that Everett (Steele) is HIM.

I guess that it's a good thing that there are driver's licenses and other forms of identification these days, including actual records, which really helps, hahaha. I'm almost sure that there were records and REAL identification methods in the era this movie was set in, but it certainly doesn't seem that way watching it.

The judge is a laugh riot, almost as amusing as Buck Conners as Bootch Collum (Bootch? Kootney Kid? Fun names in this movie as well).

Almost the entire second half of this movie is filled with tongue-twisters, or at least the actors speak their lines as if they were tongue-twisters. You'd have to hear all the actors speak their lines to believe they ever even got through this at all.

Actually, there does seem to be one scene involving the judge where an off-camera voice seems to be holding back a loud burst of laughs and it literally sounds like they are hurting themselves trying to hold back the outburst. It seems that way, but still, there's no edit at the point that I could detect.

Very entertaining and easily worth several views.

I should strongly point out (perhaps even warn) - and it seems a bit strange - that Bob Steele in this looks EXACTLY like a silent film star ready to lick the rest of a pie from his face at a sped-up pace. I don't know why, but that's all I could think of during the courtroom scenes. It does subtract just a little from the western atmosphere, but perhaps it couldn't be helped. Perhaps it was just a combination of the expressions, haircut, and makeup(?)

Earl Dwire (The Kootney Kid, hehe) is also quite entertaining, and even very convincing in his villainous sincerity throughout, unlike the more cardboard characters in similar movies.

I also feel that all of the actors involved in this really are enjoying their roles and trying their best, unlike many other movies.

9/10

To be fair to Robert Bradbury, he tries to pack quite a lot into this pacy little western with Bob Steele ("John") trying to outwit the evil "Kootney Kid" (Earl Dwire) who is trying to swindle him out of his late mother's ranch - there be oil there! "Kootney" had robbed the stage, and procured a letter that he presented to the local judge (a fun scene featuring Robert McKenzie) to validate his claim to the ranch, and he also accuses "John" of really being the man behind the mail robbery - allegations which our hero, his gal "JoAnne" (Roberta Gale) and his useful lip-reading sidekick "Bootch" (the scene stealing Buck Connors) must refute if they are to thwart his cunning plans. It's interesting that in modern times when we can't go to the park without being identified several dozen ways, that back then, out West, identification basically relied on you actually being who you said you were, and guns were often the final arbiter - as is the case here. Its not a bad film, just nothing at all new and Steele is pretty bland.