La terra promessa

John Wayne was so busy grinding out these western quickies in the days before Stagecoach that maybe he forgot around 1939 to tell Herbert J. Yates that they already had done a film entitled The New Frontier. The Duke has two films for Republic with that title. The second The New Frontier is the last of his Three Mesquiteer films and has Jennifer Jones as his leading lady under her real name of Phyllis Isley.

It's possible Yates thought that the first The New Frontier was so bad that he wanted a chance to redeem the title. The Three Mesquiteer film is better than this one that came out four years earlier.

John Wayne is a trail boss, according to the film, a vanishing breed. He and father Sam Flint are doing this line of work, bringing in settlers to the new Oklahoma territory. It will be Wayne's last job before he settles down in the new Oklahoma town of Frontier.

Problem is that gambler/saloon owner Warner Richmond wants a wide open town. The good citizens of Frontier hire Flint as a sheriff to clean up the place, but Flint gets back shot. Wayne takes his place, in the same way Tom Destry Jr., stepped into his father's profession in Destry Rides Again.

Wayne gets help from an old outlaw, Al Bridge, in his efforts. Bridge's life was saved by the Duke on a previous occasion and for an outlaw, he's a man of honor.

Except for Al Bridge who later became a Preston Sturges regular, the acting is kind of stiff. Granted that B westerns of the day were usually in some never never land west, but I think even the Saturday afternoon kid crowd knew that wagon trains had died out a generation ago with the coming of the railroad. Wayne in fact takes a specific route from Kansas to Oklahoma the long way around to bypass hostile Indians. There weren't any hostile Indians then. In fact any school kid knew that Oklahoma was the place the formerly hostile Indians got dumped.

What the film lacks in authenticity it makes up for in the final fifteen minutes as the Wayne/Bridge crowd starts shooting it out with Richmond's bunch. In fact a fire in the saloon makes this one blazing shootout.

The New Frontier is one of a minority of films that never came out on VHS or DVD of John Wayne's. Let's hope the Wayne family estate keeps it under wraps.

During the 1930s, John Wayne was one of the busiest actors in Hollywood. Now many might not have noticed, as although he was in a ton of films, they were mostly B-westerns....pretty forgettable compared to his later work. Now I am NOT saying they are bad...just not as memorable as his A-pictures. "The New Frontier" is one of these 1930s Bs.

The story is set in the Oklahoma Territory at about the time of the big land rush in 1889. John Dawson and his father aren't concerned about land but instead are working leading wagon trains into the territory. However, when a local saloon keeper begins driving out honest settlers, the father agrees to talk with the man to solve the problem....and for his efforts, John's father gets a bullet in the back!! What's next? Well, I think I can assure you John will NOT be a happy guy....and how he rids the town of the gamblers and restores law and order is something you won't easily predict!

The story is pretty standard and the only way the film stands out from other Bs is the stirring and very violent finale! Not exactly a work of genius but enjoyable.

John Wayne developing his iconic screen persona now with the improved Republic pictures does well with a solid cast. He is an expert trail guide with his dad, Sam Flint. Pioneer of American cinema, Warner Richmond plays the nefarious saloon proprietor and town de facto leader. He has other ideas about Flint's plan to clean it up. Favorite actress of sagebrush stars, Muriel Evans fears for Duke's life when he seeks revenge. Al Bridge plays a great role as an outlaw who owe's Duke a favor. This sets up the finale between Duke, Bridge, Richmond, and none other than the multi-talented Glenn Strange. The contrast with an ongoing town prayer meeting adds to the suspense and the anticipated devastation. "The New Frontier" has many great moments and an unforgettable ending.

A lot of 1930's B-Western movies are almost embarrassing to watch in their primitive acting and scripting. This one has plenty of both but I found myself hanging to to see how they would being about the expected happy ending. John Wayne's character sets about the task of avenging his father's death while ridding a town of it's lawless element. Of special interest is the juxtaposition of the prayer meeting lead by the parson with the gunfight between the lawless element and the town's menfolk led by Wayne. A lot of movies, even today, shy away from religious themes that involve actual religious characters but this one shows the irony prayerful words against a backdrop of killing and the burning of the town. Take a look if you get a chance.

An American Western. A story set in 1889 about pioneers who have raced ahead of the law to claim free land in Oklahoma after President Benjamin Harrison signed off Manifest Destiny. When an unscupulous dance hall owner in one new town has a man shot, his quick-on-the-draw son takes his post as sheriff and must avenge his death. This is a predictable but enjoyable oater. It is slight on the topic of land grabbing and the pioneer struggle but strong on characters: the sympathetic and decent character played well by Sam Flint, and John Wayne as a great-trail wagon master, brooding, arriving to try and rescue churchgoing townsfolk. The finale and showdown is as spectacular as many of the bigger budget main feature Westerns that came later. There is a nice rendition of Glenn Strange's song, "The New Frontier", a scene in which he features. It borrows stock footage from earlier Ken Maynard Westerns.