Sunset of Power

Ranch owner Charles Middleton drives away his widowed daughter-in-law for giving birth to a daughter. Some time later, he's feeling old and hands the management of his ranch to Donald Kirke, who uses the opportunity to rustle more than a thousand head of cattle. When Middleton orders grand-daughter Dorothy Dix to marry Kirke, she turns to a mysterious Spanish hombre and to soft-spoken Buck Jones -- when he isn't digging post holes.

I always expect Middleton to be disagreeable, whether he's a Sylvanian ambassador or comes from Mongo, but here he makes me wonder how he assembled a big spread in the first place, and is he suffering from an undiagnosed brain tumor? That question aside, it's a fairly standard B, enlivened by Jones' portrayal of a shy man in love. It's not the best of his B westerns, but he rarely produced a stinker, and this one is pretty good.

"Sunset of Power" is one of several westerns Buck Jones produced in the mid 1930's, and no surprise, this picture is serious and affords nary a smile as the ever-widening story tidily unfolds... oh, maybe one or two smiles, but because one is so caught off guard by a lighter moment the smile is fleeting.

The story concerns a cowhand who, although a bit acerbic, is pretty much standard issue but who is faced with a chance to rise above mediocrity in his life script. Charles Middleton gives a strong and disturbing look at a particularly bitter and mean old man, while elegant Dorothy Dix provides an earnest performance in a role that is both key and varied in its tasks (soon after this picture Dorothy decided to withdraw from her film career). Finally, Charles King moves through a fairly unusual good-guy role and does so without his trademark moustache.

The characters and the story carry this sensitive movie, as neither the interior sets nor the outdoor scenery are noteworthy. Scoring wells up now and then, too, and it is done tastefully and with care. I expect serious Buck Jones fans will enjoy this film.