Law of the Ranger

You know it would stand to reason that if one were going undercover, one would not dress like the typical B western hero. But that's not what the movie-going public expected of their cowboy heroes like Ranger Bob Allen.

Law Of The Ranger was part of the Ranger Bob series of B westerns that Columbia was doing at the time, every studio had its B film cowboys and Republic had hardly anything else. Robert Allen and Hal Taliaferro play a couple of Texas Rangers going undercover as homesteaders to find out why a lot of people keep getting dead in Rainbow Valley.

This one's about the water rights and Allen and Taliaferro settle on an abandoned homestead coveted by villain John Merton. Also Allen finds time for a little romance with Elaine Shepherd who helps run the newspaper whose editorial policy against claim jumping Merton doesn't like.

One really annoying device this film's plot had was to have flannelmouth Ernie Adams be constantly given confidences and promptly spilling them for a small handout for booze. I mean, really hero or villain, would you trust this guy?

I shouldn't be too harsh with Law Of The Ranger it was made for the Saturday matinée kiddie trade, but even a 9 year old might find some problems with the plot.

Gateway Valley is of inestimable value to Bill Nash (John Merton), owner of the local water company and big boss of the town. The valley is land-locked with the exception of a bottle-neck pass, making it idea for the construction of a reservoir by Nash to gain control of all water-rights in the surrounding country. In order to intimidate the settlers, Nash and his gang have secretly carried on a reign of terror ending with the murder of Baldwin, who claimed the bottle-neck property. Crusading newspaper editor Polk (Lafe McKee) and his daughter, Evelyn (Elaine Shepard), have done their best to stir up indignation against Nash, but they are helpless. Nash is in the newspaper office threatening Polk when Bob Allen (Bob Allen) and his partner, Wally Hood (Hal Taliaferro), enter and announce they are strangers looking for a homestead. Polk tells them about the Baldwin property and Nash advises them to keep away. Later, Nash does an about face by urging Allen to stake a claim but doesn't tell him that the claim registrar (Frank Ball) is out of town for two weeks.

Evelyn sets out to obtain aid from the State Rangers---no state mentioned as usual in this series which some sources mislabel as Bob Allen's "Texas Rangers" series---and she is saved from Nash's gang by Allen and Wally, who reveal to her that they are State Rangers working undercover. Evelyn discovers that Nash is going to a neighboring town to file a claim on the Baldwin property. Because a partner must be on the property at the time of filing, Nash sends Henchman Steve (Slim Whitaker) and the rest of the gang to occupy the Baldwin place. Evelyn tips off Allen, he leaves Wally on site as the partner, and chases after Nash to beat him on the claim filing. Steve and his henchmen drive Wally off, and Allen and Nash arrive at the registrar's office at the same time. Now the deal is that the first one back gets the claim, but a partner still has to be on the place. Since Wally isn't there, this doesn't bode well for Allen's bid, but maybe he registered it under another name and maybe Evelyn has been hiding in the right place.

Only his ardent fans remember Bob Allen today, and they are becoming fewer all the time, but Bob Allen fit the part of a Saturday matinée hero, even his duds were somewhat outlandish compared with other movie cowboys of the times. Mainly in 1937, Bob Allen made six ranger films for Columbia: "The Unknown Ranger," "Rio Grande Ranger," "Reckless Ranger," "Ranger Courage," "Law of the Ranger" -this one, & "The Ranger Steps In." According to pundits of the genre, Bob Allen's fondest movie memories were of the Ranger series. And it's easy to see why.

"Law of the Ranger" has all the traditional elements of a good budget western. The plot is a typical land-grabbing one with the mustachioed villain (John Merton) obviously enjoying his role. (His dastardly deeds are shown at the beginning of the movie adroitly edited with his image continually popping up to reveal to the audience the lead bad guy.) Bob Allen and his saddle pal, Wally (Hal Taliaferro), must stop the night riders led by Bill Nash (Merton)from taking over a key piece of land for water rights. Along the way, Bob Allen has time for dalliance with the daughter (Elaine Shepard) of the local crusading newspaper editor. All this leads to action aplenty that should please Saturday matinée fans.

Of special note is the appearance of Hal Taliaferro, aka Wally Wales, as Bob Allen's sidekick, not really a comical sidekick in the traditional manner. Wally is more of a buddy in the saddle, but he is a superb actor and handles the part with ease, making it an enjoyable performance. Unfortunately, Hal Taliaferro's acting talents were basically ignored by the Hollywood establishment and he was relegated to playing bit parts (mainly as a bad guy)in budget westerns.

Legendary cowboy character actors appear in the film that all fans will recognize. Tom London, later the sheriff on many-a Gene Autry TV show, plays one of Bill Nash's henchmen. Others include Slim Whitaker, Lane Chandler, & Bud Osborne.

Bob Allen may not have succeeded as a cowboy hero, but his six Columbia ranger oaters are all worth seeing.