The Mounted Stranger

This early sound film for Hoot Gibson shows a shaky fear of the sound gear. Hoot is a little slow in speaking his sides, and quite declamatory; and the sound people keep filling in the background as if they are afraid of the hiss of sound-free pictures.

If you ignore the soundtrack, what you are left with is a fine silent western; this was also released in silent form -- in 1930, a lot of small town movie theaters hadn't converted to sound and Gibson was very popular for Saturday matinées. Director Arthur Rosson, who did a lot of second-unit work for Demille, has cinematographer Harry Neumann shoot it in late-silent style, frequently from a child's point of view and usually with strongly framed figures against dark backgrounds.

Hoot gets to perform a couple of his nice comic turns, particularly with Louise Lorraine. But at this stage he is still getting used to the microphone. Fans of old B westerns will enjoy themselves, but those less dedicated might do better with the silent version or with Gibson vehicles from a couple of years later.