A Holy Terror

I have never heard of this little film, from director Irving Cummings, about whom the best and most known film will forever remain BELLE STARR, starring Gene Tierney and Randolph Scott. Except this film, the rest of Cumminngs' filmography is purely very hard to purchase; most is from the silent era. This one is just a rare and curious film, pre Code period, and that's why it is interesting to watch. But you can live without it, it is only destined to gem diggers. I am not even sure it was aired on TCM. I don't understand the title...Terror, i thought of a horror thriller. However, because it is from Irving Cummings - the director of BELLE STARR - I wanted to watch it, at least once in my life.

Humphrey Bogart made his western debut in this film A Holy Terror based on the Max Brand novel Trailin'. It had been filmed ten years earlier as a silent under its original name with Tom Mix in the lead. Western star George O'Brien is in the lead with Bogey as one of the villains.

Interestingly enough this might have been Bogart's best outing in a western. He was a villain later in Warner Brothers big budget westerns The Oklahoma Kid where he's too much of an eastern gangster and Virginia City where he sounds laughable as a Mexican bandit. Here he's just right as the foreman of a western ranch who gets a case of the green eyed monster when easterner George O'Brien starts eying Sally Eilers.

But that's just a sidebar to the main story. O'Brien is a polo playing easterner whose dad, Robert Warwick, is found shot to death. Searching his papers O'Brien finds that Warwick's original name was changed and that he had kept tabs on the whereabouts of a certain Wyoming rancher for years.

O'Brien goes to Wyoming to investigate and by the end of the film all his questions are answered. He might be an eastern dude, but his polo training makes him ride with the best of the cowboys as they learn to their regret. In fact O'Brien whose big break came in the John Ford silent western classic, The Iron Horse, got his start in the army horse cavalry before World War I.

As for Bogart he's the foreman who gets his boss's intentions all wrong as far as O'Brien is concerned. He's not bad in the part though and is noticed, especially by his legion of fans for whom he's an existential legend.

When the film begins, a rich man, Thomas Woodbury, dies. His son, Tony (George O'Brien), soon learns that for decades his father has been having a man named William Drew watched by private detectives. And, he learns that his father actually had a previous identity and lived originally in Wyoming. So, he decides to head to Wyoming and learn from Mr. Drew himself what the connection is between them. However, a few hiccups occur during his investigation. First, his plane crashes right into a pretty lady's bathroom while she's taking a shower. She's unhurt and Tony is DEFINITELY interested in seeing more of her. Second, one of Drew's employees, Steve Nash (Humphrey Bogart), is REALLY curious about Tony and why he wants to see Drew...and so he takes it upon himself to rough up the young man. But Tony soon escapes. What's really going on here? Who is Drew really and why would Nash act this way?

This is an early film of Bogart and that's the reason I decided to watch the movie. The print is pretty lousy but considering how hard it is to find Bogart's early films, I watched it on YouTube despite its shortcomings. While most folks today recognize Bogart as a top- tier star, he acted in a bunch of films in mostly minor roles for nearly a decade before his talents were recognized. Films like "A Holy Terror" might explain why, as Bogart was oddly cast as a guy from Wyoming...despite his strong New York accent and manners.

So is it any good? Well, since it's a cheap B-movie from Fox, it had a relatively small budget and certainly was NOT one of their premier productions back in 1931. And, I must admit that the secret that Tony discovers is a real DOOZY...making it worth your time waiting for this. But, on the other hand...the film just inexplicably ends...no fade out, no incidental music...almost like the just ran out of film! Odd...but still watchable.

On returning home, a polo player discovers that his millionaire father has been killed. He heads West to confront a rancher who may be at the heart of the mystery.

An uninteresting pre-code adventure film that lacks a decent script. George O'Brien stars as the son who is seeking answers to his father's death but the film is only interesting thanks to an early appearance by Hollywood legend Humphrey Bogart in a supporting role.

I saw this movie in 1977 at London's NFT paired with A DEVIL WITH WOMEN (1930) and introduced by William K Everson. The copy presented was nice and clear, and much better than ones I have encountered on YouTube, which look horrible. Hopefully good copies of this film exist as it is quite possible that some of the negative views have been affected by these frightful uploads.