Frontier Days

In the old days, Marshall Robert Shayne had put Rory Mallinson's gang in prison. But civilization came to the west, and when the gang was let out, they came to the town of Civilization Kansas to seek their revenge. So Shayne pins on the badge again.

In the middle of the 1940s, Warner Brothers turned out a series of two-reel westerns. They plundered their 1930s A Westerns -- this one uses a lot of clips from DODGE CITY -- and shot new footage under the direction of Jack Scholl, starring Robert Shayne. The result is decent, with lots of narrations to make the new story hang together in its short length.

Which is what Errol Flynn usually spent 10 minutes doing in each of his westerns explaning how he acquired his accent while "punching caws down on the Rye-Ohh-Gran-dee", including 1939's "Dodge City" which is where most of the footage (of any value or had more than two people in the scene) of this 1945 short came from. Of course, it's disjointed and choppy; one can't stuff 90 minutes of film into a 20 minute bag without the use of a narrator. For those who have lots of time to waste, then watch "Frontier Days" and "Dodge City" and match up costumes and scenes. Hey, no big deal, just one of those things Warners used to peddle to the exhibitors for filler. The only complaint here is that they didn't just use the whole 20 minutes with the camera on Dorothy Malone showing just how a two-sizes too-small western shirt should be worn.

Clay Stacy (Rory Mallinson) and his mob have been mercilessly massacring the buffalo illegally. The Indians are forced to fight back but end up killing peaceful settlers. Federal agent Jim Blake (Robert Shayne) is able to capture the Stacy mob and bring the fight to an end. The west develops with the arrival of the railroad and cattle and more settlers. Blake is told that the Stacy mob has been released and he agrees to join the Marshals. Martha Mercer (Dorothy Malone) vows to avenge her sheriff father against the Stacy men.

This spins quite a tall tale to start. It's interesting to place the blame of the buffalo annihilation to a group of fictional bandits. This is a short which seems to be edited down from other movies. The narration keeps driving and driving story along. It's not given much space to breath. It does have a couple of highlight stunts which are probably the most worthwhile scenes.

This western short starts promisingly, with a rather generous (for the time) view of the Indians. However, once Malone shows up as a pistol-packing daughter of a murdered sheriff looking for payback, it goes downhill. This is because she's portrayed as a complete ninny who is incredibly inept, and the Jim Blake character treats her in the most patronizing and sexist fashion (often for "humorous" effect). Also, the film feels like a Reader's Digest version of a longer film, since every scene is linked to the next by lengthy voiceovers, interrupting any momentum it might try to generate from its standard action setpieces (train heist, saloon brawl, etc.). What a waste of Malone!

The saloon brawl and the runaway horse team scenes are from Dodge City (1939) with Errol Flynn and Victor Jory. Both Jory and Guinn Big Boy Williams can be seen if you look quickly enough. What a waste of film. On the up side it did provide some pay checks for a few out of work actors and other studio employees. As usual, after the big deal fist fight between our hero sheriff and the villain the villain's face is bloody and our hero's face doesn't have a mark. But in as much as the short was made to entertain little kids and to sell popcorn it served it's purpose. It's not like they were out to make Gone With the Wind or Ben Hur. It would be interesting to hear what the producer and director had to say about why they made it and how they got permission to use film from other movies.