Brand of Fear

Tom London is the local sheriff and, unknown to her, the father of schoolmarm Gail Davis. He's spent years keeping his town clean. However now some bad'uns have shown up, and they know his real secret: was a bad man himself before he switched sides. They try to blackmail him. Can he stand up to the pressure, and can Jimmy Wakely help him out?

Wakely sings three songs, including "Cool Water", and Dub Taylor does some clowning in this late singing cowboy movie directed by Oliver Drake. It's got a plot that lies a bit away form Frank Gruber's Seven Western Plots; that makes its script by Basil Dickey stand out a bit, as does the handsome print that shows off Harry Neumann's camerawork.

Cannonball Taylor (Dub Taylor) drives new schoolmarm Anne Lamont (Gail Davis) to Oreville. She is greeted by Jimmy Wakely (Jimmy Wakely), Marshal Blackjack Flint (Tom London), and others. Bad elements have other thoughts.

I like the singing cowboys opening. Quite frankly, I would like this to be more like a cowboy musical. The story starts getting messy. The acting isn't that good to begin with. There is some shooting and some farm animals. The action stunts are basic. There is one rolling down the stairs but the actor keeps stopping. There are a few drops but nothing exciting. The closing fight is fine.

In Brand Of Fear Tom London is the local sheriff and he's a pretty tough hombre. But he's got a secret he's trying to keep from Gail Davis the new schoolteacher arrived in town. Years ago he was a notorious outlaw, still wanted in Texas for killing a lawman. When a couple of former associates come to town, the story stays secret for a while as they're both killed in a blazing gun battle.

But before he dies one of them tells the blacksmith Marshall Reed about London. Reed's an outlaw too, the blacksmith shop is a cover. But up till now he made very sure about not operating anywhere in London's jurisdiction. Now with some information on the local law, Reed feels he can operate with impunity.

Of course he does not reckon with cowboy hero Jimmy Wakely who sings a few songs and along with sidekick Dub Taylor generally rights all the wrongs before the film is over.

Tom London was a character actor who usually played sheriffs in a ton of B westerns. But in Brand Of Fear he gets to put a little dimension into what are usually stereotypical parts. Although Wakely and his singing were what was drawing the Saturday matinée crowd in, the film in many ways really belongs to London.

This was done for Monogram Pictures and does not even have the production values that Republic cowboys enjoyed. But the story is a good one and fans of B westerns will like it.

Jimmy wakely is... jimmy wakely, as he was in so many of his films. The singing cowboy, in gene autry, roy rogers fashion. A fun version of rainbow over range, with some good guitar work, near the beginning. When anne, the new school teacher arrives, the town bullies act up. Before the bad guy croaks, he spins a yarn about marshal flint being wanted for murder. And that the new school marm is actually flint's daughter. That part is true, but nobody knows that. The teacher is played by gail davis; she was annie oakley, in ... the annie oakley show. And had worked extensively with gene autry. She only has a couple lines in this one. So the crooks rob a bank, and try to blackmail the marshal into helping them, but with the bad guys numbers thinning quickly, how far can they get? It's a very typical western. Nothing really new to see here. Directed by oliver drake. A shortie from monogram, at 56 minutes.