O Passo da Morte

A frontier lawman (James Warren) and his sidekick (John Laurenz) face train robbers along the Arizona border in this standard yet agreeable Zane Grey western with a nice story and good characters. James Warren has an easygoing style but tough when he wants to be. His sidekick seranades women when he's not helping to catch the outlaws.

This Post-WWII western features the pairing of Big Jim Warren and John Laurenz as his comical sidekick, Chito. They have money stolen from them, and proceed to recover it. Action, comedy and mystery are all combined here for a satisfying oater.

Warren was a great lead, starring in this and several other Zane Grey screen adaptations. The character of Chito was later immortalized by Richard Martin in a number of Tim Holt films. The portrayal here is slightly different, but still enjoyable. A number of familiar faces turn up here, including the great Harry Harvey.

This ain't Shakespeare, but it's still pretty entertaining.Enjoy !

Though there's nothing special about the production here, there's a little more to the story. It's all about a robbery and then an hoofprint as "Rocky" (James Warren) and "Chito" (John Laurenz) follow a red-hot trail before the former man is shot. Luckily for him, "Ash" (Robert Clarke) who just happens to be an old, criminal, acquaintance is on hand and helps him recover. He also agrees to also help him clear his name with his erstwhile buddies by letting him work with "Chito" to return the loot. Unfortunately, ruthless gang member "Cinnabar" (Harry Woods) has his own plans for an even more audacious crime and nobody is safe from his marauding gang if they try to get in his way. I could have done without the obligatory numbers from both "Rocky" and from the slightly more tuneful "Lolita" (Jane Greer) as well as the unnecessary and distracting romance between "Rocky" and "Jane" (Nan Preston) but otherwise it crams quite a lot into an hour with decent chunks of action and even the odd light-hearted moment, too. Perhaps a little less preamble at the start and it would be better, but as it is, it's at the better end of these Zane Grey adaptations and quite an easy watch.

Some very good actors are pretty much wasted in this rather sloppy script of a pretty good story.

There are many holes, including that the hero, Rocky, knows the name of a robber's horse. Conversation between Rocky and Chito that should be whispered, since they're right outside the room where the bad guys are, is almost shouted.

Apparently this production was rushed and no one paid a lot of attention.

However, there is a very capable cast, some good, even very good, running inserts, and the whole thing takes less than an hour.

It's not terrible, but at the end I was fairly miserable, thinking how, with all the talent, the movie was not a whole lot better.

There is a very good print at YouTube, further ruined by moronic and intrusive commercials, sometimes right in the middle of a sentence. Still, it's a Western, so it's watchable.

James Warren and John Laurenz saddle up in Sunset Pass as a pair of Express company agents on the trail of some bank robbers. They get a line on one young cowboy who is the owner of a ranch in debt and falls in with outlaws led by perennial western heavy Harry Woods.

Unfortunately duty is somewhat mislaid when Warren starts falling for Clarke's sister Nan Leslie. And Clarke has a brush with conscience and saves Warren's life. After that it's anyone's guess how this story will come out.

Woods who usually plays thug type heavies shows a bit more intelligence than normal for him in these roles. He's a pretty shrewd villain who thinks fast on his feet. Good thing Warren keeps a cool head.

Jane Greer plays a Hispanic saloon singer who Laurenz takes a shine to. I'm not sure if Greer's voice is dubbed in her two saloon numbers, but I suspect it was. She was a couple of films from her breakout role in Out Of The Past.

Warren has a ballad himself. He's a singing Gary Cooper without a patch of Cooper's screen presence.

And it's positively sacrilegious to have anyone else play Chity Rafferty but Richard Martin.