The Law Commands

Produced by E.B. Derr, a former adviser to Joseph P. Kennedy, the Low-budget Crescent Pictures productions starring Tom Keene were not advertised so much as Westerns but as historical adventure yarns. "The Law Commands," however, is the usually sagebrush tale of an upstanding citizen battling a criminal protection syndicate in Iowa at the time of statehood. As such, it isn't half bad and the surviving print remains watchable if slightly on the scratchy side. Of interest to B-Western fans is a large role for good old Horace B. Carpenter, a character star for Cecil DeMille in the 1910s who was offered mostly one-line bits in the talkie era. Always a bit of a ham, Horace chews the scenery with abandon here as well as the head of the local farmers cheated out of their land by greedy Robert Fiske. Budd Buster plays the comic sidekick role in ersatz Gabby Hayes style and Tom Keene is his usual stoic self. The leading lady, Lorraine Hayes, was the sister of B-Movie femme fatale Bernadene Hayes and not, as some sources suggest, the future Laraine Day.

Set during the Civil War and involving the Homestead Act of 1862, E. B. Derr's historical drama, THE LAW COMMANDS, casts Tom Keene as the misunderstood protagonist. When a beloved, two-fisted settler (Carl Stockdale) is murdered while trying to follow the local physician's non-violent approach to dealing with land-grabbers, the community turns on the doctor (Mr. Keene), who must prove that his approach can work.

Budd Buster is excellent in the role of "Kentuck," the sidekick in most of the films in this series, well supported by Marie Stoddard as his robust wife. Robert Fiske again makes a splendid heavy, assisted in his treachery by John Merton this time around. Veteran screen actor Horace B. Carpenter has one of his most prominent roles in sound features as an irate settler struggling to find a way to protect his claim from being stolen by the unscrupulous land thieves.

Bennett Cohen's screenplay gives THE LAW COMMANDS some unusual components, and prolific William Nigh's direction takes full advantage of them. With Tom Keene as a likeable defender of justice and fair-play, and with a good and well-directed supporting cast, this and other films in Crescent's set of eight historical fiction dramas should be regarded as a cut above average.

"The Law Commands" is available at YouTube. Lots of very good movies are available at YouTube. But sometimes the people uploading them don't do a very good job, or, worse, they don't have a complete print of whatever they're offering.

"The Law Commands" is one of the latter. It looks like an entire reel is missing because suddenly the bad guys are on the run with no explanation as to why.

That is really too bad because the story begins extremely well, with a superlative cast presenting the story, and speaking some intelligent dialog throughout most of the movie.

Some of the actors, including one of my favorites, Tom Keene, and Carl Stockdale and Robert Fiske as a bad guy, would stand out in any production.

One of my motion picture heroes, David Sharpe, is new and young here, but even so, he gives a believable performance.

Then the apparent missing reel and the rather lame and tame ending causes it all to seem pretty flat. Frankly, I'm puzzled why it happened.

Still, I'm glad I watched and I hope you will too.