A Man's Land

When the owner of a ranch dies, he surprisingly wills half of it to his daughter, Peggy and half to this foreman, Tex (Hoot Gibson). Unfortunately, each has very different ideas what they should do with the ranch....and both are incredibly stubborn. In addition, Peggy is downright dim in that she has never spent much time out west and begins making lots of assumptions without getting the facts. The worst example is the local man she trusts...he's obviously a total weasel who is trying to buy the ranch for a song. But she thinks he's swell and hates Tex....and never gives Tex a chance, as she believes everything the weasel and his men tell her.

Making Peggy this pig-headed and so easily influenced was a bit annoying. I think the notion of a liberated woman being a dummy was a popular notion back in the day...now it not only seems sexist but also shows poor writing. It's really hard to imagine a woman from out east arriving at the ranch and suddenly sizing everything up so quickly. This is a major weakness in "A Man's Land" and making Peggy less gullible and less assertive would have made for a better film. Now I am NOT saying she shouldn't be confident or competent...but a truly confident and competent woman wouldn't have been this rash. Fortunately, eventually she realizes this...but is it too late? See the film to find out for yourself.

This film is okay but no better mostly because the writing isn't great. It's not just the sexism but how gullible and silly the woman is. Plus, Hoot doesn't come off all that well either...and at times he, too, seems a bit dim. Add to that an incredibly obvious villain who no one seems to suspect!! Overall, not terrible...but not all that good.

If you like early 1930s B-westerns, this is a fairly good one. Marplot Redux commented on a number of the film's curious moments, and in watching most of these films, one must suspend the idea of reality and allow being transported into another realm, that of the old West through the prism of B-western movie-making. Hoot's films often had comedic touches, but this one had few. But I enjoyed "A Man's Land" reasonably well but will never have a hankerin" to watch it again. Rating this one as a B-western, I will go with what is probably a one-tick too generous six out of ten.

IMDb's reviews have been extremely helpful to me lately. So, it seems only fair that I should write something about a movie that's lacked any reviews up to now. First of all and very positive, somehow this Poverty Row studio managed to rent a satisfactory number of cattle. In far too many films there are only a dozen or so. Here, I'd guess 50. Taken as a comedy, "A Man's Land" is easy-going, agreeable and stupid … but nice stupid. Hoot Gibson, Skeeter Bill Robbins and Ethel Wales do the comedy bits well. There were the usual amazing things about the Old West that I sure wouldn't have otherwise known when I was a kid: Although there were no electricity and no phone wires, there was a functioning wall telephone. Although there were no filling stations, there was one automobile (solar powered?), which suddenly appeared to frighten the girl's horse. As things developed, it must have frightened her too, since she was unable to control it though later on it was obvious that she was a highly skilled rider.

Another thing about the Old West: as usual, the scheming villain (black hat, thin black moustache, cigar) was a banker. This wasn't surprising in a 1932 movie --- bankers weren't popular back then. Still, it would be nice to see a movie in which the hero or heroes came to the rescue of the banker who was being cheated by all the local deadbeat ranchers, store owners, hotel owners, and saloon, dance-hall, gambling hall, and Even Worse proprietors.

Another thing about the Old West that I wish I'd known as a kid: how to knock somebody down by a punch to the jaw that clearly missed by a couple of inches: Hoot accomplished this with Henchman Joe.

The movie begins promisingly with Skeeter admiring a Bathing Beauty postcard of Tootsie Wootsie, a young woman with whom he's been corresponding. This went straight to my heart, since my wife and I met on the contemporary equivalent, the Internet. Tootsie Wootsie wanted $500 to come to Skeeter. This would be somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000 in today's money, so that portended all sorts of interesting plot possibilities. Sad to say, though, the only woman besides Ethel Wales who showed up was the one whom Hoot eventually married. As a nasty old man, I have nothing against his being old enough, easily old enough, to be her father. However … well, let's say that she was unlikely to become a godly, submissive wife. Ever.

I've long known that in detective movies drivers rarely look back when they're being followed or notice when they're being watched from a parked car. Similarly Hoot was unable to hear the bad guys riding off, even though they were only a few yards away. Given the young lady whom he was going to marry, let's hope that this was because he was deaf. However, it may simply have been because of my copy's continuously scratchy background noises that accompanied its constantly blurry screen resolution.

One could go on … the rustlers panicking and riding away from Hoot and Skeeter, even though they greatly outnumbered them, the bad guy unsuccessfully shooting twice at Hoot then throwing his gun away before he got into the saddle and chased him. All in all, IMDb might consider adding Comedy to its Western caption. On the positive side, nobody sang. So, I give the movie 6 out of 10.

This one has Hoot Gibson chiding his second in command (Skeeter Bill Robbins, who sadly died the following year due to a road accident) for being ambushed whilst mooning over a dud love letter. Several cattle are stolen, and Gibson explains how women have no place on a ranch. Unsurprisingly, a lady (Marion Shilling) turns up to claim her share in the ranch as the boss has died, leaving it to both of them. In fact there are two, as the lady's aunt (Ethel Wales) is in tow as well, and takes an immediate shine to Gibson's pal. Needless to say, there is also a crooked rancher on the sidelines, out to give Gibson the blame for the rustling and to grab the ranch for a pittance.

A very lightweight second / co-feature, but quite agreeable and interesting on its own level. Directed by Phil Rosen, who turned out an awful lot of this kind of thing, but essential for the smaller cinemas in need of inexpensive productions for their audiences.

Not really a professional actor, though he appeared in a few films, Robbins was Gibson's ranch manager.