Breed of the Border

Fred Cavens, the man who taught Flynn, Rathbone, Power and company how to swash, has a major role in this Bob Steele entry. Needless to say the climax — or rather one of the climaxes — features a sword duel between villain Cavens and our plucky hero, Steele. Despite a bit of obvious camera speeding, this is a thrill-a-second encounter. With no doubles! In fact, "Breed of the Border" turns out as one of the most action-crammed westerns ever made. And all the actors perform their own stunts including little Ernie Adams whom at one stage Bob tosses right over his head to the floor. The editor has a grand time cross-cutting all the action including the hair-raising final car chase.

All the players are great. We love the spunky heroine, Marion Byron, (though her song seems to be dubbed), and George Hayes doing a variant of "Gabby", while Henry Roquemore similarly impresses as a caddish heavy.

Robert North Bradbury's smooth direction makes the most of all the big-budget sets and locations.

The sword fight between Bob Steele and Fred Cavens was great. Cavens was a bona fide fencing master and intructor but Steele could hold his own against anyone with his natural great athleticism. Marion 'Peanuts' Byron gave us a good look at her singing and dancing talent and Gabby Hayes gave us glimpses of what would be his wonderful persona.

Lest anyone think that B westerns were mired in the 19th century or some vague, timeless period, this one has Bob Steele as a race car driver. Ernie Adams hires him to drive him down to the border and when they get there, clunks him on the head, shoots John Elliott and steals $50,000 in bonds. Fortunately, when Bob comes to, he recalls that he grew up in these parts, so he and old buddy George Hayes (teeth out, beard on) decide to track down the baddies across the border, where they encounter Marion Byron, a stranded showgirl working in a saloon, and are hired by Adams' gang for a hundred dollars a month plus room and board to smuggle single cattle across the border. Adams thinks Bob looks familiar, but doesn't quite recognize him..... yet.

It's a bit thin and unsteady, but it does have some good performances, and Bob gets into a saber duel that looked well choreographed and Marion Byron is a lot better than the usual ingenue in Steele's early sound oaters; silent film fans will recall her from STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. and Roach's attempt to team her with Anita Garvin in three silent shorts. Like many another talented performer, she just never clicked in the movies, and she was basically done in a couple of years.