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It only took me about 30 minutes into the plot of this original 2-part TV episode before it all seemed deja vu. Boone gets supplies back from a crooked trader who has resold them and escorts them to the settlers who originally paid for them. He takes on some undesirables to help him out but they turn on him half way to his settlement because they are offered a bigger money reward from someone else who needs the supplies equally as bad. Yes, this is the plot of BEND OF THE RIVER, the 1952 Anthony Mann directed Jimmy Stewart flick. And just like the Mann movie, Boone's somewhat shady, but likable buddy turns on him when the urge to rake in more money gets too strong. In the Jimmy Stewart movie, this part was played to perfection by Arthur Kennedy, a frequent Stewart costar. D.D. 'Bud' Beauchamp is credited with the story and screenplay for the Boone TV movie, however, that distinction should probably go to Borden Chase who wrote the screenplay for BEND OF THE RIVER. Let's face it, not much was changed from the 1952 original.

While watching the movie, I was shocked that it took so long for the son of the count to get even with George Sanders as the ruthless Gurko Lanen. The son of Monte Cristo, as the Torch, spends a lot of time trying to save Joan Bennett from the evil clutches of Saunders. Why, by golly, he had the most famous cop in the world and the hero of the Old West to help him out. Lieutenant of the Guards is played by none other than that masked man himself, Clayton Moore (the Lone Ranger). As the film begins we also see Ralph Byrd (the essential Dick Tracy) duking it out with Sanders. And to top it off, Rand Brooks is on hand to give aid to the Torch. Rand, as many should recall, would a couple of years later play Lucky Jenkins, one of Hopalong Cassidy's crime-fighting sidekicks. Is it s coincidence that with these two cowboy stars on hand that the script resembles more the "Mark of Zorro" than a sequel to "The Count of Monte Cristo"?

It's a peppy flick and in some ways better than the original 1933 movie titled Ladies They Talk About that starred Barbara Stanwyck.Fortunately, the Stanwyck movie was pre-Hays code so there is some snappy dialog and not so veiled references to prostitution that couldn't be filmed in Lady Gangster. The opening scene obviously shot in a real bank gives the film a realistic gritty feel that doesn't come off when a scene like this is shot on a set. Jackie Gleason in a small supporting role as one of Emerson's fellow bank robbers, provides a few glimpses of that "Poor Soul" face that he made famous years later on his TV show. Also, catching a very young dark-haired William Hopper (later of Perry Mason fame as Paul Drake)was also a pleasant surprise.