''Border Devils'' is a 1932

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

black and white

sound film A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, bu ...

directed by

William Nigh William Nigh, born Emil Kreuske (October 12, 1881 – November 27, 1955), was an American film Film director, director, screenwriter, writer, and actor. His film work sometimes lists him as either "Will Nigh" or "William Nye". Biography Nig ...

and starring Harry Carey,

Kathleen Collins Kathleen Collins (March 18, 1942 – September 18, 1988) (also known as Kathleen Conwell, Kathleen Conwell Collins or Kathleen Collins Prettyman) was an American poet, playwright, writer, filmmaker, director, civil rights activist, and educator ...

, and

Gabby Hayes Gabby is a given name, usually a short form of Gabriel or Gabrielle or Gabriella. Gabby or Gabbie may refer to: People * Gabby Chaves (born 1993), Colombian-American racing driver * Guy Gabaldon (1926–2006), United States Marine * G ...

.The

AFI Catalog of Feature Films The ''AFI Catalog of Feature Films'', also known as the ''AFI Catalog'', is an ongoing project by the American Film Institute (AFI) to catalog all commercially-made and theatrically exhibited American motion pictures from the birth of cinema i ...

1893-199
''Border Devils''
/ref> The film is Collins's last role and her only sound film.

Plot

A man, Jim Gray, is wrongfully put in jail; he escapes to prove his innocence and reveal the real criminal. In the process, Gray discovers a second criminal who has been working behind the scenes with the more obvious villain.

Cast

* Harry Carey as Jim Gray *

as Marcia Brandon *

as Dude Sanders *

Niles Welch Niles Eugene Welch (July 29, 1888 – November 21, 1976) was an American performer on Broadway, and a leading man in a number of silent and early talking motion pictures from the early 1910s through the 1930s. Early life A native of Hartford, ...

as Tom Hope *

Olive Carey Olive Carey (born Olive Fuller Golden; January 31, 1896 – March 13, 1988) was an American film and television actress, and the mother of actor Harry Carey Jr. Early life Carey was born Olive Fuller Golden in New York City, the daughter ...

as Ethel Denham * Albert J. Smith as Inspector Bell *

Merrill McCormick William Merrill McCormick (February 5, 1892 – August 19, 1953) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 250 films between 1916 and 1953. Biography William Merrill McCormick was born on February 5, 1892, in Denver, Colorado. M ...

as Jose Lopez *

Art Mix Art Mix (born George Washington Kesterson; June 18, 1896 – December 7, 1972), was an American character actor from the 1920s until the mid-1940s. Biography Prior to becoming an actor, Mix worked as a circus performer and a boxer. He initially ...

as Bud Brandon *

Tetsu Komai (23 April 1894 – 10 August 1970), also known as Tetsuo Komai, was a Japanese-born American actor, known for his minor roles in Hollywood films. Biography Born in Kumamoto, Kyushu, Komai had small parts in over 50 films from the 1920s until t ...

as The General

Production

Script

The film was written by Harry P. Crist ( credited for "script and continuity' under this pen name is the American director Harry Fraser). The story was based upon the novel ''Dead Man's Shoes'', by

Murray Leinster Murray Leinster () was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins (June 16, 1896 – June 8, 1975), an American writer of genre fiction, particularly of List of science fiction authors, science fiction. He wrote and published more than 1,500 ...

Shooting

According to a contemporary issue of ''The'' ''Film Daily'', certain scenes were filmed in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

Cast

The film features Gabby Hayes in one of his earliest credited roles, a sidekick figure that would become his signature character.

Release

''Border Devils'' was theatrically released in the United States on April 4, 1932. The film was released on DVD in August 2011 by

Alpha Video Alpha Video (also known as Alpha Home Entertainment) is an entertainment company founded in 1985 as New Age Video, based near Philadelphia, that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of public domain movies and TV shows on DVD. Alp ...

Themes

This film has been noted for the unexpected presence in a Western, of

Yellow Peril The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror, the Yellow Menace, and the Yellow Specter) is a Racism, racist color terminology for race, color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the ...

themes, embodied in the character of the villain, a mysterious 'oriental' criminal figure known as the General. Commentators generally underline the weight of the original novel, a typical

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

tale, in this adaptation: "the massive conspiracy that figures in his sci-fi, the shifting identity of the hero, and the generally peripatetic nature of the tale as our cowboy commandos shuttle hither and yon like horsing lot attendant."

References

External links

Border Devils at IMDb.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Border Devils 1932 films 1932 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films American black-and-white films Films directed by William Nigh Films with screenplays by Harry L. Fraser 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language Western (genre) films