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 ...
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 ...
film directed by
Otto Brower
Otto Brower (December 2, 1890 – January 25, 1946) was an American film director. He directed more than 40 films between 1928 and 1946. He was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and died in Hollywood, California, from a myocardial infarction, ...
, written by
Harold Shumate
Harold Shumate (September 7, 1893 – August 5, 1983) was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 100 films between 1917 and 1954. He was born in Austin, Texas and died in Thousand Oaks, California on August 5, 1983.
Selected filmography
* ...
Edgar Kennedy
Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to por ...
. It was released on March 10, 1933, by
RKO Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the major film studios, "Big Five" film studios of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood's Clas ...
.
Plot
The West. A covered wagon pulls into view and stops. The couple in it have reached the end of the line. There is no water. A flourish of car horns announces the arrival of a huge limousine and a crowd of people, there to sell oil leases. Every attempt to find another location or angle is frustrated by real—and comical—life. The Hollywood cross-country marathon is the last straw.
Back at the studio restaurant, a colleague shows star Tom Baxter a photo of the Scarlet River Ranch, about to be returned with an unsolicited scenario. The photograph dissolves into the live ranch, where the mailman is trying to fit a returned manuscript into the mailbox. The eager author, Ulysses Mope, gallops up and falls off his horse. The mailman outlines the situation at the ranch: Miss Judy must renew the note or the lender will foreclose.
Foreman Jeff approves young Buck's chewing tobacco and gets him to take care of his horse. Ulysses tells Jeff about his movie plot: A foreman is planning to steal a ranch and force the owner to marry him. Ulysses is oblivious to the fact that he is describing Jeff, who turns on him, blaming Ulysses for a long list of problems draining their resources. Judy enters, and Jeff pressures her to marry him. Ulysses interrupts with the studio's letter about using the ranch as a location.
Jeff meets with banker "Clink" McPherson and demands a larger cut from their deal, but Clink threatens to tell the sheriff that Jeff is responsible for the rustling, hay-burning's and water-poisoning.
The Tom Baxter troupe arrives in a parade of vehicles. Tom is attracted to Judy and distrusts Jeff. Ulysses tells him about their troubles. Tom sees through it.
Jeff accuses Tom (who does all his own stunts) of being a "powder puff actor," and the director arranges for Jeff to do a stunt. He fails, and Tom does it properly, before Judy's admiring eyes. In the bunkhouse, Jeff picks a fight with Tom, who quickly knocks him out.
Later, Judy watches the filming of a kiss, and confesses to Tom that she could never make love in front of people. Ulysses interferes with the love scene, and the director calls for Benny to bring the "job stick", a slender length of wood and cord which he entangles in Ulysses' vest. If he can get it off without breakage, he can have a job.
Tom offers to enroll Buck in a good private school—and to bring him home home for monthly visits. He kisses Judy. She slaps him. They apologize to each other.
That night, Tom rides after Jeff and sees him kill several steers, supposedly because they drank bad water. Tom has been investigating. If a veterinarian finds no poison, Jeff will be arrested.
Tom confronts Buck about his smoking and disrespect for his sister. Judy comes in while he is spanking the boy, who lies about what provoked the punishment. Judy is furious.
On the set, Buck has stopped smoking. He says sorry to Tom. McPherson has kidnapped Judy and, supposedly, Jeff. He sends Dummy with a note. Tom catches him, but he can't talk. The note says that Judy will be killed unless Tom and his crew leave Scarlet River.
Dummy rides up to the hideout and slips inside a back window. It is Tom. He tells Judy about Jeff. They run, but Judy is captured. Buck and Ulysses have been watching. Buck goes for the filmmakers and Ulysses for the sheriff.
McPherson plans to make Tom's fall from a cliff appear accidental. Tom tells Judy to keep running when he makes a break. The crew arrives and with manpower, blanks—and a live grenade—they stop McPherson's men. McPherson grabs Judy, and Jeff follows, telling him to let her go. McPherson kills him. Tom throws himself from horseback through the window and knocks McPherson out.
The sheriff thanks them for their help. When Judy asks Buck what he is doing there, Tom says he and Buck are partners. Tom and Judy walk off, his arm around her.
At last, Ulysses detaches the job stick. The director screams for Benny.
Edgar Kennedy
Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to por ...
as Sam Gilroy
*
Hooper Atchley
Lemuel Hooper Atchley (April 30, 1887 – November 17, 1943) was an American film actor.
Atchley was the son of Mr. and Mrs. P. S. Atchley. He was a 1908 graduate of the Knoxville, Tennessee, school system.
Atchley's first professional ac ...
as 'Clink' McPherson
* Billy Butts as Buck Blake Turner Classic Movies has the correct name in the cast list, but the character is incorrectly called "Bud" in the TCM Synopsis.
* Betty Furness as Babe Jewel
*
Jack Raymond
Jack Raymond (1886–1953) was an English people, English actor and film director. Born in Wimborne, Dorset in 1886, he began acting before the First World War in ''A Detective for a Day''. In 1921, he directed his first film and gradually he wo ...
as Benny
*
James Mason
James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes (winning once) and two ...
Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American film, television and stage actress. As a performer, she was known for her ability to adapt to her screen partner's acting style.
Born in Helena, Monta ...
,
Joel McCrea
Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he bec ...
,
Bruce Cabot
Bruce Cabot (born Étienne de Pelissier Bujac Jr.; April 20, 1904 – May 3, 1972) was an American film actor, best remembered as Jack Driscoll (character), Jack Driscoll in ''King Kong (1933 film), King Kong'' (1933) and for his roles in films s ...
and
Rochelle Hudson
Rochelle Hudson (born Rachael Elizabeth Hudson; March 6, 1916 – January 17, 1972) was an American film actress from the 1930s through the 1960s.Nicholas Musuraca, who later worked with
Jacques Tourneur
Jacques Tourneur (; ; November 12, 1904 – December 19, 1977) was a French-American filmmaker, active during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known as an auteur of stylish and atmospheric genre films, many of them for RKO Pictures, including ...
Out of the Past
''Out of the Past'' (billed in the United Kingdom as ''Build My Gallows High'') is a 1947 American film noir directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas. The film was adapted by Geoffrey Homes (Daniel ...