With this 1933 Paramount feature, "To the Last Man" (its TV title "Law of Vengeance"), John Carradine made his Western debut, and though he's only on screen for exactly 16 seconds he certainly did enough of them over the years (particularly on television) to nearly surpass his more famous horror resume, which actually begins with his next role in James Whale's "The Invisible Man." A remake of a 1923 silent of the same name, it's a story familiar from eons ago, feuding Kentucky families carrying their generational grudge out West, to the community of Grass Valley, Nevada. The film opens with Mark Hayden (Egon Brecher) returning home from the newly ended Civil War, determined to avoid any further bloodshed by moving his family away from their bitter enemy Jed Colby (Noah Beery Sr.). His young son Lynn is present when Jed cold bloodedly shoots old Grandpa Spelvin, at his side cousin Pete Garon (John Carradine, who has no dialogue). Grandpa identifies the two killers to Lynn, while his father counts on the law to settle the matter by jailing Colby for a period of 15 years ("murder? Why it was feudin' pure and simple!"). Jack La Rue continues his streak of playing scheming evildoers as Colby's former cellmate Jim Daggs, whose job is to locate the Hayden clan so that Jed can continue the feud, even after a passage of 15 years. Daggs intends to marry Jed's wildcat daughter Ellen (Esther Ralston), only to find a rival in newcomer Lynn Hayden (Randolph Scott), who remembers seeing his grandfather shot by Ellen's father, but wants to assure her that their elders' fight should not be their own. Brother Bill Hayden is played by Buster Crabbe, with Gail Patrick as sister Ann, Barton MacLane as her husband, the one who kills Carradine's Pete Garon off screen, in answer to the Colbys' year long raid of cattle rustling (Shirley Temple makes a strong impression as their daughter). Such a strong cast, coupled with Henry Hathaway's straightforward direction, and a total absence of a music score make this a better than expected early talkie Western, a formulaic plot with several pre-code twists and turns that keep the viewer off guard. John Carradine was making only his 8th feature film, Shirley Temple her 4th, while other unbilled actors included Erville Alderson, Harry Cording, and young Delmar Watson.
Review of To the Last Man
