You don't get a chance to see Randolph Scott as a bad guy very often, if at all, so here's your chance. As the newly arrived Gold Commissioner in Nome, Alaska, his character Alex McNamara is in cahoots with local attorney Stuve (Charles Halton) and another newcomer to the territory in Circuit Court Judge Horace Stillman (Samuel S. Hinds). They get together to file 'legal' claims on mining rights in the territory against the original miners who never bothered with that kind of formality. All this made me wonder how men in such positions managed to insert themselves into community life just by showing up and claiming their authority. Oh well, probably not supposed to think about it.
Say, what's with Marlene Deitrich's bulbous blonde bouffant hairdo? How's that for alliteration, I didn't plan it, it just came out that way. It looked rather strange to me until she put on a stylish hat and then she looked just fine. In fact, I don't think Dietrich looked finer in any other film I've ever seen her in. She filled out her frequent change of wardrobe quite admirably. One thing I thought about though; having appeared in "Destry Rides Again" a couple of years earlier, I wonder if she ever got that character mixed up with Harry Carey's Dextry in this one. Maybe there's an outtake.
Third billed John Wayne doesn't arrive on the scene until some time into the story, but at that point it becomes pretty much his picture. His mining partnership with Al Dextry survives a trial by fire and he does the honorable thing by stating he was wrong about the McNamara/Stillman/Stuve scheme to commandeer the Midas Mine claim. I had to chuckle when Stillman was first introduced to the packed courtroom by the bailiff - "Stand up everybody. Here comes the Judge" - it brought to mind all those comic bits from 'Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In' a few decades later.
Modern day viewers may groan at more than a handful of politically incorrect situations in the story, but for the Forties they were pretty commonplace. The most obvious was Wayne's character in black-face, but Cherry Malotte's (Dietrich) black maid Idabelle (Marietta Canty) had her share of double entendre jokes that she pulled off to great comic effect.
Well, with Bronco Kid Farrow (Richard Barthelmess) and villain McNamara both carrying a torch for Cherry, and the Judge's niece Helen (Margaret Lindsay) pining for Roy Glennister, it's a toss-up most of the way as to how the romantic angles play out, so I won't give it away here. Before it's all over there's that great bar room dust up between John Wayne and Randolph Scott that I had to add to my list of Best Western Movie Brawls that you can check out here - http://www.imdb.com/list/ls003585433/
One last note, and I'm still thinking about this one - when Glennister's posse prepares to rob back their safe at the local bank, they arrive in town underneath a prominently posted sign on a building that states 'Manufacturer of Incorruptible Teeth'. Sure would like to have known more about that product.
Say, what's with Marlene Deitrich's bulbous blonde bouffant hairdo? How's that for alliteration, I didn't plan it, it just came out that way. It looked rather strange to me until she put on a stylish hat and then she looked just fine. In fact, I don't think Dietrich looked finer in any other film I've ever seen her in. She filled out her frequent change of wardrobe quite admirably. One thing I thought about though; having appeared in "Destry Rides Again" a couple of years earlier, I wonder if she ever got that character mixed up with Harry Carey's Dextry in this one. Maybe there's an outtake.
Third billed John Wayne doesn't arrive on the scene until some time into the story, but at that point it becomes pretty much his picture. His mining partnership with Al Dextry survives a trial by fire and he does the honorable thing by stating he was wrong about the McNamara/Stillman/Stuve scheme to commandeer the Midas Mine claim. I had to chuckle when Stillman was first introduced to the packed courtroom by the bailiff - "Stand up everybody. Here comes the Judge" - it brought to mind all those comic bits from 'Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In' a few decades later.
Modern day viewers may groan at more than a handful of politically incorrect situations in the story, but for the Forties they were pretty commonplace. The most obvious was Wayne's character in black-face, but Cherry Malotte's (Dietrich) black maid Idabelle (Marietta Canty) had her share of double entendre jokes that she pulled off to great comic effect.
Well, with Bronco Kid Farrow (Richard Barthelmess) and villain McNamara both carrying a torch for Cherry, and the Judge's niece Helen (Margaret Lindsay) pining for Roy Glennister, it's a toss-up most of the way as to how the romantic angles play out, so I won't give it away here. Before it's all over there's that great bar room dust up between John Wayne and Randolph Scott that I had to add to my list of Best Western Movie Brawls that you can check out here - http://www.imdb.com/list/ls003585433/
One last note, and I'm still thinking about this one - when Glennister's posse prepares to rob back their safe at the local bank, they arrive in town underneath a prominently posted sign on a building that states 'Manufacturer of Incorruptible Teeth'. Sure would like to have known more about that product.