If this is one of Bell's best at Monogram, as bobsluckycat assesses this Rex Bell squeaker, then don't look at the others. Trying to come up with something unusual for a plot, this starts in NYC and unbelievably transplants its villains, patsies and love interests to the same little hometown 21 miles from Cheyenne that our hero returns to - can you beat that? And the bad guys try to spring a Cattleman's Association Protective Association racket on the locals, just as they had done back in NYC - can you believe it? And, they use the traditional tools - slick suits and hats, a car and a machine gun in a trombone case - how else do you kill a lot of cows and mystify the locals as to how is was done - can you...? So, after a few small confrontations between Bell and Robert Ellis (Butch Owens) - there's a big confrontation. The presence of George "Gabby" Hayes and Earl Dwire certify this mess as a western. Marceline Day (Ruth Carter) provides the love interest and little else - nevertheless, starting in 1924 she began a long 64 shorts/movies career playing the lead against male stars of the silent era to 1933 doing cameo leads in B westerns. Should be 60:00 according to IMDb - we get 51:38 here. Watch this if you've got to watch them all.

Boyish Rex Bell's first western for Monogram is probably the best he did for that company. He had already made 3 features for the company when they decided to put him in westerns and he did several of varying quality in 1932-1933, before Monogram switched to John Wayne. Bell had a boyish charm and he could act. This is a fish out of water western. Bell is a NYPD detective sent home to the West to recuperate from a gun-shot wound. Who's out west, the same NY crooks,the aforementioned fish out of water, and all hell breaks loose.
This print is very good, but has obvious cuts and they are noticeable. The murder and mayhem in the night-club at the beginning of the picture, after a big build-up, is gone for instance, but over all it's been one of my favorites and in my personal collection for a long time. Enjoy it for what it is.

Playing pool in a western saloon? Well they do in this one...

An who is that without the beard? None other than our own beloved Gabby Hayes.

Noah

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