I always wanted to see Jack Hoxie. A big, big star in silent westerns, he made only six sound films (aside from a fleeting bit in "Phantom Express") of which this is the second last.
Naturally, I assumed that he was playing the part of Tony Andrews, who is the central figure in the opening scenes. What a shock when the personable Tony Andrews character is killed! (Also a surprise to find out later that the actor was actually Paul Fix. He doesn't look like Paul Fix, he doesn't sound like Paul Fix, he doesn't act like Paul Fix. But he is! Mr Fix is obviously a much more versatile actor than we usually give him credit for).
Anyway, as we knew Harry Todd's Blackjack all right, that left as a likely candidate only the Sonora Kid, played by this big, hulking Lon Chaney Junior imitator. I was not impressed. Hoxie is easily the least interesting performer in the entire cast. Not only that, he and director Lewis D. Collins allow everyone else to steal all his scenes. At first it's Paul Fix. When Fix bows out, Harry Todd takes over, and when Todd is pushed aside, it's J. Frank Glendon as Nevada Smith (alias the Sonora Kiddon't ask me how that happens) who does the pushing!
Other players who contribute to sidelining Mr Hoxie include the lovely Betty Boyd as our agreeable heroine, Nita Hammond; Mary Carr as Mrs Andrews, the dead man's blind mother; Otto Lederer as the talkative barber; William Burt as the reluctant-to-pay banker; Bob Burns as the marshal; and yet another super-sympathetic old lady, Emma Tansey, who also has a key role in the plot. Not to mention "Dynamite", the horse.
Director Collins handles it all with reasonable "B" competency.
Naturally, I assumed that he was playing the part of Tony Andrews, who is the central figure in the opening scenes. What a shock when the personable Tony Andrews character is killed! (Also a surprise to find out later that the actor was actually Paul Fix. He doesn't look like Paul Fix, he doesn't sound like Paul Fix, he doesn't act like Paul Fix. But he is! Mr Fix is obviously a much more versatile actor than we usually give him credit for).
Anyway, as we knew Harry Todd's Blackjack all right, that left as a likely candidate only the Sonora Kid, played by this big, hulking Lon Chaney Junior imitator. I was not impressed. Hoxie is easily the least interesting performer in the entire cast. Not only that, he and director Lewis D. Collins allow everyone else to steal all his scenes. At first it's Paul Fix. When Fix bows out, Harry Todd takes over, and when Todd is pushed aside, it's J. Frank Glendon as Nevada Smith (alias the Sonora Kiddon't ask me how that happens) who does the pushing!
Other players who contribute to sidelining Mr Hoxie include the lovely Betty Boyd as our agreeable heroine, Nita Hammond; Mary Carr as Mrs Andrews, the dead man's blind mother; Otto Lederer as the talkative barber; William Burt as the reluctant-to-pay banker; Bob Burns as the marshal; and yet another super-sympathetic old lady, Emma Tansey, who also has a key role in the plot. Not to mention "Dynamite", the horse.
Director Collins handles it all with reasonable "B" competency.
