The Fighting Trooper

THE FIGHTING TROOPER is a low-budget film made by what is often termed a "Poverty Row studio". In other words, it was made by a tiny production company--probably using rented space in a major studio lot at night as well as doing location shooting where ever they could find it. Such films are rarely masterpieces and this one apparently is an orphan--with its copyright having expired (I assume because the studio went belly up or they felt the movie just wasn't worth renewing). And, like many public domain films, the print is choppy--and it's 10 minutes shorter than the official time listed on IMDb.

The plot involves the Mounties trying to capture a scary outlaw named 'La Farge'. When the first one tries, he is soon killed and La Farge leaves a note threatening to do this to any other lawman who tries to capture him! So it's up to a brave guy (Kermit Maynard--brother of the slightly more famous B-actor, Ken Maynard) to save the day for niceness and goodness. You'll probably notice that the gangly Maynard is not handsome in a conventional sense and this isn't too surprising considering the budget. Quite simply, pretty actors tended to find more work with the big name studios.

As for the film, it's high on action and relatively low on characterization--pretty much the norm for such B-movies. The acting is only fair--with rather poor delivery by Maynard and the rest. I especially had to laugh with a few of the overdone French-Canadian accents. Also, I wondered why in the heck they used a coffin for the scene where Maynard supposedly kills a Mountie. If a crook DID kill a lawman, do you really think they'd go to all the trouble of using a coffin for the corpse?! Overall, for the era, it's okay entertainment at best. There were many better B-westerns (such as those of John Wayne) though also a few that were significantly worse. Not great entertainment unless you are a die-hard B-western fan...which I am not.

Mountie Kermit Maynard is annoyed when sergeant Walter Miller takes the mission to arrest outlaw Leroy Mason; it's a career-advancing mission. When Miller returns dead, his commander tells him that Miller knew there was a good chance of that. So now Maynard has the chance to do the job himself. Poeple aren't anxious to talk about Mason. However, when Maynard saves him and his pretty sister, Barbara Worth, Mason takes him back to his hide-out.... and things begin to add up differently.

Maynard starred in half a dozen movies as a mountie over the next few years in typical Poverty Row vehicles. Still, the story, originally from one by James Oliver Curwood, has its points, as does the scenery up by Big Bear Lake and Lake Arrowhead. It's not something for a trip to the theater, ut as a second feature it's fast and it's good enough. With the usual B western players on view, and Rocky the Horse too.