Harrison's Reports (1950)

200 HARRISON'S REPORTS December 16, 1950 "Father's Wild Game" with Raymond Walburn and Walter Catlett (Monogram, December 3; time, 61 mm.) A pleasing program picture. It is a light comedy and, though it does not provoke side'splitting laughter, it does put one in a fairly happy frame of mind. The outdoor scenery helps the picture very much, for most of the action takes place in the woods. It is a sort of family affair, in which Raymond Walburn and Walter Catlett act as "friendly enemies," quarrelling most of the time but harmlessly. The direction is pretty good and the photography fine: — Refusing to pay highway-robbery prices for meat any longer, Walburn decides to go on a hunting trip, and induces Catlett, the Mayor, to accompany him. They take along their sons, Gary Gray and George Nokes. Jane Darwell, an elderly busybody, learns that Walburn had closed his account at the butcher store and attributes it to financial difficulties. But Barbara Brown, Walburn 's wife, assures Miss Darwell that they had closed the account only because they were going on a vacation. To make good the white lie, Barbara, accompanied by M'liss McClure, her daughter, heads for a dude ranch owned by young Fred Libby, whom M'liss liked. Meanwhile Walburn and Catlett hunt in the woods nearby using guns, while their sons hunt with bows and arrows. Fred shoots and kills a deer and, as he heads for the dead animal, he hears a shot; he investigates and finds one of his cows shot and killed. He comes upon Walburn and Catlett and compels them to pay him two hundred dollars for their mistake. When he goes back for the deer, Fred finds it gone; it had been found and taken to camp by the two youngsters. Walburn makes a deal with the two lads whereby they agree, for a consideration, to say that he shot the deer so that he might collect a fifty-dollar bet from Catlett. Arriving home, Walburn finds Fred there as a dinner guest, invited by his daughter, and learns that the young man had told about the two "stupid1'' hunters who had killed his cow, and about the loss of the deer he had shot. Barbara puts two and two together and explodes her husband's plan to pose as a great sportsman. At the same time, she figures out that the cost of the hunting trip had far exceeded the inflationary prices of meat. Peter Scully produced it, and Herbert I. Leeds directed it, from a screen play by D. D. Beauchamp, who based it on his own story, "A Hunting We Will Go," published in Woman's Home Companion. Suitable for the entire family. "Sierra Passage" with Wayne Morris, Lola Albright and Alan Hale, Jr. (Monogram, Dec. 31; time, 80 mm.) A good outdoor melodrama. Although the action takes place in what may be called "western country," it is not a western. The theme revolves around a son's determination to avenge the death of his father by three killers, who had robbed him of his savings, funds that had been set aside for the education of the son. Although Wayne Morris does good work, the acting honors are won by Roland Winters, who acts and looks the part of an ace sharpshooter. There is natural sympathy for Morris because of his determination to find the murderers. The action holds one in suspense, particularly towards the finish, where Morris corners the culprits and joins their poker game. The ending, in which Morris shoots at his father's murderers, not to kill him, but to shatter his hands so that he may never again be able to cheat at cards, is highly suspensive: — At the age of thirteen, motherless Wayne Morris (impersonated by Billy Grey) sees Alan Hale, Jr., Paul McGuire and Richard Karlan rob and murder his father. Lloyd Corrigan, owner of a minstrel show featuring Winters, an ace sharpshooter, adopts Morris. For the next ten years, while working in the show as Winter's understudy, Morris maintains a relentless search for Hale to avenge his father's death. He remembered Hale as a big man with a missing finger, and with a piercing, explosive laugh. Corrigan and Winters advise Morris to forget his revenge, but the young man cannot be swayed from his purpose. Winters runs across Hale in one town and, to save Morris from committing murder, warns the outlaw to leave. Instead, Hale hires another gunman to kill Winters. Slowed down by drink, Winters is unable to defend himself and is wounded. He quits the show and goes to Morns' ranch to recuperate. Corrigan hires Lola Albright to work in the show, hoping that a woman's influence might induce Morris to forget his revenge, but, even though the two eventually fall in love, Morris sticks to his determination. When Hale and his partners hold up the train on which the show is traveling, Morris gives pursuit and, after several months, trails them to Silver Springs, where the show was playing. Morris takes his old part in the show and, during the performance, he hears the piercing laughter and recognizes it as Hale's. He cuts short the performance and follows Hale to a saloon, where he joins him and his partners in a tense poker game. When Morris reveals his identity, Hale and his accomplices draw their guns, but Morris shoots the weapons out of their hands. With Hale at his mercy, Morris, bowing to Lola's influence, spares the outlaw's life, but he shatters his hands so that he will never again be able to deal from the bottom of the deck. It ends with Morris and Lola resolving to start life anew. It was produced by Lindsley Parsons and directed by Frank McDonald from a screen play by Warren D. Wandberg, Sam Roeca and Tom W. Blackburn. Good for those who like action melodramas. 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