HENRY GOES ARIZONA

US, 1939, 66 minutes. Black and white.
Frank Morgan, Virginia Weidler, Guy Kibbee, Slim Summerville.
Directed by Edwin L. Marin.

Henry Goes Arizona is an entertaining programmer from MGM, a vehicle for Frank Morgan just after the release of The Wizard of Oz. Here he plays an out-of-work New York actor, a bit befuddled at times, in the manner of the exposed wizard.

Henry Conroy inherits a ranch from his half-brother and goes out west. He is completely out of place in the west, clothes, manner, being frightened of any sound and of the horses. There is a plot against him coordinated by a lawyer and the foreman of the ranch. A young man has been imprisoned for the murder of the half-brother.

Henry Conroy discovers his ranch, his niece Molly, played by Virginia Weidler in an energetic performance, gets the help of the rather alcoholic judge, Guy Kibbee, and the somewhat dim-witted sheriff, Slim Summerville.

There are many send-ups of the western – with everybody on horses, Henry driving a car. There are shootouts, confrontations – and when a party of angry ranchers comes to lynch him, he offers them a sit-down, slap-up meal which they all enjoy. By sheer chance, he actually does round up the criminals, using his makeup and disguise as an old prospector.

A pleasant variation on the themes of the western.