THE CHEROKEE STRIP

US, 1937, 55 minutes, Black-and-white.
Dick Foran, Jane Bryan, David Carlisle, Edmond Cobb.
Directed by Noel Smith.

The Cherokee Strip is a small 1937 Western of historical interest. The subject is the 1889 rush in Oklahoma Territory, the lineup of wagons and men and women on horseback racing to take possession of government land. There are some scenes of the race as well as the accidents that could occur and the desperate search for land.

However, it is a star vehicle for Dick Foran, billed as the singing cowboy, who appeared in a great number of this kind of film in the 1930s and 40s, with the same billing. He gets the chance to sing several songs. He is a pleasant enough screen personality, this time portraying a lawyer who has had difficulties in a western town with a greedy boss, Link Carter, played by Edmond Cobb.

The lawyer comes across a family, a serious father, an enthusiastic young brother, who actually has fired on the lawyer and his feisty sister comes to his defence. While he makes friends with the family, they are connected with Link Carter who has gone ahead, violating the rules for the rush. The lawyers horse has also been hobbled – as it turns out, not by Carter but by the girl who didn’t want the lawyer to be injured. He arrives late, but sets up his lawyer shingle.

It is too late, because Carter has established a mayor for the town, sheriff, other officials, all in his pay. He has control over those trying to buy land and is able to manipulate the market. He also attacks the lawyer and puts him out of business – but the lawyer teams up with an old friend and his wife who have set up a trading company.

There are a lot of complications, especially when Carter and his men try to steal the cattle.

The old father realises that he has been duped and sides with the lawyer and the cattle company, is under threat from Carter and his men, which, of course, leads to a shootout and happy ending as well as some romance.

The director’s novel Smith he directed many B-budget films in the 1930s and 1940s.