THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS

US, 1940, 64 minutes, black and white.
Victor Jory, Jo Ann Sayers, Russell Hayden, Morris Ankrum, Noah Beery Jr, J.Farrell Mac Donald, Tom Tyler, Esther Estrella.
Directed by Lesley Selander.

During the making of this film, word came to the set that Zane Gray had died. He had been a prolific author of novels many of them filmed during the 1920s and 1930s.

Regular director of Grey films at this time, Lesley Selander, directs here. There is an interesting cast of supporting actors of the period but it offers Victor Jory the chance of a lead, an alcoholic, a sympathetic fighter for Mexican causes, even getting the girl but doing it while he was drunk. The girl, elegant from the city, is played by Jo Ann Sayers made only 15 films but lived to 90s until 2011. Russell Hayden appeared in the number of these films, Morris Ankrum often a villain, J. Farrell Mac Donald usually respectable as a policeman or land owner, Noah Beery Jr doing a Mexican impersonation, ultra-loyal and finally giving his life in devotion to the hero.

This is not the most interesting of Grey films – and was filmed originally in 1930. The central character is an ambiguous hero. The leading lady initially haughty but very quickly adapting herself to the west, buying a ranch, supporting her brother who had been ill in Boston and had come to the West for a change and had found energy, hard work and a wife.

There is a subtheme of illicit traffic in arms to Mexico, a businessman, his complicity with the sheriff and his associate. This leads to some shootouts – and the Mexican sacrificing himself at the end.

In the first 10 minutes there is an early performance by Alan Ladd.