THE OF LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS

US, 1930, 70 minutes, Black-and-white.
Richard Arlen, Mary Brian, Harry Green, Regis Toomey, Fred Kohler, Guy Oliver.
Directed by Edwin H. Knopf, Otto Brower.

This is an action Western based on a Zane Grey story which had been filmed as early as 1918.

The locations are familiar, a saloon, initially, and a brawl; a homestead on a farm; work on the farm; and a brawl in the homestead.

Popular star, Richard Arlen, plays Dick, seen initially with his friend Pie- Pan (Harry Green), on something of a bender in the saloon, Dick is upset at the death of his friend Jimmy Hammond. Dick also declares will marry the first woman he sets eyes on – which happens to be Ruth Hammond, arriving from the East to claim her brother’s farm.

Next day Dick and his friends seek work and apply to Ruth who, remembering the first encounter, sends him off. Later, Ruth’s admirer from the East (Regis Toomey) comes to complicate matters.

Enter the villain, Stack (Fred Kohler) who had killed Jimmy Hammond, claims he had paid back taxes on the farm, confronts Ruth, stating that the farm is his and that she should leave. There is a further complication that he is in league with the crooked sheriff who backs up his claims.

Which, in the Western tradition, leads to a confrontation, extensive fisticuffs, gunfire, the defeat of the villain, the exposure of the sheriff, and a romantic ending.

A small entertaining Western of its times.