Der Teufel von Arizona

Melodramatic soap opera about a young lady named Evelyn (Laura La Plante) who is in love with West Point football hero Bob Denton (John Wayne) - unfortunately for her, he's somewhat of a brash ladies man who says, and these are his very words, "My women understand me - they take one look and know they can expect nothing". Hmmm, well she doesn't seem to understand that and expects to marry him - but he dumps her when he realizes how serious she is about him. So she sets out to get even by actually marrying Bob's boyhood guardian (without Bob's knowledge) and moving to Arizona with the poor older man who is completely clueless about her former relationship. Soon Bob is assigned a post there and stirs things up when he begins a romance with Evelyn's flirtatious sister (June Clyde).

This is a very interesting, well done film - okay, I never could understand why women in movies sometimes marry the "wrong man" just to get even or just because they can't get the man they really want. Laura La Plante plays a role here that isn't exactly a very likable person, yet she is such a charming, likable actress herself, her character does manage to come across in an appealing way. John Wayne is okay too (and he doesn't look too bad in his tight-fitting cadet uniform pants, I might add). June Clyde, by the way, gives a very enjoyable performance here playing the cutesy, bubbly flirt to the hilt. A good film, worth seeing.

A very solid good picture from 1931 is finally seeing the light of day via the new TV channel, GET/TV. We watched it last night.

First of all you need to know the picture and sound of this 83 year old film is much better than might be expected. Perhaps withheld because of long term friction between Columbia Pictures and John Wayne.

Set in West Point and later in Arizona, Wayne plays a football hero who finds it necessary to break up with a girl he realizes he doesn't love. He soon finds out she's the b...h from hell, and her reaction will impact on several other people.

The script and acting is just fine.

Certainly not one of John Wayne's worst films, as one reviewer proclaims, but among his worst performances. After his initial starring role in "The Big Trail" in 1930, Wayne found himself at Columbia and turned in this wooden acting role in "Arizona" along with other pictures and was eventually fired by Harry Cohn. Soon Wayne found himself on poverty row, starring in "His Private Secretary" for Showmen's Pictures in 1933 and a series of westerns for Lone Star Productions released by Monogram Pictures in 1934. His climb back to being a top Hollywood star would take a few years. This film is a cultural significance since it has been released on a DVD set entitled "Columbia Pictures - Pre-Code Collection" along with four other films made in 1931-1932, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Harlow, and Carole Lombard.

This could have been rather more than this simple melodrama, had Messrs. Seitz and Riskin been a bit more adventurous with their adaptation of quite a fun play. It centres around "Evelyn" (Laura la Plante) who is jilted by her beau, and so, reluctantly, marries "Col. Bonham" (Forrest Stanley) on the rebound. They relocate to his command in Arizona where they are soon joined by the colonel's handsome, football-star protegé "Bob Denton" (John Wayne) who, guess what - turns out to be the one who jilted her, and who now starts to take a bit of a shine to her younger sister "Bonnie" (June Clyde). Well, "Evelyn" is having none of this and sets up an elaborate plan to save her sister and disgrace poor old "Bob". This story is a bit thin, as are the performances - but it isn't hard to see why the dashing Wayne was drawing in the crowds - wooden as he is, he has charisma here in spades and plays well against the vengeful character and much more accomplished actress that is La Plante. This is really little more than a film for Wayne fans to tick off a list of his early works - not terrible, but not really anything much at all...

I suppose this is what they used to call a "woman's picture." Laura LaPlante, a fetching, if gnomish blonde, plays Evelyn Palmer, a New York girl (what she does for a living is never revealed) who's been dallying with dashing West Point cadet Bob Denton, played robotically by a very young & handsome John Wayne. When she is dumped unceremoniously before Bob's graduation, Evelyn woos & eventually marries his mentor, Colonel Bonham, played by Forrest Stanley more like a stuffed-shirt British army officer than an American who's spent years in Arizona. The big complication is that, once the newlywed Bonhams relocate to Arizona, Denton shows up for duty &, despite Evelyn's triumphant attitude toward him, Denton takes a fancy to Evelyn's sister, Bonnie, who's the cutest flapper I've seen in ages.

This plot, made today, might have a bit more nastiness in that; it's as close to a "Cruel Intentions" as you're going to get in 1931. That Bob & Evelyn are having a sexual relationship is implied, of course, & it's amusing how, later in the picture, every time someone's about to say it, that person is interrupted or hushed. More than that, though I saw this on the Starz Western channel, it's more like your average sophisticated thirties melodrama than a western. The cigarettes are in boxes, gowns are worn to dinner, & the Colonel's house in Arizona is strictly Long Island.

The film features some amusing stock footage of an Army-Navy football game, as well as military maneuvers. But without giving anything away, the film unwinds & then winds up in a pretty cliched manner. For John Wayne fans, it's bound to be extremely disappointing, but for those of us who are intrigued by the early days of Hollywood, good & bad, it's not such a bad way to spend an hour. But it was way too silly to be moving, & it's by the numbers mix-up plot never really generates any suspense.