No Man's Range

There aren't many mysteries in this Bob Steele western -- just a question of how to untangle them. Bob's new to the valley to see the stepfather he's never seen, who's told him he can have half the ranch, only to find that there's a range war on, with Roberta Gale being squeezed out by the man Bob has just shot in a crooked poker game, claiming to be his stepfather.... but Steve Clark has someone gagged in his basement and has hired Bob, despite knowing who Bob is. Meanwhile the sheriff is looking for Bob. Not that Bob believes anyone, except Miss Gale: what a man won't do for a pretty face!

It's an interesting story, but director Robert Bradbury's unit isn't the one to carry it off -- he's much better as an action director, and the action doesn't start to take off until the last quarter hour. George Hayes, who seems to have been acting as dialogue director for the Steele pictures when around, seems to have left the unit -- he wouldn't work with Steele again until 1940 -- and the lack of acting chops shows. As a result, this one remains watchable, but by no means one of Steele's best.

"No Man's Range" (1935) is a Bob Steele oater that plays every clichéd trope to the hilt. Still, the Steele oaters always have a rangeful of great horse riding and, in the case of this particular film, a truly wonderful amount of stunt work in the fight scenes, of which there are many. One of the drawbacks of nearly all the Steele western films of the early 30s through the mid-30s is the beginning of the films and the very, very ends of the films. They almost seem as if someone has forgotten his or her lines after the introductory sentence, then with the too long pause a response occurs. The endings nearly always are a quick hash of girl and guy together in a kiss or love clench, usually with marriage as the inevitable.

This one finds Bob coming to an area "from New Mexico" to claim half ownership in a ranch with his step father, a man he's never met. He runs into a range war. The rest is the typical western "B" story. It's very well done for the most part, directed by Steele's father, Robert N. Bradbury, and made for Supreme Pictures on a nothing budget. Maybe less than nothing. It's a quick outing at 56 minutes, and I enjoyed it. I always seem to enjoy Bob Steele films. This one's no better than 5 stars out of 10, but it's not really below that.

Besides Steele, there are Roberta Gale, Buck Connors (who can get on your nerves a tad when he thinks he's being humorous), Steve Clark, Charles K. French, Jack Rockwell, Earl Dwire (great friend in real life with Steele and a great bad guy in Steele's movies), Roger Williams, Ed Cassidy, and many other set piece "B" western actors like Wally West. Oh, by the way, guess who gets the last laugh in the film? Yep, a horse!

"No Man's Range" is fairly unremarkable but a reliable cast of B-western staffers makes it enjoyable nonetheless. The story of the good wresting results from the bad holds together, but the two sides spend quite a lot of time on horses going 50 miles per hour after one-another through all sorts of terrain to make it all happen. Bob as usual shows himself to be a deft horseman, his body flowing effortlessly in response to his horse on upward and downward climbs. Finally, the sound effects during the numerous fight scenes are quite entertaining. In the end, everyone on the good side of the law has a nice laugh together, including the horse.

Fuzz (Buck Connors) had the line of the movie, "He's the first man who shot a hole in a doughnut at 60 yards". Shots come from everywhere when Fuzz and Jim Hale (Bob Steele) come to see Bob's step father (Charles K. French) about his ranch. Roberta Gale and foreman Ed Cassidy put them on as hired help. The real mystery is who is the real Ed Oliver and did Fuzz just kill him at a crooked poker game? Steve Clark has the perfect plan to take over everything and some great henchmen to do it. Good to see the western's favorite lawman, Jack Rockwell and favorite villain, Earl Dwire. Another great one from director Robert N. Bradbury.

No Man's Range finds Bob Steele entering a range war without really knowing who the good and bad guys are. Steele's come to this valley with his rather ancient sidekick Buck Connors in answer to a summons from a stepfather he's never met. It seems as though while he was away, this individual married Bob's mother who subsequently died. The fact that Bob's never met his stepfather before allows an unscrupulous gang of outlaws to take full advantage of the situation. But I assure you not for long, not for the less than hour running time of this B western.

I won't give it away, but the audience is let in early in the game just what the gang is pulling. It would have been much better had it been sprung at the climax. Still there's enough riding and shooting to satisfy the western audience crowd who thrives on that stuff.