Clearing the Range

Mediocre oater, at best. Some good skyline shots, along with picturesque Vasquez Rocks north of LA, but also lots of rather pointless posse riding around scrubby LA area hills. Bad guy Kildare embezzles money from his bank and kills Jim Fremont when latter discovers the theft. Soon Jim's brother Curt rides into town but seems strangely uninterested in who killed his brother. Good thing Zorro-like El Capitan mysteriously arrives to make sure justice is served.

Gibson makes for a rather affable hero, no tough guy poses for him, but not very convincing either. Still, it's a stretch to have a mere change into black costume make him unrecognizable to the whole town. Good thing Eilers is there to offer plenty of attractive eye candy. The storyline may be hard to follow (it was for me) with all the characters coming and going. One thing for sure, the producers spared no expense in hiring an army of extras. Anyway, the flick's an antique (1931) which may be the best reason to catch up with it.