Beyond the Last Frontier

This is representative of the sort of bread and butter fodder that Robert Mitchum, still being billed as Bob, worked his way through during his early apprenticeship at Republic before moving up the ladder and being taken on at RKO.

The picture is absolutely no different from any of the multitude of oaters that lower rung studios like Republic churned out ceaselessly to fill the theatres lower half of a double bill. Man with a mysterious past? Check. Goofy sidekick? Check. Righteous sheriff who wants to keep the peace? Check. And on and on.

Unless you're a fan of these programmers the only reason to catch this one is to observe the indefinable thing that is star quality. Robert Mitchum had it in spades. Whereas everyone else in the picture is adequate to passable Mitchum is already his fully formed laconic self, relaxed and charismatic like no else in the picture can even approach effortlessly pulling focus whenever the camera turns his way.

He's the reason to watch this short shoot em up but once your curiosity is satisfied you'll never watch it again.

It has often been said that Herbert J. Yates loved titles, and it was indeed customary for Republic to announce the titles of forthcoming releases long before the corresponding screenplays had been fashioned. It appears that names were also loved, and Republic in 1943 announced the debut of a new cowboy hero named John Paul Revere - conjuring up the images of two figures in early American history - before the part was cast. Because the earliest trade reviews and advertising materials for BEYOND THE LAST FRONTIER listed John Paul Revere and Smiley Burnette as the film's co-stars, it would seem that Republic's original intent was to have the genial Eddie Dew actually become John Paul Revere, just as the talented Len Slye had earlier become Roy Rogers. The problem is that the studio had focused on "who?" without considering "what?" and "why?" Why a new character named Revere? What would make him different from the other cowboy stars then in motion pictures?

Whether Mr. Dew had second thoughts about actually becoming Revere or whether Republic began to think along other lines, the actor and the studio parted company before the first two films in the proposed series were released. Eddie Dew was excellent in the role, but the screenplays had been devised in such a manner as to highlight others in the cast. One early trade review stated the obvious: that Smiley Burnette (as "Frog") and Bob Mitchum (as "Trigger Dolan") outshone "Revere" in BEYOND THE LAST FRONTIER. This was through no fault of the perfectly adequate Eddie Dew. The script did not provide the hero with a colorful personality, a gimmick, or any sort of attention-getting device.

The rather complex plot, well worked out, presents Revere and Frog as Rangers involved in an undercover operation designed to entrap the nefarious Harry Woods. Mitchum well enacts the role of a good badman. Howard Bretherton keeps things moving at a fast trot, and John K. Butler's screenplay provides interesting situations and characters, although there is little evidence to support Republic's decision to inaugurate a "John Paul Revere Productions" series, as it was billed.

BEYOND THE LAST FRONTIER is a splendid Republic western, although it breaks no new ground and does not look like the beginning of a different concept. Eddie Dew made one more film as Revere. After his departure, the following release had Bob Livingston in the role. No sooner had the first film with Livingston appeared when Republic opted to advertise subsequent titles in the series as "Smiley Burnette Productions," and the John Paul Revere character soon disappeared.