Frontier Days

Frontier Days was never considered for any Oscars I'm sure because it has no originality in anyway. It's just a cut and paste story with a lot of footage from Dodge City used and Truman Bradley to narrate the gaps.

With Robert Shayne and Dorothy Malone deliberately wearing costumes that look like Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland, I'm sure this was just another way for Jack Warner to keep a couple of his young contract players working. It would take eleven more years for Dorothy Malone to win her Oscar and shorter than that for Bob Shayne to gain television immortality as Inspector Henderson on Superman.

Why Errol and Olivia didn't get any billing is a question. The thing is shoddily put together that you can plainly recognize them. Olivia in fact is shown driving the wagon from the scene wear Bobs Watson is dragged to his death. They should have given young Mr. Watson a credit as well.

The plot such as it is has Shayne as a former Indian agent taking on the job as marshal to tame Civilization, Kansas where Dorothy has already taken the job as sheriff in place of dad who's been killed by the same gang Shayne once had arrested when he was an Indian Commissioner.

Jack Warner just didn't have the knack for this. Now Herbert J. Yates at Republic, there was a man who could reuse stock footage over and over and get the most out of it.

Jack you were out of your league.