Old Los Angeles

This B western delivers the goods a lot better than most A westerns of the period with standout performances by a well-chosen cast. John Carroll as outlaw Johnny Morrell takes top honors. Why, he even gets to sing. His chicanery is masked by his good looks and by his way with women, especially with the Mexican spitfire Estelita Del Rey (Estelita Rodriguez) who finds his charms irresistible though her family, notably her brother, sees through his angelic smile. He's the key figure in the film so keep your eye on him.

Bill Stockton (Wild Bill) and his sidekick Sam Bowie (the inimitable Andy Divine)come to Los Angeles in answer to Bill's brother's call for assistance. It seems a gang of bandits is attempting to run the ranchers off and take their land, their cattle, and their gold. Upon arriving Bill is informed that his brother has been murdered by the bandits. Bill and Sam find themselves caught in the middle of what becomes a complex yarn that even Wild Bill has trouble untangling.

Thrown in for good measure this outing is not one romance but two. Besides the exploitative romance between Johnny Morrell and Estelita Del Rey, Wild Bill finds himself falling in love with the dance hall girl Marie Marlowe (Catherine McLeod) who sings up a storm but is attached in a rather mysterious way to the owner of the saloon Luis Savarin (Joseph Schildkraut) who unknown to Wild Bill is also the mastermind behind the outlaws, desiring to gain all the land in the Los Angeles area for his own private empire. The outlaw hierarchy for this B western is so complex that even the traditional heavies Grant Withers and Roy Barcroft get confused before the show is over. The love triangle in which Wild Bill becomes enmeshed is also a key element in the plot of the movie.

The director Joe Kane specialized in Republic westerns which were the best B westerns around. His talents are showcased in this film, especially by the way the fights are handled. The camera zooms in for closeups at just the right time to emphasize the blows being given then zooms out for the total impact. This makes for extremely realistic fisticuffs. Adding to the excitement and adventure are the shootouts and chases with cinematography par excellent. There's not much time for comedy with the multileveled plot and subplot unfolding but when the funny routines appear they're good ones since Andy Divine is in charge. Andy and Wild Bill interact well together with Bill calling him slim.

This is a dandy feature for kids of all ages, not just western buffs.

The opening sequence amounts to an act of surprisingly cold-blooded treachery unusual for even a 1930's gangster movie, let alone a Saturday afternoon horse opera. After that the story settles into more familiar territory for a Republic Western, along with more than the usual number of musical interludes. Actually, the storyline is more convoluted than most, I guess to accommodate the extra-large cast of principals and supporting players. Then too, John Carroll's baddie gets at least as much screen time as good guy Elliot gets. In fact Carroll's role may be the most interesting since he's not only treacherous but unusually charming for a cowboy movie, even breaking into song rather absurdly at one point. Had the screenplay cut out some of the subplots and concentrated more on the Carroll-Elliot rivalry, we might have gotten something along the lines of the renowned Boetticher-Randolph Scott cycle of Westerns of the late 1950's. Certainly as an actor, Elliot was capable of acting out Scott's version of the hard-bitten revenge seeker, while Carroll's good-bad guy remains really effective in Boetticher's memorable Decision at Sundown (1957). Anyway, this is an entertaining oater if you can get past Estrelita's cartoonish accent and McLeod's relentlessly big smile. Still, you might need a scorecard to keep up with all the featured players, including the classically trained and very unWestern Joseph Schildkraut.

This movie had plenty of action and a great plot with much better acting than a typical B western. Although the audience is aware of who the bad guys are almost right from the start, Bill (Elliott) Stockton has to figure it out and it's a pretty well played out story. Andy Devine is great as usual. He was always one of my favorite sidekicks because he was funny, but still a pretty useful guy in a fight despite his round physique. As always, Grant Withers and Roy Barcroft are the bad guys. And as always, they are terrific in the roles. The unfortunate love affair between the bad guy and the senorita makes for an interesting subplot and also provides an ironic ending. This is a top notch Bill Elliott movie.

John Carroll's charming, but very coldblooded villain steals the film from stoic hero Wild Bill Elliott. But in doing so Carroll guaranteed Old Los Angeles a place among the top Elliott westerns of his career.

Old Los Angeles takes place during the year of 1850 just prior to California's admission to the union. Things moved at a rapid pace in those years in California. A decade earlier California was Mexican territory. In 1848 it came along with the rest of the Mexican cession to the USA, in 1849 gold was discovered and the place rapidly filled up with population and in 1850 it was ready to admitted to the Union as a free or slave state depending on what the politicians in Washington, DC decided.

Successful prospector Henry Brandon is relieved of his work of many months and then shot in the back by his good friend Carroll who heads an outlaw band. At least up front he does. The US marshal Grant Withers actually does and behind him where even Carroll doesn't know about it is gambler/saloon owner Joseph Schildkraut who dreams big about a California Empire. He's descended from both Mexican and Czarist Russian people and believe me having Schildkraut being even part Russian is no accident in 1948.

But Brandon had written to brother Bill Elliott back in Missouri where Elliott was a lawman to come west and join him. Elliott does along with sidekick Andy Devine and when he hears about his brother's death, there's no stopping him in finding out who the guilty ones are.

Although she generally played a lot of comic characters in Republic Pictures, Estelita Rodriguez strikes a real poignant note as the woman who stands by her man even though her man John Carroll is no good. She's got quite a bit on Catherine McLeod who is a more traditional western leading lady for Bill Elliott.

Carroll with a bit better breaks could have had a far more successful career. Among other things he had a great singing voice which you hear a bit of in Old Los Angeles. You can hear more of it in Rio Rita opposite Kathryn Grayson. As for playing rogue he did that well too in such films as Randolph Scott's Decision at Sundown and Flying Tigers with John Wayne.

This is a great film from Republic Pictures and a great introduction to Wild Bill Elliott westerns.