Man Hunt

The very first film directed by William Clemens. School teacher Miss Carpenter (Marguerite Churchill) starts telling the class about the Dalton Gang, which was a real group of robbers, who pulled jobs in Kansas and California. She wants to elope with reporter Hank Dawson ( William Gargan), but when a famous crook escapes, all the big city reporters come to town, so Hank stalls and puts off the wedding... for now. She bumps into Kingman, unexpectedly, and has to decide if she will help him or not. Kingman is played by Ricardo Cortez, who was an old pro by now. and when is the last time you heard the word paregoric? apparently it's an opium based medicine. who knew? This one moves right along. another film with the same title was made in 1941, but doesn't seem to be the same story. it's pretty good. like a jazzed up episode of Andy Griffith. a bit dated, but has some excitement here and there.

Ricardo Cortez is a crook who has escaped from prison. He hides out in a hick town, where schoolteacher Marguerite Churchill hides him in her cabin because she has no brains.

William Gargan plays a local reporter and Churchill's sweetheart, who wants to snare Cortez so he can get a job at a better newspaper. Chic Sale, whom I had never seen before (and believe me, I never will again) plays an old coot who manages to irritate anyone with a heartbeat. When Cortez plans to rob the local bank, Gargan and Churchill come up with the brilliant idea of spreading a rumor that the bank is insolvent; thus, everyone in town withdraws their dough, and the bank is empty ahead of Cortez and his gang. Sale, whose head is as empty as the bank, fires his rifle at Cortez' car and blows out a tire. Cortez gives up. (For a change, at least he wasn't killed by Kay Francis.) Gargan and Churchill decide to stay in the hick town. Olin "Make me a sergeant in charge of the booze" Howland has a bit as a big city reporter. Cortez is onscreen for less than half the film.

Jane Carpenter (Marguerite Churchill) plays a very young, foolish and naive school teacher. She likes to regale her students with romantic notions of the bandits of the old west--although the reality is that these folks were scum of the worst sort. Not surprisingly, some of the folks in the community are less than thrilled by this.

Later, there is a manhunt for Kingman (Ricardo Cortez)--a notorious bank robber. When he hides out at the teacher's home, her notions of romance are sorely tried! She helps him at first though she soon discovers he's not quite the dashing character she's talked about in school. Believe it or not, this crook and his gang are actually bad!!! Can this idiot somehow come out of this unscathed? Well considering the good guys want to HELP the bank (which Kingman is about to rob) by starting a bank panic, I would seriously doubt that!

Overall, this is a mildly interesting B movie with a decent anti- gangster theme. Chic Sale, as he often is in films, overacts awfully while doing his old man routine (he was only 51 but played a man considerably older in films).

When vicious bank robber Ricardo Cortez is spotted in tiny Coasterville, a man hunt ensues, offering important opportunities for local reporter William Gargan, old-timer Chic Sales and fired schoolmarm Marguerite Churchill

This so-so Warner B plays to its principals' strengths, particularly Ricardo Cortez, who gives a nicely varied performance. However, while the production values are fine, The message that big town folks are phony and small town people know how to get the job done, gets particularly annoying whenever Sales is doing his old coot act. DP Joseph Ruttenberg offers his usual impeccable lighting, operating with a low key instead of his usual glossy look. However the story wears thin soon enough with a story that had been done before and with little to offer in the way of individual insight.