The Parson of Panamint

Preacher comes to town , preaches brotherly love , befriends the local tart , riles up the powers that be , gets betrayed by some one he helps , falsely convicted in a show trial , and the town are going to kill him at the end ... Sounds familiar ? Odd little western - starts off comedic then starts retelling the story of Jesus !

Not much of a film , it's one of those where you think they just had a load of character actors doing nothing , so let's knock a film out . Charlie Ruggles plays Charlie Ruggles , Porter Hall is his usual slimey , hypocritical crook , Clem Bevans is a bumbling old drunk , Douglas Fowley is up to no good as usual - the disappointment is Schildkraut - his character doesn't do much and goes too quickly .

The film starts years later and flashes back , leaving hanging whether they hang him or not ... won't spoil it , but has a happier ending than the original story .

... about a gold boomtown that goes bust. The story has grizzled old Charles Ruggles at a campfire and telling the story of the ghost town in the distance, the one where he was once mayor.

The good townsfolk run the local gold mine but lie about the safety issues. The bad townsfolk hang out in a saloon. When Ruggles brings a young parson (Phillip Terry) to town, he causes the rift to widen by taking in a local drunk and by befriending the saloon singer (Ellen Drew). The good folk can't stand this sort of Christian charity and hate seeing the downtrodden succeed at anything.

After the parson is basically framed for murder in an accidental killing and is almost lynched, Ruggles delivers a sermon that exposes the hypocrites and sends them packing. I'm sure there are all kinds of biblical parallels but that's not a subject I know much about. It's a neat little film with solid performances by all. Porter Hall leads the good folks. Joseph Schildkraut pays the saloon owner. This is one of Ruggles' best (unmannered) performances, and Terry is quite good as the parson. Panamint is a real ghost town near Death Valley.