Directed by Sam Newfield
Produced by Sam Katzman
Original Story & Screenplay by Basil Dickey
Production Manager: E.W. Rote
Photography: Marcel Picard, ASC
Film Editor: Holbrook Todd
Original Song by Lew Porter & Johnny Lange
Cast: Tim McCoy (‘Lightning’ Bill Carson / Trigger Mallory), Joan Barclay (Jessie Treadwell), Ben Corbett (Magpie), Ted Adams (Slim), Forrest Taylor (Eddie), Bob Terry (Steve), Donald Gallaher (Mort), Dave O’Brien (Meggs), Jack Mulhall (Warden), Jack “Tiny” Lipson (Toby), Wally West (Bank Teller)
After some excellent B Westerns for Columbia in the early 30s, top cowboy star Col. Tim McCoy wound up on Poverty Row, making movies for Puritan, Monogram and Sam Katzman’s Victory Pictures. (McCoy also toured with the Ringling Brothers Circus and ran his own Wild West show during this period.)
McCoy made eight Westerns for Katzman in 1938 and 1939, all directed by Sam Newfield. Each had a budget of $8,000, an increase on the $6K spent on Victory’s previous Tom Tyler films. McCoy got $4,000 per picture, with Newfield getting $1,200. Each was shot over three days and two nights.
In all eight of McCoy’s Victory films, he’s “Lightning” Bill Carson, a trail-riding G-man — a role resurrected from Puritan’s Lightnin’ Bill Carson (1936). In Outlaws’ Paradise (1939), maybe the best of the Victory series, McCoy has a dual role as Carson and notorious gunman Trigger Mallory.
Trigger Mallory is about to be released from prison but he’s kept in stir so Carson, who looks just like him, can infiltrate Mallory’s gang and recover some bonds stolen from the postal service. Things go OK, with Carson even fooling Mallory’s girl (Joan Barclay). But Mallory figures out what’s up and escapes from prison to take care of business.
In the ultimate confrontation between Carson and Trigger, there simply had to be a shot featuring the two McCoys. It’s required when you have a plot device like this. The scene here is well done, for sure, but there’s only one setup and it’s fairly brief. Katzman wasn’t going to spend any money he didn’t have to.
Outlaws’ Paradise overcomes its tiny budget and breakneck schedule, for the most part. Sam Newfield’s direction is what you’d expect from the most prolific director of them all (move over, William Beaudine) cranking out a movie in three days. Marcel Picard’s camerawork is just serviceable, though location work at the Iverson, Walker and Brandeis ranches helps a lot.
Tim McCoy is terrific here, obviously having fun as the despicable Trigger Mallory. McCoy had a Western authenticity that went beyond regular acting. (Read up on Col. Tim McCoy sometime, he was a fascinating man.)
The beautiful Joan Barclay made a lot of B Westerns, appearing with everyone from Bob Steele and Rex Bell to The Three Mesquiteers and Tim Holt (above). She worked for Katzman quite a bit over the years, from three of the Victory McCoys, Victory’s two serials and The Corpse Vanishes (1942).
The casts of these pictures remain fairly constant from one to the other — guys like Ted Adams, Forrest Taylor, Dave O’Brien and Jack Mulhall turn up again and again. Ben Corbitt serves as a sidekick of sorts as Magpie. He’s in most of these McCoy Victory films.
Outlaws’ Paradise is fun, rising above its many liabilities to the top spot of the Katzman-McCoy films. Recommended. All of these early Katzman films are in the public domain, so they’re easy to see. The best versions out there are almost always the DVDs available from Sinister Cinema. Their website is a sinkhole of video temptation. You’ve been warned!
Adapted from the book-in-the-works Jungle Sam – The Cinema Of Sam Katzman, Vol 1.
50 Westerns From The 50s.