The Spoilers

I like films like THE SPOILERS because they have absolutely no pretense about them. They are simple B-movie-type films with relatively simple plots and familiar actors but pack a lot of predictable but fun entertainment into them. Sure, since it's a John Wayne flick you KNOW that he will win in the end and you KNOW what to expect. And, for me, that's not a bad thing. I like a good old fashioned John Wayne flick like most of the ones he did in the 40s--good, solid, and entertaining. The only odd thing is that the Duke is billed 3rd when it is clearly his film. Top billing went to Marlena Dietrich--who at the time was the bigger star. However, her part is pretty flat and she clearly acts in support of Wayne. And, second billing went to Randolph Scott. But, once again he was clearly not the leading character but the villain. Now if all this doesn't make sense, you need to understand that although Wayne had made many films by 1942, most were B-movies and he still was only just becoming the break-out star he would so clearly be in just a few short years.

In addition to being a good old John Wayne flick (among his better ones of the 40s), the direction and plot are pretty good as well. A very good movie--nearly deserving a score of 8.

"The Spoilers" takes place in Nome, Alaska--where men are men and the women work in saloons. It's a two-fisted "western" about hardworking men who staked their claims to Yukon gold and those who tried to jump their claims.

John Wayne plays Roy Glennister, co-owner of a mine operation. Randolph Scott plays Alex McNamara, a man who works in the gold office and wants to stake his own claim to Glennister's girlfriend, Cherry (played by Marlene Dietrich). As owner of the town saloon, Cherry is a tough businesswoman with a soft spot for Glennister, who likes to keep things informal.

Much of the plot of this traditional western is predictable, but the action is nonstop and the story is engaging. It is also a parable of sorts about the difference between law and justice. This was not the first time this story was filmed and it wouldn't be the last. In 1955, "The Spoilers" hit the big screen again. But Wayne's version is more satisfying.

This movie's got a good enough plot that it's been made at least 4 times, so you know that part's covered. It's a good story that holds up and moves at a good pace. The cast of stars are caught at interesting times in their varying careers. Dietrich is riding the Destry saloon girl role in a carbon copy of the original that belabors a huge oversized Gibson-girl wig and multiple extraordinary outfits befitting Marlene "the star". She brings her distinctive charm to the role and has a tongue-in-cheek ball with the sexually loaded script, but her role has nothing extra-special or magical. John Wayne is full of swagger and charm and working his way up the ladder towards the title of big stud cowboy on campus. Randolph Scott is turning the corner of his career into Westerns also; abandoning those light comedy or milquestoast leading roles and showing a glimpse of the hardnose tough guy & questionably moral cowboy that he came to be in later career moves. This is the penultimate film for Richard Barthelmess and his role is a morose and bitter one that fits his personal situation of a star who had had his day in the sun and was ready to step-down. Kudos, big laughs and a robust round of applause to the best delivery, lines and most entertaining scenes which are all handled by Marlene's maid - Idabelle - played beautifully and naturally by Marietta Canty. She WILL have you laughing out loud! This film is chock full of sexual innuendo, lust-filled motivation and snide comments; all subtly and enjoyably delivered.

This is the fourth of five filmed versions of Rex Beach's redoubtable northern classic and since it's the only one out on video, it's the one best known to movie audiences. The stalwart trio of Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, and John Wayne head the cast in this story about gold miners losing their claims to con men and doing something about it.

Dietrich's Cherry Malotte is another version of the role she copyrighted in Destry Rides Again. And like in Pittsburgh, Randolph Scott and John Wayne have their hormones in overdrive.

Randolph Scott is the gold commissioner/conman Alex McNamara and it's the only time he ever played a thoroughgoing villain on the screen and he carries it off, but I prefer my Randolph Scott to be tough and heroic.

You need someone like Scott around because even though John Wayne's the good guy, he's just a little too sure of himself where Dietrich is concerned. Even though her heart's with the Duke, Marlene probably liked having Scott around.

Lots of slam bang action here, topped off by what some consider the most brutal movie fight in screen history. Its close rival in Pittsburgh also featured Wayne and Scott and this one is longer, but not as brutal as in Pittsburgh.

Nice cast of good supporting character actors and pay particular attention to Scott's companions in thievery, Samuel S. Hinds and Charles Halton.

With Randy Scott and the Duke and la Dietrich, how can you go wrong.

The old Rex Beach chestnut, The Spoilers, has been filmed several times, from the early silent days to the Eisenhower fifties. A durable tale indeed. When the first version was made the Emperor Franz Josef was still on the throne in Austria. All versions feature the famous fight between McNamara and Glennister, that begins in a saloon and ends several miles down the street. Windows get shattered, tables and chairs fly through the air, and people gasp in horror.

This 1942 film, directed by the reliable Ray Enright, is actually genteel compared to the silent versions, and as much a vehicle for Marlene Dietrich as anything else. As she was riding the comeback trail, in the wake of her spectacular success in Destry Rides Again, she plays a saloon singer, which had become her specialty. A rousing "Northern" western, set in the days of the Alaskan Gold Rush (which was, incidentally, closer in historical time to the year this film was made than we are to World War II), The Spoilers has a fairly conventional plot about prospectors, claim-jumpers, and the various hangers-on, honest and crooked, that made mining towns like Nome so exciting,--and so dangerous.

Leading men Randoloph Scott and John Wayne make rugged adversaries, though I find Scott somewhat more appealing, which isn't supposed to be the case. Wayne is competent if a little anonymous here. The supporting cast includes the reliable Harry Carey, Richard Barthelmess, Samuel Hinds, and in a cameo (I'm not making this up), the poet, Robert Service, best known for "The Shooting Of Dan McGrew". I guess if you're going to cast a poet in a film like this you don't go for Edna St. Vincent Millay. Service is most appropriate casting.

The sets are quite good, and at times quite fancy; and the streets are muddy, though I seem to remember the earlier films as having a more realistic, dirty look, as Alaska here is cleaner and at least physically less forbidding than one might expect. As to the climactic fight, it is well enough done, and properly violent, though neither participant seems nearly so bloodied up as he ought to. Overall, the movie is satisfying, more routine than I expected, and yet a worthy entry in that fascinating sub-genre, the Gold Rush Western.