His Brother's Ghost

Only an incredibly stupid piece of script that allows Buster Crabbe to walk into an outlaw trap, though he does break away prevents this from being one of the best of PRC series. His Brother's Ghost has Al St. John playing Fuzzy Q. Jones and his brother Andy. Andy dies though he takes his time doing it, expiring from a gunshot wound. But not before he sets up a plan to trap the outlaws. I haven't seen this long running a death since the serial Tim Tyler's Luck where Al Shean takes two chapters to take the big trip.

Andy Jones maybe with the angels, but nobody's quite sure of that as Fuzzy starts being seen around and scaring the pants off the members of a gang trying to drive homesteaders out of the valley. Veteran western villain Charles King heads the gang which has some local so called respectable community members as part of their plot. Of course Buster Crabbe takes care of them all in the end with his usual alacrity and dispatch.

If you're a fan of Al St. John's slap saddle humor than this is the film for you.

This film is one of a series starring Buster Crabbe as Billy Carson, a rancher who spends a good portion of his time attempting to better the lives of sharecroppers and others who run afoul of varying murderous plotters; in this instance, a friend of Carson is killed and replaced by his twin brother, causing consternation amidst the villains who are convinced that the twin is a vengeful ghost. Most of this short (54 min.) work consists of two small groups of extraordinarily confident horsemen who canter about, chasing and shooting at each other, in essentially non-stop fashion; one's attention becomes drawn to spotting the interchangeability of the good and bad guys......nothing else here warrants a viewer's concentration.

With more characterization, and more of the minor characters getting more dialogue, director Sam Newfield brings George Milton's script to very active life.

According to IMDb, despite the different names as writers, they all were actually George Milton. And he deserves the credit.

Al "Fuzzy" St. John out-does himself this time, yes, still being his acrobatically funny self, but being an introspective self, too.

Bad guy Charles King out-does himself, too, and his look of glee at some particularly dastardly deed shows just what a good actor he really was.

Buster Crabbe doesn't stretch himself, but he looks good and, of course, handles his action well.

Behind them are some of the best Western players Hollywood ever had, and PRC once again rises well above its reputation.

I highly recommend "His Brother's Ghost" and there's a good print at YouTube.

Released in 1945 - His Brother's Ghost is just one of many, many Hollywood B-Westerns that turned me, as a youngster, into a devoted Cowboy-Junkie as I sat for hours in front of the TV set completely fascinated and entertained by these low-budget, rip-roarin' tales of the Old West.

With its simple, straight-forward story that pitted the good guys against the bad guys, His Brother's Ghost also contained elements of comedy which certainly helped to move this gun-happy tale along at a light-hearted pace.

Starring ex-Flash Gordon dude, Buster Crabbe (as good guy, Billy Carson), His Brother's Ghost tells the story of a crooked gang of ruthless marauders who are terrorizing the region by systematically murdering landowners and then taking possession of their ranches and farms.

When these cut-throat bandits kill Andy Jones (Fuzzy's brother), Billy Carson decides to enlist Fuzzy as the ghost of his brother in order to frighten these easily-scared bad guys off.

With this plan set into motion, Billy hopes to expose the gang-leader's identity, and thus bring peace to the valley and restore the stolen property to the rightful owners.

Filmed in b&w, His Brother's Ghost had a very brief running time of only 52 minutes.

This poverty-row picture was directed by Sam Newfield who, throughout the 1930s & 40s, literally turned out hundreds of similar, fast-paced B-Westerns with such titles as Stagecoach Outlaws, Prairie Badmen and Thundering Gunslingers.

Okay, let's start at the VERY beginning. Watch the storybook credits begin, and the hand turn the page, or at least tries to. It FUMBLES! Loved that. So begins 'His Brother's Ghost' a not bad actioner with the 'King Of The Cowboys' Buster Crabbe.. Yes, Buster Crabbe and his ever faithful sidekick, Al (Fuzzy) St. John. In this St John is murdered because the Bad Guys wants his land. Luckily, St. John has a twin brother that comes around to spook them out! Remember, Crabbe is the main guy here, so it IS kind of curious that the main plot focuses around St Johns' character. Oh well, Both of them are good, not great. What I always find amusing is that no one can shoot worth a lick except for Crabbe, who can shoot a gun out of someone's hand! Oh yeah, watch out for Crabbe's coughing horse. lol