‘Neath the Arizona Skies **½ (1934, John Wayne, Sheila Terry, Shirley Jean Rickert, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes, Yakima Canutt) – Classic Movie Review 5488

Director Harry L Fraser’s 1934 Monogram movie is another low-budget formula Western, with John Wayne as Chris Morrell, the protector of a little half-Indian girl called Nina (Shirley Jean Rickert), who is heiress to rich oil lands as he tries to find her father so she can cash in on her late mother’s $50,000 Indian oil claim.

Big John rides to the rescue when the bad guys – outlaw Sam Black (Yakima Canutt) and his gang and robber Jim Moore (Buffalo Bill Jr) – kidnap her and go after her father as well.

If unsurprising, it is short (at well under an hour at 52 minutes), fast moving and agreeable. And the young Wayne, plus his regular sidekicks George ‘Gabby’ Hayes as as Matt Downing and Yakima Canutt as outlaw Sam Black, keep you watching if you are a Western fan.

It is produced by Lone Star Productions, released by Monogram Pictures and co-stars Sheila Terry as as Clara Moore, Buffalo Bill Jr [Jay Wilsey] as Jim Moore, Jack Rockwell, Weston Edwards, Phil Keefer, Frank Hall Crane, Earl Dwire, Artie Ortego, Tex Phelps ans Eddie Parker.

It is written by Burl R Tuttle, based on his own story Gun Glory, shot in black and white by Archie J Stout, and produced by Paul Malvern.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5488

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