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A Holy Terror
USA 1931
produced by Fox Film
directed by Irving Cummings
starring George O'Brien, Sally Eilers, Rita La Roy, Humphrey Bogart, James Kirkwood, Stanley Fields, Robert Warwick, Richard Tucker, Earl Pingree, George Chandler, Wong Chung, Jerry Mandy, Oscar Smith, Slim Whitaker
screenplay by Myron C. Fagan, Ralph Block, Alfred A. Cohn, based on the novel Trailin' by Max Brand
review by Mike Haberfelner
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When East Coast millionaire Thomas Woodbury (Robert Warwick) is found
shot dead and his son Tony (George O'Brien) finds a certificate from
somewhere out West that suggests a name change some 25 years ago, Tony
decides to go investigate - but at first it seems he makes a total blunder
of it because he crashes his plane into the house of lovely Jerry (Sally
Eilers), and while he manages to properly apologize to her, he makes
enemies with her wannabe boyfriend Steve Nash (Humphrey Bogart), who
happens to be the foreman of William Drew (James Kirkwood), the very man
Tony wants to interview, suspecting him of having killed his father.
Getting wind that Tony has hit town, Drew tells Nash to bring him to his
ranch, and Nash, figuring this a perfect opportunity to drive some fear
into Tony, hires outlaw Butch (Stanley Fields) to abduct Tony,
interpreting Drew's invitation rather freely. However, Tony proves he's a
man and a half when he escapes his abductors, then makes his way to Drew's
farm to confront Drew. But once he has had his say, Butch arrives, tries
to shoot Tony, but Drew deliberately catches to bullet for him, then in
his weakened state tells Tony the full truth: He had come to confront
Tony's dad but didn't plan to shoot him dead, a gun just went off in a
scuffle. And he had good reason to confront old man Woodbury, too, as back
when he stole Woodbury's wife and his child, which means Drew is actually
Tony's dad ... For later generations the most remarkable thing
about this movie is probably that it features an early heavy role by then
relatively unknown Humphrey Bogart, and one of his few appearances in
westerns - but other than that, there's not much to write home about in
this film, it's just a straight forward B western that seems more
interested in ticking all the boxes than tell an actually engaging story -
apart from the surprise revelation in the finale of course. That's not to
say this is a bad film per se, it just has a conveyor belt feel to it.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
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a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
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all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
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