PIRATES OF THE PRAIRIE (1942)

Deputy Marshal Larry Durant (Tim Holt) is instructed to go undercover to investigate a land grab. The frontier towns of Spencerville and East Spencerville are separated by "a dry gulch and a feud"; in the absence of elected officials, a vigilante group has been established in Spencerville to keep the peace, but they have turned a blind eye to the grabbing of property in anticipation of the arrival of the railroad. Some folks could become rich selling their ill-gotten land to the government and Durant wonders if some of the vigilantes are behind the shady doings. Durant arrives in town posing as a gunsmith and gets the attention of Lew Harmon (Roy Barcroft), second-in-command of the vigilantes—and the mastermind behind the land swindle. Harmon, suspicious of Durant, tells him a gunsmith isn't wanted in town, and his men trash Durant's storefront, but Durant stays put, with the help of the simple-minded Ike (Cliff Edwards) who lost his farm to Harmon. Durant also starts a tentative friendship with Helen Spencer, daughter of John Spencer, the head of the vigilantes (who is not aware of the machinations of Harmon and his cohorts). It turns out that there is no feud between the two towns—Harmon has used this fiction as a way to flex his power as an illegitimate lawman. When the federal surveyors come to the area, they decide to build the railroad and its depot in East Spencerville, which would ruin Harmon's big plans. The stage is thus set for shoot-outs, bar brawls, night raids, and a cold-blooded murder before the good guys prevail.

This strikes me an absolutely average B-Western of the era. It's competently done but a little slack here and there, with some shots looking like they should have been retaken, and some of the editing feeling a bit ragged. The plot is nothing out of the ordinary but serviceable enough. Same for the acting: Holt is blandly heroic but a little cold, Barcroft is stereotypically villainous, and Edwards provides fairly unobtrusive comic relief. Nell O’Day, as Helen, the love interest, hasn't much to do, and only Charles King, as a particularly nasty henchman of Harmon's, stands out of the supporting cast. Edwards (pictured above to the left of Holt), known for his ukulele playing, gets a couple of songs. And it's all over in just under an hour. [TCM]