OLD LOS ANGELES (1948)

Los Angeles, 1848. Outlaws are on the rampage, attacking gold miners and hunters and blowing up dams. Prospector Larry Stockton sends a letter to his brother Bill, a former U.S. marshal, about their troubles, asking Bill to join him. But shortly after, crooked Johnny Morrell (John Carroll) forces Larry and his partner to sign over their claim to him, then he shoots them both dead. Bill (Bill Elliott) and his buddy Sam (Andy Devine) ride into town and when they discover that Larry is dead, they vow to hunt down the killer. Among the folks they run into: Savarin (Joseph Schildkraut), a seemingly respectable bar owner who is the secret head of the outlaw gang and who's trying to get control of as much land as possible; Marie, a singer and girlfriend of Savarin's; and Johnny and his gal Estelita. Bill starts a flirtation with Marie who only wants to marry Savarin because of his money. While a group of citizens gather to repair the dam that the outlaws blew up, the outlaws raid a cattle ranch. But Savarin's gang is still interested in the dam because there is supposedly a vein of gold buried there. Soon we're not sure who is on what side: Marie, Estelita and the town's marshal (Grant Withers) may not be what they seem to be on the surface. At the climax, there is tragedy but justice is served. Bill "Wild Bill" Elliott was in over 200 movies, most of them B-westerns. This is the first starring vehicle of his that I've seen. He comes off as a bit of a stick here, but he was certainly popular back then. Better are the handsome John Carroll (usually a B-hero, here a villain) and Joseph Schildkraut who was seen more often in character parts in A-films (THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA). Old reliables Grant Withers and Henry Brandon (as Larry) are fine, but the females are rather bland. Catherine McLeod (Marie) is best known as the daughter with the headache from the 1960s Anacin ad who yells, "Mother, please, I'd rather do it myself!" (Am I the only person around who remembers these ads vividly?) Estelita Rodriguez (Estelita) married her co-star Grant Withers a few years later. The plot is perhaps a bit more complicated than the norm for a B-western, but overall it's not particularly memorable. Reissued in the 1950s as California Outpost. Pictured are Elliott and Carroll. [TCM]