In Old California
by William C. McGann
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Actor: Albert Dekker, Binnie Barnes, Helen Parrish, John Wayne, Patsy KellyDirector: William C. McGann
Brand: Lions Gate
Cinematographer: Jack A. Marta
Editor: Howard O'Neill
Producer: Robert North
Writer: Frances Hyland
Writer: Gertrude Purcell
Writer: Gladys Atwater
Writer: J. Robert Bren
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 88 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-05-16
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Republic Pictures
DVD Reviews of In Old California
DVD Review: One of the Last Wayne B Westerns
Summary: 3 Stars
"In Old California" is a 1942 western starring John Wayne with Binnie Barnes and Albert Dekker, featuring Helen Parrish, Patsy Kelly and Edgar Kennedy.
John Wayne was a bankable box office draw at the time. He made more than 100 films by 1942, although most of them had been forgettable B westerns. Then in 1939 he made "Stagecoach" with John Ford, and his new career as a major star began. Stagecoach earned 5 Oscars including Best Picture. Wayne followed up with "Dark Command" (1940) directed by Raoul Walsh, and "Old California" was just about the last of the B films he would be handed. Wayne went on to make a series of war movies (e.g., "Flying Tigers" in 1942, "The Fighting Seabees" in 1944, "Back to Bataan" and "They Were Expendable" in 1945) and his classic westerns including "3 Godfathers" (1948), "Fort Apache" (1948), "Red River" (1948), "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949, "Rio Bravo" (1959), and "The Alamo" (1960) . Wayne was nominated for Best Actor for "Sands of Iwo Jima" (1949) and he would finally earn an Oscar for "True Grit" (1969).
Binnie Barnes plays a dance hall girl with a golden heart, who is romanced by evil Albert Decker but in love with Wayne. Barnes was a major star of the 30s, appearing in "Private Life of Henry VII" (1933) with Charles Laughton (won the Oscar), "Private Life of Don Juan" (1934) with Douglas Fairbanks (his last film role), "Diamond Jim" (1935), "Last of the Mohicans" (1936) with Randolph Scott and "3 Musketeers" (1939) with Don Ameche. Her philosophy was - "I'm no Sarah Bernhardt. One picture is just like another to me as long as I don't have to be a sweet woman."
Albert Dekker played the bad guy in more than 50 films such as Big Jim Colfax in "The Killers" (1946), the evil Dr. Thorkel in "Dr. Cyclops" (1940), the evil Dr. Soberin in "Kiss Me Deadly" (1955) and the evil railroad man Pat Harrigan in "The Wild Bunch" (1969). Occasionally he played a hero (e.g., "Wake Island).
Patsy Kelly provided comic relief in nearly 100 films between 1929 and 1979, including "Freaky Friday" (1976), "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" (1960), and "Topper Returns" (1941).
Edgar Kennedy was a comic foil in more than 400 films between 1911 and 1949, including "Duck Soup" (1933), "Lil Abner" (1940), and "Anchors Aweigh" (1945). He was one of the original Keystone Cops and was called "the king of the slow burn".
William McGann directs. He had an undistinguished career from 1930 to 1944 directing more than 50 films. "In Old California" is the best of his films.
All things considered the film is OK. Wayne fans might watch it for nostalgia, but he did so much better work that it seems wasteful to spend time on this film. Both Kennedy and Kelly are OK but they gave such better performances that this film offers nothing special. Decker's villain in this film is among his weakest portrayals, and Binne Barnes looks a little tired. For hardcore B western fans, you might give it a look.
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Description of In Old California
IN OLD CALIFORNIA - DVD MoviePicture, if you will, a regulation old-time Western saloon, teeming with colorful frontier types and about to be knocked into kindling by a galoot with a fearsome toothache. At this moment, through the swinging doors appears a pilgrim from the East--Boston, to be precise--outfitted with top hat, frock coat, a courtly manner, and a medical bag filled with the miracles of modern (i.e., 1849) pharmacology. He will cure the ruffian's toothache. He is a druggist. He is also John Wayne.
In Old California qualifies as one of Duke's quirkier assignments during his indentured servitude at Republic Pictures, and he makes a game stab at the sort of arch light-comedy heroism more typically left to his Reap the Wild Wind costar Ray Milland. Unfortunately, he has to do so without discernible assistance from director William McGann. Moreover, the script, which is incoherent even by Republic standards, absentmindedly omits any prospect for menace till half the running time has elapsed. Saloon songstress Binnie Barnes may or may not be kept by her employer, the loutish empire builder Albert Dekker, who resents her attraction to Wayne almost as much as he wants to hog California for himself. Fortunately, the gold rush comes along to provide opportunity for civic hysteria, an outbreak of fever, several varieties of unlikely heroism, and a climactic shootout of surpassing silliness. Edgar Kennedy and Patsy Kelly handle the comic relief... but where does it begin? --Richard T. Jameson
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