Classic Westerns: Bob Steele Four Feature

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

The son of director Robert Bradbury, Bob Steele began his career as a child star in his father's films. As a young man, Bob went on to star in a long series of popular western epics. In his later years, he played in support of such heavyweights as Humphrey Bogart and Clint Eastwood in major studio pictures. BORDER PHANTOM has Bob Steele keeping the border clean halting an Oriental bad guy from bringing in Chinese brides from Mexico. A DEMON FOR TROUBLE pits Steele against the bad guys, again! First the bad guys buy all the nearby land and then they kill the sellers to steal their money back. In TRUSTED OUTLAW as the headstrong young son of a notorious outlaw, Steele is not only forced to live down his dad's reputation, but also his own. In BRAND OF HATE trouble starts when Bill Larkins and his two sons move in with his brother Joe. They start rustling cattle and kill Rod's father with Joe's gun. The sheriff and Rod search for proof that they did it!

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: All
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Screen: Black and White
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Features:
  • Bonus Trailers: Black Coin, Ghost Town, Western Justice.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Bob Steele - Dan Ward
       Harley Wood - Barbara Hartwell
       Don Barclay - Lucky Smith
       Earl Dwire - Swain
       Charles King - Bert Gilmore
       James Flavin - Holt Orkin
       Archie Ricks - Slim Orkin
       Budd Buster - Adler
       Frank Ball - Prof. Andrew Hartwell
       Jack Rockwell - sheriff
       Blackie Whiteford - ranch hand
       Bill Patton - ranch hand
       Fred Burns - fiddler
       Bob Burns - ranch hand
       Blackie Whiteford

• Director:

  Roy S. Luby, Robert F. Hill, Robert North Bradbury, Lewis D. Collins

• Producer:

  A.W. Hackel

• Screenwriter:

  Fred K. Myton, Jack Natteford, George Plympton

• Book Author:

  Johnston McCulley

• Cinematographer:

  John H. Greenhalgh, Jr., William C. Thompson, Bert Longenecker

• Editor:

  Roy Claire, William Austin, Roy S. Luby, S. Roy Luby

• Supervising Producer:

  Sam Katzman

• Executive Producer:

  A.W. Hackel

REVIEWS:

• A fine little western that benefits from good location filming at Lone Pine, CA, A Demon for Trouble presents diminutive Bob Steele at his best: a fightin' and shootin' machine who could also act. Better equipped, in fact, than most of his colleagues, as his standout performances in Of Mice and Men (1939) and The Big Sleep (1946) would later attest to. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
• It always comes as a bit of a surprise for modern audiences when George Hayes is cast as a dyed-in-the-wool villain, as he is in The Brand of Hate as well as several John Wayne oaters from the same era. Although often playing vicious killers in his early years (Wayne's fine Randy Rides Alone, also from 1934, readily comes to mind), Hayes' later comedy relief characters are so wonderfully drawn that it is difficult to take him in a serious role. Here, he is irredeemable, however, especially after attempting to railroad his own brother, and doubly so because said brother is played by veteran silent screen star William Farnum, who would spend the latter part of his career playing kindly westerners in B-movies like The Brand of Hate. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
• Republic Pictures lavished quite a bit of money on this unusual Western, which came complete with expressionistic touches rarely, if ever, found in sagebrush operas. There are painted shadows in Border Phantom and cinematographer Jack Greenhalgh introduced a couple of neat camera angles as well. Although Fred Myton's screenplay promises a bit more than the film can deliver, the acting is above average and former editor Roy S. Luby manages to build up quite a bit of tension. Border Phantom was one of the last of the "whodunit" Westerns, a subgenre especially popular in the beginning of the sound era. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi