In 1938, Republic Pictures decided to use Robert Livingston in feature films, including "The Lone Ranger Rides Again" serial. Needing a replacement for Livingston in The Three Mesquiteers franchise, they turned to John Wayne who came along to Republic in 1936 with the merger of several 'B' film companies. Wayne had appeared in sixteen films for Paul Malvern's Lone Star Pictures group released through Monogram. Though he made six films for Universal in 1936/37, they weren't very successful, so back at Republic, he became Stony Brooke, teaming up with Ray "Crash" Corrigan as Tucson Smith, and Max Terhune as Lullaby Joslin; "Pals Of The Saddle" was their first effort together. There's no doubt as to who the headliner was, as lobby cards and posters of the films during Wayne's run highlight his up and coming star status. I don't know when Terhune first began to use a ventriloquist dummy, but Elmer appears here with a limited speaking role, his parts would grow as the series progressed!
The story itself is a fairly spirited one, accompanied by a lively musical soundtrack. I had to chuckle over the main plot element, a fictitious material called 'monium' was being mined and smuggled to a foreign government by the villains of the piece to be used as an ingredient in a poisonous gas. At the time historically, America was trying to maintain it's neutrality while Europe was being threatened by Hitler. More than one of the Charlie Chan films of the era used a similar story line, and I had to do a quick double take to stay on track. These later Mesquiteers films seemed to exist in somewhat of a 'time warp', as 1880 style cowboys did their thing as the modern 1930's managed to intrude. In the opening scene, newsreel stock footage is used to portray a military battle with an armored tank plainly visible!
Stony and the boys decide to help out a female government agent (Doreen McKay) smoke out the bad guys involved in the smuggling operation. In a somewhat convoluted series of events, the good guys and bad guys manage to trade the upper hand a few times before it's all over. During one of these, Lullaby springs Stony from the locals holding him for a murder frame-up using a 'Chicken Inspector' badge. I got a kick out of Judge Hastings (Joseph Forte), the brains of the bad guy outfit, as the 3-M's take off in a covered wagon with the contraband monium on board. Calling his men to action, he yells "...we want to try and save that gold." He must have gotten his story lines mixed up!
Wayne, Corrigan and Terhune would remain together for six Mesquiteers movies, with Ray Hatton taking Max's place in two more playing the role of Rusty Joslin, Lullaby's brother. In the latter part of Wayne's run, Republic and director John Ford tapped him for the lead role in "Stagecoach". When Wayne eventually left the Mesquiteers, he in turn was replaced as circumstances would have it, by Robert Livingston. The trio series would continue for a few more years with even more replacements. Between 1936 and 1943, Republic churned out a total of fifty one of these oaters!
At the present time, AMC seems to be running the John Wayne Mesquiteers films on an alternating schedule during it's Saturday and Sunday lineup. If you're a fan, you owe it to yourself to catch at least one of these featuring a young John Wayne before he became 'The Duke', and you'll have a lot of fun to boot!
The story itself is a fairly spirited one, accompanied by a lively musical soundtrack. I had to chuckle over the main plot element, a fictitious material called 'monium' was being mined and smuggled to a foreign government by the villains of the piece to be used as an ingredient in a poisonous gas. At the time historically, America was trying to maintain it's neutrality while Europe was being threatened by Hitler. More than one of the Charlie Chan films of the era used a similar story line, and I had to do a quick double take to stay on track. These later Mesquiteers films seemed to exist in somewhat of a 'time warp', as 1880 style cowboys did their thing as the modern 1930's managed to intrude. In the opening scene, newsreel stock footage is used to portray a military battle with an armored tank plainly visible!
Stony and the boys decide to help out a female government agent (Doreen McKay) smoke out the bad guys involved in the smuggling operation. In a somewhat convoluted series of events, the good guys and bad guys manage to trade the upper hand a few times before it's all over. During one of these, Lullaby springs Stony from the locals holding him for a murder frame-up using a 'Chicken Inspector' badge. I got a kick out of Judge Hastings (Joseph Forte), the brains of the bad guy outfit, as the 3-M's take off in a covered wagon with the contraband monium on board. Calling his men to action, he yells "...we want to try and save that gold." He must have gotten his story lines mixed up!
Wayne, Corrigan and Terhune would remain together for six Mesquiteers movies, with Ray Hatton taking Max's place in two more playing the role of Rusty Joslin, Lullaby's brother. In the latter part of Wayne's run, Republic and director John Ford tapped him for the lead role in "Stagecoach". When Wayne eventually left the Mesquiteers, he in turn was replaced as circumstances would have it, by Robert Livingston. The trio series would continue for a few more years with even more replacements. Between 1936 and 1943, Republic churned out a total of fifty one of these oaters!
At the present time, AMC seems to be running the John Wayne Mesquiteers films on an alternating schedule during it's Saturday and Sunday lineup. If you're a fan, you owe it to yourself to catch at least one of these featuring a young John Wayne before he became 'The Duke', and you'll have a lot of fun to boot!