Review #1328: In Old Arizona.
Cast:
Warner Baxter (The Cisco Kid), Edmund Lowe (Sergeant Mickey Dunn), Dorothy Burgess (Tonia Maria), Henry Armetta (Barber), James Bradbury Jr. (Soldier), Joe Brown (Bartender), Frank Campeau (Man Chasing Cisco), John Webb Dillion (Second Soldier), Alphonse Ethier (Sheriff), Jim Farley (Townsman), Pat Hartigan (Cowpuncher), and Soledad Jiménez (Tonita the Cook) Directed by Irving Cummings.
Review:
In Old Arizona premiered on Christmas Day of 1928 (with general release to come in the following days) as a pioneer for Westerns and for talking films. It is the first major Western in sound, and it is the first talkie with outdoor scenes. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) had been the first film from Fox Film to use the Fox Movietone sound-on-film system (which it used for a synchronized music score and sound effects). Now it is used here to make something in line with other Westerns adapted from previous material. The film is adapted from O. Henry's 1907 short story "The Caballero's Way". In the original story, The Cisco Kid was a killer for sport, as opposed to the more sympathetic portrayals in adaptations, although this does keep the ending from the original. There had been two adaptations of the work in the previous decade, and there would be further films to follow with the character in the next three decades (with Baxter playing the role four more times) along with a radio and television series. Baxter had started his career as an extra in 1914, gradually finding bigger roles over the 1920s, such as Sheltered Daughters (1921). He had gained this role through a series of accidents befalling people cast for the lead role. Raoul Walsh was a noted actor who became a director in his own right (having directed noted films such as Regeneration in 1915 and The Thief of Bagdad in 1924), and he was slated to direct and star as the lead. However, when he was driving during production in the desert, a jackrabbit jumped into the windshield of his car, blinding his right eye because of the broken glass. Actor/stuntman Buddy Roosevelt was brought in next, but he withdrew before production could re-start due to a broken leg, so it fell to Baxter to portray the charismatic lead and stay in one piece (along with do a bit of singing), resulting in an Academy Award. In that sense, he does okay, playing with tinges of charisma in a role that seems a bit dated nowadays (imagine putting on a mustache and trying to pull off an accent when you're from Ohio). At least he sings okay, in the same way that I really don't go watching too many singing cowboys to really compare it to. Lowe isn't too much better, but at least his brashness is meant to come out as opposed to seeming awkward with a microphone strategically placed to get the sound out fine like others. Burgess maintains the standard of the mediocre love triangle going with no bumps, although it really isn't much of an interesting triangle with chemistry to keep following for 95 minutes. These are chumps we are dealing with here, but at least it knows to pair it down with a decent ending (as opposed to just a shoot-out) involving the old switching-your-clothes-and-letters trick. The locations certainly seem lovely, even if they don't exactly match the title, with shots being done in Utah and California (notably in parks, missions, and the Mojave Desert) that look fairly nice. Honestly, the film isn't terrible, but it seems a bit tedious when it comes to execution, where one could note better Westerns that came before it that didn't have sound (such as 3 Bad Men, for example) and then note the ones that would come after it for how they dealt with both sound and story. The 1920s had plenty of interesting winners for film, but this one falls right in the middle - not quite forgettable, but not quite remarkable either.
Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.
