Old Movie Time

I thought this movie was Tarzan the way John Wayne swung through trees and whatever else was handy. But it was only Mr. Wayne grabbing onto a low-hanging limb and climbing into the tree only to launch himself onto an outlaw. And there he is fighting another outlaw in a wagon as it is pulled along through the countryside with the driver shot. The wagon eventually crashes but the horses were freed just seconds before it flies over the cliff. And there is Big John again climbing to the balcony of a hotel and "duke"-ing it out with another outlaw. This movie was made in 1935 when Mr. Wayne was a young man and I could see the potential star that he was to become in some of his traits even back then, you know the walking and the way he stood with a hand on his hip.

In this one John Mason (Wayne) returns just in time to see his father shot in an Express Office holdup and he takes off to chase the outlaws, but gets shot a couple of times. He recuperates at home with the help of his pretty neighbor, Alice (Marion Burns), and falls in love with her. But, wouldn't you know it, her dern brother is the leader of the outlaw gang and the one who shot his father. Shucks, love interrupted. She begs him not to go after her brother, but he does anyway. It's his father's ranch boss who actually shoots the brother, and John ends up marrying Alice.

The name of this flick is The Dawn Rider. I don't know why, because it was full daylight throughout the movie. Other actors in it were Denny Meadows, Reed Howes, Joe De Grasse, Yakima Canutt, Earl Dwire, and Nelson McDowell. It was on tape and had a few pauses that were black. Overall I enjoyed this 56-minute movie that had plenty of action and a young John Wayne.