In Old California

Amazon.com

Picture, 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

Customer Reviews:

The DUKE is great, but the rest are second-rate..........2001-06-16

In one of The DUKE's more off-beat roles, he plays a Gold Rush era
druggist in this picture. Turns out John Wayne's father was a
druggist, which is why DUKE wanted to play the role.

Although he
does engage in some gunplay, for the most part, DUKE is not the center
of action in this one. Rather, he's more or less a gentle man of
science who tries to bring much needed medicines to Sacremento. In the
process of following his dream, and the attentions of saloon girl
Lacey Miller, he incurs the wrath of local bad guy and town boss Britt
Dawson and his brother.

Eventually, DUKE has to choose between two
girls, clear his name of selling poisoned medicines, have it out with
the Dawsons, and save a gold mining camp from typhoid fever. All in a
day's work for The DUKE!

Unfortunately, this 1942 effort is not
exactly a classic DUKE movie. Rather, it plays more like some of the
non-descript "B" westerns DUKE made between 1930's "The
Big Trail", and 1939's "Stagecoach".

Most of the
cast is forgettable, save DUKE and Patsy Kelly. Kelly played comedic
roles similar to those played by Mary Wickes, and she stands out better
than the bland villains in the film. Her comedic love interest is
okay, though somewhat William Frawley-ish.

As for the DVD, the
transfer is fair at best. The print is pretty well-worn, and even
identifies itself as being a re-release print in the opening
credits!

Description

DAKOTA - John Wayne stars as John Devlin, a gambler who, with his new wife, Sandy (Vera Ralston), moves to North Dakota hoping to cash in on the land boom created by increasing railroad expansion. On their trip west, they meet two swindlers, Bender and Collins (Ward Bond and Mike Mazurki) who have been pillaging farms and driving the farmers out of the territory. The two crooks steal John and Sandy's savings, a dangerous riverboat chase ensues, and the criminals make a clean getaway. In a desperate attempt to get back his savings and see justice prevail, Devlin joins the wheat farmers in a heated range battle against Bender, Collins and their gang. The action is fast paced and thrilling, ending in an exciting conclusion that includes a daring fight-to-the-finish. Walter Brennan also stars in the fast-paced, action-packed western. IN OLD CALIFORNIA- Tom, played by John Wayne, is a handsome physician in the gold-rush days of California. He discovers that Sacramento politician Britt Dawson (Albert Dekker) has become wealthy from forced tributes levied on ranches. Irate and incensed, he leads the ranchers in a successful revolt against the unfair taxes. In retaliation, Dawson viciously taints a tonic prescribed by Tom, and a patient is killed. Dawson hides the evidence and incites the mob into a furious rage against Tom claiming he's an unfit physician. When gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill, the announcement distracts the crowd, saving Tom from being lynched. How will the local residents feel about Tom when he's the only doctor in town especially when a terrible epidemic breaks out? Will Dawson still be able to make good on his attempt to destroy Tom? The outcome will have you on the edge of your saddle as the action builds to an exciting conclusion.

Customer Reviews:

The Duke in a silk hat.-in Republic westerns!.......2007-09-06

Yep, Wayne starts out in both these Republic offerings in a silk tophat! But, he soon trades them in for more conventional western wear. The DVD is a good quality transfer, with maybe just a momentary sound skip or two in each. No extras in the "Dakota" DVD, but a reading commentary included in the "In Old California "DVD.
In the latter film, Wayne, an easterner pharmacist, arrives in a primitive Sacramento, just before the Gold Rush. He chose this script because his father was a pharmacist. Wayne immediately gets on the bad side of the "boss" of Sacramento, Britt Dawson, by carrying his longtime girlfriend across a muddy street, despite her initial protests. By the end of this event, we are pretty sure who she will eventually end up with. Wayne proceeds to become an ever bigger thorn in Dawson's side and they have occasional altercations. Meanwhile, Wayne and a prim young society lady become engaged for marriage. Lacey keeps dropping hints that she might dump Dawson for Wayne, but the Duke plays dumb, as he doesn't want to further antagonize Dawson. The story starts getting very fanciful when Wayne is saved from a hanging by a loudmouth who yells "gold". Disgusted with both Dawson and Wayne, Lacey leaves and ends up in a gold camp with a typhoid epidemic. Wayne incredibly convinces fleeing prospectors to turn around and take his medicines to the gold fields(How many wagons does it take to transport a few boxes of medicines?!). Dawson's gang ambushes the wagon train to trade medicines for gold in the miner camps.(The fact that there were no useful medicines or vaccines for typhoid until the 20th century seems to have escaped the attention of the script editor).
You can check out the film to see the details of how you know things are going to eventually turn out. The problematic developing relationship between Wayne's sidekick,Edgar Kennedy, and Lacey's maid,Patsy Kelly, while humorous at times, is merely distracting at other times. According to the production notes, "The Spoilers", which was made at nearly the same time, has a basically similar plot, involving a gold rush and Wayne caught between a heartless society lady and a dancehall girl with a heart of gold. This is a much better known film, made by another studio, with
Wayne getting only third billing!
In "Dakota", many reviewers complain about Vera Ralston's acting. I thought this failed ice skating queen did an OK job playing her role. She is supposed to be the elegant daughter of an immigrant father who struck it rich in railroads. This explains her foreign accent and the fact that she is not like the sexy dancehall girls of Fargo. She is determined to call the shots when it comes to deciding where they will live, both near the beginning and at the end of the film. When they run away from her disapproving father, Wayne tells her to buy tickets for CA, but she buys tickets for St. Paul. She knows her father's railroad is soon planning to build an extention to Fargo. She hopes to buy land from the farmers cheap and sell it to her father's railroad expensive. The trouble is Ward Bond and gang have the same idea. Bond assumes the railroad is coming to Fargo because he saw their surveyors. He also assumes that Wayne is a land buying agent for the railroad. Bond hammers out a contract with most of the farmers whereby he gets their land if they can't repay his loan to help harvest and market their crops. He plans to burn their crop, a variation of a similar scene in "The Westerner", where the cattlemen are trying to burn out the sod busters. But, Wayne threatens to pressure the railroad to build to Grand Fork rather than Fargo, unless Bond signs over this contract with the farmers to Wayne(and thus presumably the railroad) for a big discount compared to what Bond was planning to sell the contract to the railroad for. Wayne then plans to share the profit with the farmers. But Bond hopes to steal this contract back from a deceased Wayne and delete the bit about Wayne being the new owner of the contract. Bond then burns the wheat crop. See the movie to find out how things turn out.
Walter Brennan plays a goofy old riverboat captain who mostly talks to his boat or himself or shouts at his assistant, Nichodemis. Nick Stewart, as Nickodemis, plays his stock character: a sleepy very slow witted "darkie". He was Lightnin' in the "Amos and Andy" TV series.

John Wayne, as a pharmacist?.......2007-03-14

As I have said before, two movies for the price of one is always a good deal. These are two from Wayne's day at Republic Studios. While these do not rank with the Duke's best work they are action filled with good plots and some humor too. John Wayne plays a pharmacist in the selection "In Old California". This is a little different from the roles he normally played, but he wanted this because his father had been a pharmacist. Wayne saves the day as villians steal prospectors' gold and battles a disease outbreak as well. "Dakota" pairs him with Vera Ralston as his wife. Look for Walter Brennan and Ward Bond in this one also. It is the story of settlers fighting the bad guys over the passage of railraod tracks.

John Wayne Collection (Flying Tigers/Sands of Iwo Jima/The Fighting Kentuckian/In Old California/Rio Grande)

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John Wayne Collection (Flying Tigers/Sands of Iwo Jima/The Fighting Kentuckian/In Old California/Rio Grande)
Starring: John Wayne , John Agar , Adele Mara , Forrest Tucker , and Wally Cassell
Director: Allan Dwan , John Ford , and George Waggner
Manufacturer: Republic Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005U12R
Release Date: 2002-01-15

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ProductGroup: DVD
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