Customer Reviews

Branded a Coward [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

VCI Entertainment and Supreme Pictures present "Branded a Coward" (1935) (digitally remastered), long running Johnny Mack Brown series turned out in the early '30s...the storyline is not your normal or regular Johnny Mack Brown film, as half way through the picture our hero acts like a coward...witnessing his family being killed by "The Cat", a notorious outlaw gang...20 years pass and he still has bad memories of that event, as outlaws rob a local saloon and he hides behind the bar shaking...will our hero snap out of this during a stage holdup and save the girl from a runaway and the loot...does Syd Saylor give Johnny Mack the big build up and have him elected marshall...will he learn that "The Cat" is behind the lawless events in the territory...is there going to be a final showdown that will suprise everyone with a twist of an ending.

Under director Sam Newfield, producer A.W. Hackel, original story by Richard Martinsen, adaptation by Earl Snell...the cast include a very young Johnny Mack Brown (Johnny Hume/Billy Hume), Billie Seward (Ethel Carson), Syd Saylor (Oscar), Lloyd Ingraham (Joe Carson), Lee Shumway (Mr. Hume), Roger Williams (Tex), Frank McCarroll (Dick/a robber), Yakima Canutt ('The Cat'/original), Mickey Rentschler (Young Johnny), Rex Downing (Young Billy), Jack Cheatham (Bartender), Charles K. French (Mayor), Artie Ortego (Saloon robber), Arthur Thalasso (Calls Johnny a coward), Wally West (Barfly)........special footnote actor Johnny Mack Brown had a long film association with producer A.W. Hackel in a series of sixteen B-Westerns for the independent Poverty Row's Supreme Pictures, many directed by Sam Newfield...A. William Hackel also produced a series of Bob Steele B-Westerns........meanwhile back to another great Johnny Mack B-Western provided by Supreme Pictures during their heyday of the early '30s.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
BIOS:
1. Johnny Mack Brown
Birth Date: 9/01/1904 - Dothan, Alabama
Died: 11/14/1974 - Woodland Hills, California (cardiac condition)
2. Sam Newfield (Director)
Birth Date: 12/06/1899 - New York, New York
Died: 11/10/1964 - Los Angeles, California
3. A.W. Hackel (producer)
Birth Date: 12/18.1882 - Austria
Died: 10/22/1959 - Los Angeles, California

If you crave action, drama and plenty of adventure check out other western double features by Johnny Mack Brown:

JOHNNY MACK BROWN WESTERN DOUBLE FEATURES:
1. Raiders of San Joaquin/Law of the Range (VCI #7226)
2. Pony Post/Ragtime Cowboy Joe (VCI #7238)
3. Brand A Coward/Rogue of the Range (VCI #7244)
4. Guns in the Dark/Partner of the Trail (VCI $7260)
5. Bar Z Bad Men/Between Men (VCI #7282)

Ask Amazon.Com to carry the above five titles as they are not available on Amazon as of yet...you can order and pick up your copy now from VCI Entertainment...if you enjoyed "Branded a Coward" (1935), why not pick up other copies of Johnny Mack Brown Double Features.

Bobby J. Copeland's book on "Johnny Mack Brown: Up Close & Personal" is chuck full of answers to all the questions his fans had from early on...when you went to see him on the big screen, you got exactly what the marquee said...plenty of thrills, adventure and loaded with action...Johnny Mack was a natural for the western, his riding abilities and fight scenes were of the the same caliber as Buck Jones and Bob Steele...Johnny Mack sets the saddle better than Duke Wayne...seems Johnny got better with the more films he made and the scripts were always top notch...he was one of the best-liked people in films, what you saw on the screen is what he really was...a great human being...pickup your copy from Amazon or Empire Publishing both have this in stock.

Great job by VCI Entertainment for releasing the digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more of the same from the '30s & '40s vintage...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment, stay tuned once again with a top notch B-Western from VCI...just the way we like 'em!

Total Time: 52 min on VHS ~ VCI Entertainment #1525 ~ (1/29/1996)

Branded a Coward, 1935 film

The story begins with a wagon drawn by two horses (was it a covered stagecoach?). The family stops to make camp, the two boys quarrel. They are attacked by a gang of riders, and the family is shot except for youngest son! Twenty years pass. A man rides a bucking bronco, the shoots his pistol at glass bottles. But Johnny is a Show Cowboy, he doesn't ride the range and gets "buck fever" when there is any real shooting. Scotch and soda? [Sounds like product placement.] Three men hold up the saloon. The bartender and one of the robbers exchange shots. The remaining two leave quickly. Johnny has a flashback, then answers a critic. He is gun shy and decides to move on. Oscar rides along. They see a stagecoach being robbed, many shots are fired. Johnny and Oscar attack the robbers, then save the stagecoach from the robbers. Johnny Hume impressed the driver.

"Is that on the level?" Johnny Hume is thanked, but the notches on his pistol attract notice. The townsmen elect Johnny the town marshal of Lawless. A thrown knife delivers a warning message. Johnny takes the job. "Nobody knows the identity of the "Cat". We learn how the "Cat" gets his information. Drinking loosens Carson's tongue. "I'll show him." Johnny figures out the shot that hit Carson was aimed at him. The Express Office was robbed, the townsmen pursue the robbers. Johnny isn't fooled. Oscar followed a man into a trap. Johnny goes to meet the "Cat", and sneaks into that cabin. There is a fight. We learn the identity of the "Cat" for a shocking surprise! Justice is done. There seems to be a happy ending for Johnny.

This is an interesting story about freeing a town from an outlaw gang. [Relevant to the 1930s or even today?] It tells how a Hollywood Cowboy can be an actor. [Tim McCoy was a real cowboy who had other talents.] Johnny Mack Brown was a football star at the University of Alabama in the 1920s who became a Hollywood actor in the 1930s. I don't know what he did after Westerns died out in the early 1940s, but he could have been in some TV shows in the 1950s (like other actors).

Poverty Row presents "BRANDED A COWARD" (1 July 1935) (57 mins/B&W) (Fully Restored/Dolby Digitally Remastered) -- Johnny Mack Brown was an All-American college football player and film actor --- Born and raised in Dothan, Alabama, Brown was a star of the high school football team, earning a football scholarship to the University of Alabama --- Playing the halfback position on his university's Crimson Tide football team, Brown helped his team to become the 1926 NCAA Division I-A national football champions --- In that year's Rose Bowl Game, he earned Most Valuable Player honors after scoring two of his team's three touchdowns in an upset win over the heavily favored Washington Huskies.

His good looks and powerful physique saw him portrayed on Wheaties cereal boxes and in 1927, brought an offer for motion picture screen tests that resulted in a long and successful career in Hollywood --- He appeared in minor roles until 1930 when he was cast as the star in a western movie entitled "Billy the Kid" and directed by King Vidor, the film also features Wallace Beery as Pat Garrett.

Brown went on to make several top-flight movies under the name John Mack Brown, including The Secret Six (1931) with Wallace Beery, as well as the legendary Lost Generation celebration of alcohol, "The Last Flight" (1931), and was being groomed by MGM as a leading man until being replaced on a film in 1931, with all his scenes re shot with Clark Gable in his place --- Rechristened Johnny Mack Brown, "Fighting Kit Carson" (1933) he returned to making exclusively westerns and eventually became one of the screen's top B-movie cowboy stars, making 127 western films during his career, including "Ride 'Em Cowboy" (1942) with Abbott and Costello --- Brown also starred in four serials for Universal Studios (Rustlers of Red Dog (1935), Wild West Days (1937), Flaming Frontiers (1938) and The Oregon Trail (1939) and was a hero to millions of young children at movie theaters and on their television screens --- Altogether, Brown appeared in over 160 movies between 1927 and 1966, as well as a smattering of television shows, in a career spanning almost forty years --- In recognition of his contribution to the motion picture industry, Brown was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6101 Hollywood Blvd --- In 1969, Brown was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Under the production staff of:
Sam Newfield - Director
A.W. Hackel - Producer
Earle Snell - Screenwriter
William Nobles - Cinematographer
Richard Martinsen - Short Story Author

Our story line and plot, long running Johnny Mack Brown series turned out in the early '30s --- the storyline is not your normal or regular Johnny Mack Brown film, as half way through the picture our hero acts like a coward...witnessing his family being killed by "The Cat", a notorious outlaw gang...20 years pass and he still has bad memories of that event, as outlaws rob a local saloon and he hides behind the bar shaking --- will our hero snap out of this during a stage holdup and save the girl from a runaway and the loot --- does Syd Saylor give Johnny Mack the big build up and have him elected marshal --- will he learn that "The Cat" is behind the lawless events in the territory --- is there going to be a final showdown that will surprise everyone with a twist of an ending --- special footnote actor Johnny Mack Brown had a long film association with producer A.W. Hackel in a series of sixteen B-Westerns for the independent Poverty Row's Supreme Pictures, many directed by Sam Newfield --- A. William Hackel also produced a series of Bob Steele B-Westerns --- meanwhile back to another great Johnny Mack B-Western provided by Supreme Pictures during their heyday of the early '30s.

the cast includes:
Johnny Mack Brown ... Johnny Hume
Billie Seward ... Ethel Carson
Syd Saylor ... Oscar
Lloyd Ingraham ... Joe Carson
Lee Shumway ... Tom Hume
Roger Williams ... Henchman Tex
Frank McCarroll ... Dick, a robber
Yakima Canutt ... 'The Cat' (original)
Mickey Rentschler ... Young Johnny Hume
Rex Downing ... Young Billy Hume
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Edward Peil Sr. ... Bit Role
Barney Beasley ... Barfly (uncredited)
Jack Cheatham ... Bartender (uncredited)
Charles K. French ... Mayor (uncredited)
Joseph W. Girard ... Bit Role (uncredited)
Ray Henderson ... Barfly (uncredited)
Bob Kortman ... Bit Role (uncredited)
Carl Mathews ... Saloon robber (uncredited)
Artie Ortego ... Saloon robber (uncredited)
James Sheridan ... Bit Role (uncredited)
Arthur Thalasso ... Calls Johnny a coward (uncredited)
Wally West ... Barfly (uncredited)

SPECIAL FEATURES:
BIO:
1. Johnny Mack Brown
Date of Birth: 1 September 1904 - Dothan, Alabama
Date of Death: 14 November 1974 - Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

If you crave action, drama and plenty of adventure check out other western double features by Johnny Mack Brown:

JOHNNY MACK BROWN WESTERN DOUBLE FEATURES FROM VCI ENTERTAINMENT:
1. Raiders of San Joaquin/Law of the Range (VCI #7226)
2. Pony Post/Ragtime Cowboy Joe (VCI #7238)
3. Brand A Coward/Rogue of the Range (VCI #7244)
4. Guns in the Dark/Partner of the Trail (VCI #7260)
5. Bar Z Bad Men/Between Men (VCI #7282)
6. Bad Man from Red Butte/Rawhide Rangers (VCI #8348)
7. Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie & Lone Star Trail (VCI #7308)
8. Crooked Trail & Boot Hill Brigade (VCI #7309)
9. Arizona Cyclone & Man From Montana (VCI #7325)
10.A Lawman Is Born & The Gambling Terror (VCI #7327)
11.Chip Of The Flying U & Oklahoma Frontier (VCI #7329)
12.Silver Bullet & Law and Order (VCI #7331)
13.Raiders of the Border & Texas Kid (VCI #7333)
14.Under Cover Man & Stagecoach Buckaroo (VCI #7335)

JOHNNY MACK BROWN FOUR FEATURE:
CLASSIC WESTERNS: Crooked Trail; Boot Hill Brigade;
Bury Me Not On the Lone Prairie; Lone Star Trail (VCI #5520)

JOHNNY MACK BROWN - UNIVERSAL CLIFFHANGER/SERIALS:
1. FIGHTING WITH KIT CARSON (VCI #8419)
2. FLAMING FRONTIERS (VCI #8442)
3. OREGON TRAIL, THE (VCI #8439)
4. RUSTLERS OF RED DOG (VCI #8397)

Ask Amazon.Com to carry the above five titles as they are not available on Amazon as of yet...you can order and pick up your copy now from VCI Entertainment...if you enjoyed this collection, why not pick up other copies of Johnny Mack Brown Double Features.

Bobby J. Copeland's book published by Empire Publising on "Johnny Mack Brown: Up Close & Personal" is chuck full of answers to all the questions his fans had from early on --- when you went to see him on the big screen, you got exactly what the marquee said...plenty of thrills, adventure and loaded with action --- Johnny Mack was a natural for the western, his riding abilities and fight scenes were of the the same caliber as Buck Jones and Bob Steele --- Johnny Mack sets the saddle better than Duke Wayne --- seems Johnny got better with the more films he made and the scripts were always top notch --- he was one of the best-liked people in films, what you saw on the screen is what he really was, a great human being.

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guidelines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc) and Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") as they have rekindled my interest once again for B-Westerns and Serials --- If you're into the memories of B-Westerns with high drama, this is the one you've been anxiously waiting for --- please stand up and take a bow Western Classics --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 57 min on DVD ~ Poverty Row ~ (11/29/2007)