Customer Reviews

The John Wayne Collection, Vol. 2

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As another reviewer mentioned, the movie is a bit slow to start and leaves some plot points unexplained (yes, why *is* John Breen trying to get out of going with his regiment?) but is overall very enjoyable. Wayne is courtly and charming (nobody says "ma'am" like he does), and Oliver Hardy (showing off his native Georgian accent) is so adorable, I wanted to put him in my pocket. Truly an inspired piece of casting; thank goodness Wayne kept after Hardy when he initially refused to work without Stan Laurel. Vera Ralston as the French general's daughter was not the best choice, and I kept getting the two mustached villians mixed up, but I happily stayed with the movie until the "big calvary rescue" ending, and would watch it again. This DVD also includes some good behind the scenes photos, and plenty of interesting production notes.

"The Fighting Kentuckian" is the second movie that The DUKE produced for Republic Pictures. Unfortunately, while the first project, "Angel and the Badman" was a great success, this movie bordered on disaster.

In order to be given producing credit, DUKE had to hire the studio boss's girlfriend (Vera Ralston), to star opposite him. He knew she'd be no good for the picture, but DUKE's hands were tied.

One problem with Vera Ralston was that she had a Czech accent. The role she was playing was supposed to be a French woman! In the end, all the French characters had to be cast with Czechs and other Eastern Europeans so Ralston's accent would not stand out. While not embarrassing herself too badly here, Ralston was not a real actress, and it shows.

Oliver Hardy is great as DUKE's sidekick, although he was reluctant to do a project without his partner, Stan Laurel. Hardy had worked in a play with DUKE and John Ford just before filming began on "The Fighting Kentuckian", and DUKE really wanted Hardy in his next project. Hardy only agreed after Laurel, ill at the time, talked him into it.

There's quite a bit that's out of place here. Mixing the Louisiana river traders with French Army ex-patriots is a weird bit of psudo-history, made even more weird by the unlikely addition of the Kentucky Regiment that Wayne and Hardy are part of.

DUKE is still DUKE, and Hardy is fun, but otherwise this overblown costume drama is not very memorable.

The print Artisan used for the DVD transfer is pretty poor, too. For DUKE or Hardy completists, only.

The Fighting Kentuckian is a frontier classic that's a perfect John Wayne vehicle. Its the type of picture that I would stay up till one am to see when I was a boy in the early 60's. The old style marching, singing, and fighting is a fine escape for its duration. Not realistic and all old time Hollywood I would recomend it to anyone just for the fun of it.

Produced by John Wayne, written and directed by George Waggner, THE FIGHTING KENTUCKIAN was a real surprise for me. In fact, the film has a poor reputation among movie buffs. But I personally didn't mind the Czech accent of Vera Ralston who was supposed to play the French born daughter of a Napoleon army's general. I even enjoyed very much the scenes she had with John Wayne and the sensualness she put into Fleurette De Marchand character.

I also honestly admit that the comic situations of THE FIGHTING KENTUCKIAN, all generated by Oliver Hardy, are not always top notch, specially when the gags seem to have suddenly popped up from a silent movie. But I don't disavow the pleasure I had to admire the seduction scenes played by Vera Ralston that alone justify a rental of the film.

A DVD zone John Wayne's reserved shelf.

For the first and only time, John Wayne appeared in a film with Oliver Hardy of Laurel and Hardy fame, in the 1949 Republic production "The Fighting Kentuckian." Laurel and Hardy had actually made their final American film, "The Bullfighters," and were "at liberty." By this time the comic team was frequently touring Europe and making live stage appearances, where they presented some new comic routines that were, unfortunately, never filmed. They would eventually make one more film, in France: "Utopia," also known as "Atoll K."

John Wayne had a long-term contract with Republic pictures and, despite Wayne's increasing creative freedom, studio boss Herbert Yates insisted that Wayne use Vera Hruba Ralston in this historical comedy/drama. Ralston had been a Czech ice skater who had fled her homeland when the Nazis came to power; she was beautiful and charming, as the film shows, and Yates fell in love with her, eventually marrying her. Yates also insisted in putting Ralston in several of John Wayne's films at Republic. Unfortunately, Ralston had a heavy accent. This wasn't such a problem in this film because she was playing a member of the French aristocracy who was living with her countrymen in the southern United States in the early nineteenth century. They had fled France following the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.

The film has many of the classic elements of John Wayne's action films and is generally delightful. There are some memorable battle sequences and Wayne's heroic efforts to help the relocated French in dealing with treacherous enemies. But the real bonus of this film is watching the great Oliver Hardy, who works so well as John Wayne's sidekick.

Loyal fans of both John Wayne and Oliver Hardy have often enjoyed this film and those who haven't seen it will want to see the rare teaming of Wayne and Hardy in a very enjoyable film.

John Wayne is well known for his westerns. The setting of this 1949 flick is Alabama, involving men who came from Kentucky. So this is technically an "eastern". The scenes are apt for the early 1800's: Soldiers are still using flintlocks, Alabama is about to be admitted to the Union as a state, and there is a large group of French citizens exiled after Napoleon's ignominious defeats.

John Breen (John Wayne) falls in love with a French woman. Trouble is, she is already earmarked for an arranged marriage to another man. A love triangle develops. Breen is determined to marry her. But he adds to the problems by pretending that he is a surveyor. He also finds out that there is a scheme afoot to defraud the French of some of their property by moving the posts that define the boundaries of the property.

This flick is more than a love story. It pushes the American way over the then-European way. The American way is progressive and the European way is traditional. In the American way, women marry whomever they love and whomever they choose to marry. In the then-European way, women married according to arranged marriages. These were usually based on social class, the wealth of the suitor, and the professional connections of the suitor with the father of the bride. The bride's wishes counted for little.

This is not one of the Duke's best films but it is entertaining, which, I presume should be a measuring stick for anything titled "entertainment". This isn't a western but should be listed as a pre-western (does this make it an "eastern"?), along with the likes of "Drums Along the Mohawk" or "Unconquered". The casting of Oliver Hardy in one sense is a stretch but it's also brilliant. Vera Ralston is badly miscast. It's this casting of Ralston that led to some compromising of other roles. Her accent is NOT French so the other roles were cast with this in mind. It should be stated that the casting of Vera Ralston was forced upon Wayne by the studio. For the price this isn't a bad deal; I found the quality of the disc to be good. So, enjoy the Duke in a not-so-typical role.

"The John Wayne Collection, Vol. 2" offers three Republic features over a nine-year span, during Duke's rise to major stardom, in the 1940s. While none could be called 'classic', each film is exciting, funny, and eminently watchable...and at a very reasonable price, to boot!

"Dark Command" (1940): After the spectacular success of Wayne in "Stagecoach", Republic realized they actually had an 'A'-list star...still making 'B' movies! While Duke was on loan to RKO for "Allegheny Uprising", the studio worked on creating their first 'major' western, borrowing MGM's Walter Pidgeon, top Warner director Raoul Walsh (who'd helmed Wayne's failed initial 'starring' role, "The Big Trail", ten years earlier), Claire Trevor (in what would be her third teaming with Wayne in two years), rising star Roy Rogers (who'd inherited the "Singing Cowboy" roles a dubbed Wayne had played in the thirties), and ever-popular Gabby Hayes (a frequent Wayne co-star for nearly a decade).

The result of all the assembled talent was a well-crafted, if still modestly-budgeted film, showcasing Duke's charisma and 'star' quality. As an illiterate but straight-talking Texan in Lawrence, Kansas, Duke wins the hearts of the townspeople and banker's daughter Trevor, over schoolteacher William Cantrell (Pidgeon, playing a variation of infamous Southern guerrilla fighter William Quantrell). With the beginning of the Civil War, Cantrell, showing signs of insanity, recruits an 'army' of mercenaries, dons a stolen Rebel uniform, and burns and pillages, with Duke in pursuit, climaxing in a last-ditch defense of Lawrence.

While very 'fast and loose', historically, "Dark Command" is great fun, and the Wayne/Trevor chemistry was never better!

"In Old California" (1942): Very much in the 'B'-picture mold, but a very entertaining Western of young Boston druggist Wayne relocating to Sacramento (echoing his real-life father's journey from Iowa to California, as a pharmacist), where his modern ideas and integrity (and the attention from saloon girl Binnie Barnes) puts him at odds with 'town boss' Albert Dekker. While fundamentally a pacifist (Wayne diffuses potential confrontations with an ability to bend coins in his fingers!), Dekker, seeing him as a threat, decides to eliminate him by switching medicine with poison, discrediting him...but Wayne would soon have an opportunity to redeem himself...

The film benefits from the comic talents of two of Hollywood's best comedians, Edgar Kennedy and Patsy Kelly, the byplay between Wayne and Barnes, and his confrontations with Dekker (one of the 1940s' best 'villains').

One of Wayne's more 'offbeat' oaters, but still a fan favorite!

"The Fighting Kentuckian" (1949): Wayne's second effort as star/producer (after "Angel and the Badman", in 1947), this is a VERY enjoyable tale, set in 1818 Alabama, of coonskin-capped Wayne, part of the Kentucky militia, falling for French immigrant Vera Ralston (in her second film with Duke), and discovering a plot to swindle the French community (composed of ex-officers of Napoleon, and their families) out of their land, by aristocrat John Howard and ruthless river boss Grant Withers.

What truly makes this film 'special' is Wayne's sidekick, portrayed by the legendary Oliver Hardy, of 'Laurel and Hardy' fame. Hardy, while a friend of Wayne, had only worked 'solo' once in a film in over twenty years (1939's "Zenobia"), and it took a LOT of coaxing (and Stan Laurel's 'blessing'), to get him to accept the role...and what a pleasure he is, to watch! Wayne and Hardy have a rich chemistry, and the rotund comedian, with his infectious smile and Georgia drawl, makes even minor scenes (like swapping recipes with Ralston's mother) a joy.

With a first-rate supporting cast including Philip Dorn, Hugo Haas, Wayne 'regulars' Paul Fix, Jack Pennick, and Hank Worden, and Marie Windsor (who looks eerily like John Howard, in my opinion!), "The Fighting Kentuckian" is, despite the 'pans' you'll see in some of the reviews, one of my favorite John Wayne films...He was never more charming than you'll find him, here!

Three pretty good additions for your 'Duke' library, to be sure!

Vera Ralston is Fleurette De Marchand, a member of a group of French exiles (They supported Napoleon, poor saps) living in Alabama. The Duke plays JohnBreen, a Kentucky rifleman who falls in love with her. John Howard plays the evil Blake Randolph, a man of power and standing who contrives a dastardly plot to steal both Ralston and her family's land. Oliver Hardy plays it all for laughs. He makes a great comic sidekick and I wish he'd played that role a little more often. The surveying scene is priceless.

This one is a cut above the usual Western oater with easy humor, romance and some enjoyable characterizations and dialogue

Returning to Republic, for which he had made many B Westerns in his 20's, John Wayne produced this "Eastern Western" in his middle career, after his great success in Stagecoach. The date is 1819, the place Mobile, Alabama, and he plays John Breen, a member of the Second Kentucky militia, which has spent the last five years fighting the Seminoles and Creeks and is now on its way home--on foot, because local riverboat magnate Blake Randolph (John Howard) won't let it ride his craft. Sighting Fleurette deMarchand (Vera Ralston), whom he doesn't know is Randolph's fiancee, he falls in love, and she returns the sentiment. 10 days later the Second arrives at Demopolis, a settlement created by exiled officers of Napoleon's forces and headed up by Fleurette's father. There Breen arranges to stay on, and soon discovers that all is not as peaceful as it seems. George Hayden (Grant Withers), who controls the rivermen, is conspiring with Randolph to eject the French from the land they have improved, but Randolph, influenced by a genuine fondness for Fleurette, is having second thoughts. One-armed Col. Georges Giraud (Philip Dorn), one of deMarchand's most trusted followers, has suspicions that something isn't right. And Hayden's mistress Ann Logan (Marie Windsor) is out to get revenge for her former fiance, who she believes was murdered by Hayden. To achieve this end she fools everyone into thinking that Breen and his sidekick, rotund bugler and packmaster Willie Paine (Oliver Hardy), are surveyors come to check out the French grant lines. Now Breen and Willie must convince deMarchand that his people's titles are in danger--to say nothing of their lives.

Besides suspense, action, a generous sprinkling of humor, and an intriguing historical background (it isn't *exactly* accurate--look up "Demopolis, Alabama" on Wikipedia--but let's assume that this is a slightly alternative Universe), if you read the Production Notes included on the disc, you'll come away with an increased respect for Wayne as an actor. Ralston (with whom he had worked four years earlier in Dakota) was wished on him by her boyfriend, the head of Republic, who was determined to make a star of her, but she couldn't act and sometimes required as many as 15 takes to get a scene right. Wayne not only conquers his natural dislike of such unprofessional behavior and makes a convincing lover of himself, he makes Ralston look good while he's at it. This has been one of my favorites of the Duke's mid-career work ever since I discovered it on cable many years ago. It's definitely worth a look.