Movie Review: Brand of the Devil (1944)
Synopsis: Three Texas Rangers, Tex, Jim and Panhandle, are hunting a gang of outlaws known as the Devils Brand Gang because of a devil-related calling card they leave behind at their crimes. They are able to track down the gang and their leader, Jack Varno, thanks to a letter from Molly Dawson, whose uncle was killed by Varno's men and is now struggling to keep her ranch because of their rustling.
Needing evidence, Panhandle manages to infiltrate the gang. However, Varno isn't fooled long and their lives, along with Molly's life, are soon in danger.
Who's in it? The movie stars Dave O'Brien, James Newill, Guy Wilkerson, Ellen Hall and I. Stanford Jolley.
Review: I was undecided about what movie to watch this morning, so I just went through my library and picked the first movie that caught my eye. That ended up being Brand of the Devil. Overall, I would put this in the same category most classic westerns end up in - entertaining but nothing that is necessarily memorable.
I think the thing that caught my attention most was this was mostly the same main cast as other westerns from this time period but with O'Brien serving in the role Tex Ritter usually held (including the name Tex) with O'Brien one of the co-stars. I haven't had a chance to dig into that but do think it would be interesting to learn a bit of the history behind that.
As far as the plot is concerned, it was OK. Movies like this rarely have a story that is overly complicated but that's not necessarily a bad thing because it does allow for more action. And as far as that action was concerned, there was quite a bit of it - multiple fistfights, a couple gunfights, a horse chase and even an explosion.
I also thought Molly (Hall) was an intriguing wild card character. She was independent to the point it was putting her life in danger and since she didn't know the Texas Rangers had responded to her plea for help, was willing to take the law into her own hands.
Varno (Jolley) was also a solid bad guy, both because of his ruthlessness and because he was reasonably intelligent. It didn't take him long to figure out who Tex and Jim (Newill) were and only a short while longer to figure out Panhandle (Wilkerson) was working with them. From that point, he seemed to be a step ahead of the heroes.
Ironically, Varno's intelligence does also hurt the movie a bit, at least in my opinion. To put it frankly, Varno should have won. There is a point in the movie where his gang had Panhandle literally treed while Tex and Jim blindly walked into an ambush. Yet, instead of killing them on the spot, he inexplicably ties them up, leaves them alone with their most incompetent gang member and effectively makes it easy for them to escape (thank God there was guitar hanging on the wall so they could distract him). I'm not saying I wanted the bad guy to win. It was just so out of character for him, it was almost as though he decided he wanted to lose.
Final Opinion: I would have definitely changed some parts of the movie to make so the heroes survived because of their skill and not just dumb luck. However, while not anything I'd describe as special, it was still entertaining.
My Grade: B-
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Here are some reviews of other Dave O'Brien movies:
Movie Review: Water Rustlers (1939)
Movie Review: East Side Kids (1940)
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