Under Texas Skies (1930)

★★ · Cody Under Cloudy Skies · Poohbah70 · 2019-11-14

Well, IMDb says its a 58 minute movie and we get 51 minutes here - those 7 minutes would help the continuity immensely - but not save this early talkie western from its poor script and amateurish acting - the saving grace being the love interest, lovely Natalie Kingston (Joan Prescott), who is not great, but at least not embarrassing and Bob Roper (Dummy the mute brute), who must have great fun acting this part. Otherwise, forget it from top to bottom. Nominal hero Bob Custer (Army Captain Jack Hartford) is on screen either tied up or being thrashed around by Roper. And, Lane Chandler (Singer…

★★ · Western Mis-fire? · bobsluckycat · 2011-07-06

Any Western starring Bob Custer, Bill Cody and directed by J.P. McGowan can't be all bad, right? I'm afraid this is mostly all bad. McGowan's direction has a lot of very long shots of cowboys and horses and tight close-ups on one outlaw and Lane Chandler in particular. He is known for a lot better work. Custer is the nominal hero, Cody has nothing to do, Chandler the joker in the deck. The disjointed story has something to do with twin Pinto horses which is never fully explained and horse rustling and a sprinkling of romanace. This is a pretty good print and sound and appears to be…