In Old California [Blu-ray]

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

John Wayne, as a pharmacist?
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.

The source material for this transfer was very bad.
I liked the movie. I replaced my old DVD with this Blu-ray disc thinking that they would have remastered it. But, the print that was used for this transfer was very obviously very well worn. This movie deserved better than this.

Click to Editorial Reviews