The Texan *** (1930, Gary Cooper, Fay Wray, Emma Dunn, Oscar Apfel, James A Marcus) – Classic Movie Review 10,265

Director John Cromwell’s primitive but interesting 1930 early talkie Western film The Texan stars Gary Cooper as a bandit called the Llano Kid who meets con man Thacker (Oscar Apfel), who persuades him to pretend that he is the long-lost son of a rich old Mexican noblewoman, Señora Doña Marguerita Ibarra (Emma Dunn), for a $1,000 reward.

But it turns out that the Llano Kid (Cooper) has killed the son in self-defence while the lad was cheating at a poker game, and that the Bible-quoting Texas town lawman, Sheriff John Brown (James A Marcus), is after him for murder, with a $500 dead or alive reward on his head.

Young Cooper is fresh and appealing, even if the plot, based on O Henry’s short story The Double-Dyed Deceiver, is not. And this is a handsomely produced movie that was a hit in its day.

Fay Wray is wasted as Consuelo, the young woman Cooper falls for. It is roles like this that meant she was a star but never became a Hollywood superstar.

Also in the cast are Donald Reed, Soledad Jiménez, Veda Buckland, César Vanoni Edwin J Brady [Ed Brady], Enrique Acosta and Romualdo Tirado.

The Texan is directed by John Cromwell, runs 79 minutes, is made and released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Daniel Nathan Rubin and Oliver H P Garrett, is shot in black and white by Victor Milner, is produced by Jesse L Lasky, Adolph Zukor and Hector Turnbull.

It is a follow-up to Cooper’s first talkie Western The Virginian (1929).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,265

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