Above: A poster for FLAMING FRONTIERS (Universal, 1938) shows hero Johnny Mack Brown in the upper left hand corner. In the smaller picture below him, William Royle and some henchmen lurk, and across the card heroine Eleanor Hansen is pictured. Indians rampage around the card, and Johnny Mack is fighting a henchman in the bottom right hand corner. An exciting poster for an exciting serial.

FLAMING FRONTIERS

Universal, 15 Chapters, 1938. Starring John Mack Brown, Eleanor Hansen, Charles Middleton, Ralph Bowman, James Blaine, Charles Stevens, William Royle, Chief Thundercloud, Jack Rutherford, and "Sudden".

The more I see of Universal's serials, the more I appreciate them--particularly their Western serials. I never thought I'd ever say anything like this, but Universal was even better at turning out straight Western serials than Republic. For some reason (except in the superb RED RYDER, the long-lost DAREDEVILS OF THE WEST, and DESPERADOES OF THE WEST) Republic always felt called on to give their Western serials an added gimmick--either a masked hero (Zorro, the Lone Ranger, the Phantom Rider, etc.) or a historical figure (Jesse James or the roster of real-life frontiersmen in THE PAINTED STALLION). This didn't hurt Republic's western serials at all; it just kept them from having quite the traditional Western feel. Universal seems to have been the master of classic Western serials, judging by such fine cliffhangers as RIDERS OF DEATH VALLEY, RUSTLERS OF RED DOG, OVERLAND MAIL, and the serial that I'm about to cover in this article: FLAMING FRONTIERS.

The first chapter of FLAMING FRONTIERS merely kicks off the complex, fascinating storyline that keeps developing and changing course throughout the serial. Andy Grant (Eddy Waller), clerk to businessman Bart Eaton (James Blaine) is being threatened with jail by his boss (for stealing money Eaton himself took) unless he forces his daughter Mary (Eleanor Hansen) to marry the scheming magnate. "Famous scout" Tex Houston (Johnny Mack Brown) then arrives in town with a letter from Grant's son Tom (Ralph Bowman) who has struck gold out in Gold Creek, California and is offering to pay Eaton back the "stolen" money. Eaton manages to find out the contents of the letter and steal it from Houston before Grant gets it, and then has Grant thrown in jail. More determined than ever to marry Mary now that her brother has hit it rich, Eaton fails to reckon with Houston, who helps Grant escape from jail. Mary and her father, wanting to join Tom, join a wagon train headed for Gold Creek, but Eaton unfortunately tags along, bringing his henchmen Crosby (William Royle) and Breed (Charles Stevens). Tex also goes along with the train, and manages to save them from several Indian attacks en route with the help of his friend Buffalo Bill Cody (Jack Rutherford). Andy Grant is killed along the way through Eaton's machinations, and Tex helps Mary reach Gold Creek, where Eaton strikes up a partnership with saloon owner Ace Dagget (Charles Middleton) in order to get Tom's gold mine. Dagget, however, has ambitions of his own, and Tex is soon forced to protect Tom, Mary, and their mine from the attacks of both villains' rival gangs as well as having his hands full trying to clear Tom of a phony murder charge.

Unlike Universal's RED BARRY, released the same year, FLAMING FRONTIERS manages to have a complicated plot and still maintain credibility and coherence at all times. The network of double-crossing and triple-crossing villains never gets tangled, and hero Johnny Mack Brown manages to remain the central figure despite all the complex plotting of Middleton and Blaine (contrast this with JACK ARMSTRONG, where the war between villains John Merton and Charles Middleton eclipses hero John Hart through most of the serial). The action is also fast-paced and exciting: the old cliched habit of calling Universals "talk-a-thons" seems ridiculous when watching this serial. The action isn't as choreographed as Republic's forties work, but neither is the action in Republic's thirties serials. A young Tom Steele also contributes a lot of good fights, as well as playing one of Blaine's henchmen. The serial never drags for a moment in all its fifteen chapters, and its well-written script and fleshed-out characters make it fun for all concerned. Even my sister, a lukewarm serial fan, really loved it.

Johnny Mack Brown, as in RUSTLERS OF RED DOG, is a perfect Western hero. With that wonderful Alabama drawl of his and his laid-back attitude, he conveys warmth and friendliness very well, but can also manage the necessary toughness and sternness required for a hero. He looks great in the saddle, too, and is completely convincing in the action scenes. I'm looking forward to seeing his two other Universal serials soon; Johnny has already joined John Wayne, Randolph Scott, and Allan Lane as one of my favorite cowboy heroes

Eleanor Hansen, who I haven't seen in any other serials but who sort of reminded me of a brunette Jean Rogers, is attractive and spunky as the heroine, actually helping Johnny on several occasions and not just hindering him. Pudgy James Blaine has to be out of his mind in this cliffhanger if he thinks he can get a girl like Miss Hansen to marry him. Ralph Bowman, who later changed his name to John Archer (wonder if that similarity in last names was intentional?) and achieved a respectable career in A-pictures like DESTINATION MOON, WHITE HEAT, and SANTA FE, makes his screen debut as Hansen's harried brother, who is the bone of contention for the cliffhanger's two teams of villains. While obviously a bit inexperienced, he comes off as being tougher (despite the various ordeals he goes through at the hands of villains) and stronger in character than many “juvenile” serial leads, and you can believe the references the villains make to his trickiness and resource.

James Blaine seems to make a habit of playing rather weak villains; his Bart Eaton is greedy and smooth, but frequently winds up in over his head. Blaine does an excellent job in the role, as he did in RIDERS OF DEATH VALLEY. For the first two thirds of the serial, he attempts to get the much-coveted gold mine by marrying the heroine and sends his henchmen out to do the dirty work; when that fizzles, he tries to go in for all out violence himself but is again frustrated in his plans. Blaine manages to be a strong enough villain at times, but whenever Charles Middleton comes on screen Blaine is blown away in less than a minute. Though Charles never leaves his saloon throughout the serial, he manages to upstage the rest of the cast (with the exception of Brown) whenever he comes in contact with them. Middleton doesn't come on the scene till Chapter Five, but he gets prime time once he does, getting to be ruthless, jovial, hypocritical, and sarcastic by turns. The saloon plotting scenes where he keeps verbally scoring off the flustered Blaine are priceless, as is the part near the end where he nearly gets Bowman to give him a half-interest in his mine by doing the fatherly, willing-to-help bit.

Charles Stevens shines as the sneaking henchman Breed, who first works for Blaine, then for Middleton, and finally winds up trying to play both ends against the middle. Sneakiness, cowardice, and sadistic glee are Breed's major personality traits; Stevens manages to make the character both pathetic and sinister. The panicked expression on Stevens' face when he finds out Blaine is going to double-cross him is amusing, while the crooked, evil smile he uses when taunting the captive Bowman is almost fiendish. It's especially entertaining when Breed briefly gets the upper hand on both teams of villains and becomes inordinately cocky with his success; he even manages to checkmate Blaine, but is up-ended (naturally) by the more astute Middleton.

William Royle turns in another good practical villain portrayal akin to his Salerno character in HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS. Though Blaine's henchman, Royle is never afraid to speak his mind to his boss and even gives him some orders on occasion. A young but already menacing Roy Barcroft is one of Royle's cohorts, and Edward Cassidy (usually a dignified sheriff) is hilarious as the moronic thug Joe, who never opens his mouth without making some stupid statement that causes Royle to shoot him a disgusted look. Charles King, once again named "Blackie" is Middleton's chief henchman, ably supported by Jack Richardson and Karl Hackett.

Eddy Waller, as the heroine's father, really takes a lot of punishment till he finally dies in Chapter Four. First thrown in jail, then shot, then rolled down a hill in a wagon and half-drowned, it's no wonder the poor old guy switched to playing sidekick to Allan Lane in his later years. Maybe the sidekick role is less dignified, but it's a whole lot less painful than being a serial father.

Chief Thundercloud, just finished playing Tonto to Republic's LONE RANGER, does similar duties as Johnny Mack's Indian pal Thunder Cloud in FLAMING FRONTIERS, providing solid backup and using his tracking skills to good advantage. Chief Many Treaties is Thundercloud's father, and Iron Eyes Cody seems to play about seventy different hostile Indians at different times; any time an attacking Indian does something noticeable like jump on a wagon or jump the hero, it seems to be Cody. John Ford regular Chief John Big Tree also plays a hostile chief in league with Stevens.

A lot of great Western character actors have small cameos in FLAMING FRONTIERS. Earl Hodgins is a loony drunk in Dagget's saloon; Jack Roper, Bud Osborne, and Slim Whittaker play gunmen hired by Eaton in Chapter Four who later reappear in Chapter Twelve; and Al Bridge plays Merkle, the minor villain whose murder Tom Grant is framed for. Hank Bell and his mammoth mustache flash across the screen briefly, Frank LaRue is the Gold Creek judge, and Richard Alexander is Dagget's bartender. Silent comic Horace Murphy, as the talkative, excitable Sheriff, particularly stands out in the supporting cast, getting some quite funny lines, particularly when Royle and some other thugs break Ralph Bowman out of jail, ostensibly to lynch him but really to force him to sign over his mine to them. Brown asks Murphy, "What do you think they did with him?" and the Sheriff retorts "Took him and hung him to a tree! What do lynchers usually do?"

Last but not least, former silent star Jack Rutherford gives the serial an additional sparkle with his continual appearances as Buffalo Bill, always popping up whenever there's trouble and riding off as soon as his job is done. He even jokes about it once, when he arrives after Johnny Mack Brown has saved the day: "Looks like you beat me to it this time, Tex." Sudden, the dog Johnny Mack adopts at the beginning, is also a handy helper to have around, displaying the intelligence and resource that serial fans expect from the hero's pet.

The Universal Westerns are possibly the most neglected, most abused, and least-known group of serials. It's time to give them the attention they deserve, and there'd be no better way to start than with a viewing of FLAMING FRONTIERS.