Page 7 - rainey_buzzbarton1983

Perhaps the sole purpose was an appeal to FRECKLED RASCAL
children only, since the balance of the cast as well Variety, July 24, 1929
as the story plays second.
For general purposes it is not good entertainment Lively westerner that gives Buzz Barton, freckle-
even as a western. Love interest is ruined. Heroic faced kid, plenty of opportunity to do his heroic
sheriff is a half-wit, according to some of the se- cowboy stuff. The kids in the grinds will like his
quences here while the girl, Nancy Drexel, who riding and his marksmanship with a stone slingshot.
photographs well and might be able to handle an Light love-story running through also makes this one
adequate assignment, is confined to the role which okay for any of the small neighborhood houses.
calls for more running than anything else. Buzz and his elderly traveling companion come
The funniest sequence is a fight between the pint- into a desert town threatened with a water famine
sized hero and the menace, heavily-armed, four because the man who owns the reservoir is holding
times the boy's weight and at least twice his size. out for more money for his wet stuff. Buzz finally
Here the boy trips the heavy four or five times and gets the profiteer in a spot where he is slowly dy-
gets away with the girl just . as help arrives. A ing from thirst and forces him to agree to supply
laughable situation which can't hold water with water to the parched town at a reasonable rate.
anyone but six year olds. Plenty of hard riding, shooting, and sling-shooting
Type story, without a spark of originality and a la David and Goliath.
uninteresting. Better stories have been lifted from A little judicious cutting would help this one
cheap magazines. stand out for speed and action in those stands
where they still like westerns.
THE YOUNG WHIRLWIND
Billboard, October, 27, 1928 PALS OF THE PRAIRIE
Variety, July 31, 1929
An ordinary Western production with a story built
around the riding feats of the youngster, Buzz Bar- In the class with the last three or four the old FBO
ton. The boy makes his horsemanship a remarkable company ground out for Buzz, PALS OF THE
performance for a youth his size, but in the closeups PRAIRIE is just a little slower and less interesting--
the kid is camera shy or else he tries too hard to be if that is possible.
an actor. An innovation in the plot construction is With one of those make-shift yarns that would
the introduction to the air mail, represented by the waste time were more than a half hour spent on the
pilot who daily flies across the mountains, but this typewriter, the thing stumbles along until even dime
sequence has also been spoiled by the kid's payees start whistling.
reiterated remark, "The mail comes first." The film . Buzz and his lanky friend in a most obviously
is a good bet for the neighborhood houses with a stereotyped way bowl over gangs of men after they
juvenile aud-ience, with the boy introducing some waste a reel trying to get into trouble.
novel marksmanship with a bean shooter. The decrepit sets on the lot long before the Radio
He is the center of a remarkable list of happen- folk know about Hollywood are pulled within camera
ings, with about half of them possible. Titles have range for Buzz to do his stuff. At one point it gets
been fun in that do not fit, for they give the so desperate the otherwise capable kid borrows a
youngster a decided adult vocabulary. The plot has girl's locks and is made to play floosey with guys
a love angle in the romance between the sheriff's whose hard looks are just thrown away in this one.
daughter and the mail pilot and a human interest But somehow or another the long forgotten in-
viewpoint in the love of the old man for the boy. The spiration that a Latin mayor's son is ordered kidnap-
latter goes to the extent of stealing a payroll after ped to prevent matrimony with a cobbler's lowly but
saving it from bandits to ransom the youth from the pretty daughter (Natalie Joyce) is brought into the
gang that has kidnapped him. final fall. By that time the average crowd doesn't
Altho a change from the usual type of Western, care whether the ceremony comes off or not, but
the film is not apt to bring Barton into the limelight they must give little Buzz some reason for "glory,"
as America's foremost juvenile star. so he trips the villain in the presence of the
rescuers.
THE VAGABOND CUB
Variety, February 20, 1929 CYCLONE KID
Variety, November 24, 1931
Too bad FBO didn't make a few more like this
before it became Radio and sold its trotters. Action When they had silent westerns the drummer in
in this every other minute. Houses that have used the orchestra was always there with the cocoanuts
this brand will find THE VAGABOND CUB a straight for flying hoofs. In sound the hoof beats are natural
flush. and in CYCLONE KID they get some workout. But
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