The Gambling Terror

Two photography errors, toward the end, and one silly script flaw do little to lessen the pleasure of this Johnny Mack Brown oater.

Brown was an extremely likable hero, and a good actor, and further proof of that assertion is available in any of his pictures, including his earliest performances.

"The Gambling Terror" has a clever-enough plot with a different-enough setting but all the action a B Western connoisseur could want. Heck, Charlie King and Earl Dwire are both in it!

And they're not all: So are Dick Curtis and Bud Buster. And several other excellent cowboy bad guys and townsmen.

Iris Meredith is a strong performer, as is young Bobby Nelson, and they provide their characters enough personality to make the action they cause more than believable.

The script flaw comes in some business by the printer's devil drunk, very well played by Horace Murphy. Try to ignore it. (This and a few other negatives made me mark my rating down from a 9 to an 8 -- which is still pretty darn good.)

And some more silliness right at the end is pretty bad, but watch Brown's face. How can you not like him?

"The Gambling Terror" is available at YouTube, and I hope you get a better print than the one I saw. It's a good movie, that, yes, could have been better, but it has so much going for it you will be glad you clicked on it.