Brand of the Devil

This film essentially begins in 1880 with a cowboy named of "Jim Steele" (James Newill) walking into the Gold Ace saloon in the town of Willow Springs and inquiring about a job. To his consternation, the owner of the saloon "Jack Varno" (I. Stanford Jolley) says that he has no knowledge of any around. Minutes later an angry young woman by the name of "Molly Dawson" (Ellen Hall) bursts in and accuses a cowboy named "Duke" (Reed Howes) of rustling some of her horses. A fight subsequently breaks out with Jim Steele and another stranger in town named "Tex Wyatt" (Dave O'Brien) helping Molly out. One thing leads to another and soon all three ride out of town to safety but not before a calling card known as "the Brand of the Devil" is left on one of the tables. And it's this discovery that terrifies 4 of the cowboys--including both Jack Varno and Duke. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that prior to watching this film, I was unaware that it was just one film out of a total of 22 that were made under the series of "The Texas Rangers". That being said, fans of this particular series probably have more knowledge about the characters and many of the intricacies or nuances of these films than I do. What I can say, however, is that this was a rather short, low-budget movie (57 minutes) which suffered from poor lighting and film quality. Of course, considering the period in which it was made, I suppose that's probably to be expected to a certain degree. Be that as it may, on the whole, I found this to be a rather bland, grade-B film and I have rated it accordingly.