Brand of the Devil

In the 1930s and 40s, there were several cowboy series that were very similar. They consisted of nice guy lawmen coming to yet another town to right rights and punish evil. A few of these series were pretty famous, such as The Three Mesqueteers and the Rough Riders. However, a few, such as The Texas Rangers (Dave O'Brien, James Newell and Guy Wilkerson--hardly household names) also existed--the products of studios even smaller than Republic. In all, they made 14 films in the series.

The film begins with a VERY familiar western cliché. There is a fight in a bar and members of The Texas Rangers are fighting on different sides. Why? So they can ingratiate themselves with the local gang leader and join his group of rustlers. However, rustling is not the only reason they want to investigate the gang--it seems that some of them have a secret. However, they all can identify each other with a playing card referred to as 'The Brand of the Devil'--and they soon learn that SOMEONE in the bar knows who they are, as this card is left for them.

Overall, I enjoyed this film a bit more than I expected. Considering it's full of no-name actors and is from a tiny production company, I expected worse! The acting and action weren't bad though the story was VERY formulaic. It also featured the dumbest on-screen excuse to sing a song I've ever seen (you just have to see it to believe it). It's not a great film by any standard but it decent fare for people who love these old series films.