"Coroner Creek" director Ray Enright's Civil War-era western "South of St. Louis" ranks as both entertaining and distinctive for the three Texas cattle ranchers (Joel McCrea, Zachary Scott, and Douglas Kennedy) who share a bond of kinship as stout as brotherhood. This heroic threesome is symbolic because their communal ranch, called 'The Three Bell Ranch,' is burned down by the villainous likes of Victor Jory and his raiders. Jory's Luke Cottrell is equivalent to the murderous William Quantrill who committed atrocities galore. Kip Davis (Joel McCrea of "The Virginian"), Charlie Burns (Zachary Scott of "Mildred Pierce," and Lee Price (Douglas Kennedy of "Dark Passage") all wear one small bell attached to their spurs. The first glimpse we get of this trio in action occurs they corner obnoxious Yankee guerrilla fighter Luke Cottrell in a Brownsville, Texas, saloon. Kip refuses to slap leather with the evil Cottrell. Nevertheless, he sheds his gun belt and batters Cottrell into submission with his fists before he banishes the brigand from Texas. The American Civil War that spawned Cottrell shatters the solidarity of our three protagonists. Lee decides to enlist in the Confederacy and dons a gray uniform. Meanwhile, Kip and Charlie enter the gunrunning business. The color of their hats reflects the morality of their characters. For example, Lee wears a white hat, while Charlie sports black headgear. Kip comes up in the middle with a brown one. Indeed, Lee is virtue incarnate; Charlie is malevolent incarnate, while Kip stands somewhere between them. During all these early shenanigans, we see Kip and his future wife Deborah Miller (Dorothy Malone of "The Big Sleep") delay their marriage plans indefinitely because the three men aim to punish Cottrell for his act of arson. "Humoresque" scenarist Zachary Gold and "The Big Country" writer James R. Webb have drummed-up a historical oater that chronicles the way that the Civil War fractures the tight bond among the three. The other recurring character--introduced later--that takes a fancy to Kip is red-haired, dance-hall warbler Rouge de Lisle (Alexis Smith of "Gentleman Jim") who dresses seductively and knows how to belt out a song. Confederate sympathizers will like the way that the rebels triumph over Union. This rugged western shoot'em up is a mite more complicated because it thrusts Kip into a predicament. Charlie and he are running guns across the Texas/Mexico line dressed up in stolen Union outfits when Confederates attack them. Initially, Kip refuses to return fire, but Charlie convinces him otherwise. German lenser Karl Freund of "Metropolis" is responsible for the exemplary cinematography.

"South of St. Louis" takes place during the American Civil War in Texas near the Mexican border.Three ranchers Kip Davis (Joel McCrea), Charlie Burns (Zachary Scott) and Lee Price (Douglas Kennedy) partner in a ranch called "The Three Bells). Each man wears a small bell attached to their spurs to signify their partnership. While away, the ranch is attacked and burned by a gang of raiders led by Luke Cottrell (Victor Jory). The ranchers vow to track down Cottrell. Kip leaves his girl Deb Miller (Dorothy Malone) behind to pursue the outlaws.The boys become acquainted with saloon singer Rouge de Lisle (Alexis Smith) whom they discover is in the gun running business supplying arms to the Confederates from Mexico. Kip and Charlie decide to join her while Lee joins the Confederate army. Charlie along with his henchman Slim Hansen (Bob Steele) decide to keep at it while Kip wants to return to "Three Bells" and begin rebuilding however he learns that Deb will not be returning with him.Anyway, fast forward to the end of the war and we find that Lee is now a Texas Ranger and Kip is drowning his sorrows in Mexico with Rouge at his side. Charlie and Slim meanwhile have kept the gun running profitable. Lee is assigned to clean up the gang but is alone in the task. Will Kip come to Lee's rescue? Will there be a final showdown? Of course there will.Joel McCrea is well, Joel McCrea giving his usual even performance in the lead. He has a good fight scene with Jory along the way. You just know that the Zachary Scott character is going to turn bad at some point. Douglas Kennedy who usually played villains, gets to be on the right side of the law for a change. Alexis Smith is OK as the saloon singer/gun runner and Dorothy Malone is sweet as the girl he left behind.Bob Steele after his "B" western starring roles ended moved on to mostly playing villains. He is a scheming knife throwing double crosser in this one. And watch for his scene stealing death scene.Also in the cast for limited comedy relief is Alan Hale as Jake Evarts the saloon owner. Western fans will also spot veteran bad guy Harry Woods in a brief appearance as a recruiting sergeant.

Good old fashioned Western, the plot however is very similar to the Jimmy Cagney classic "The Roaring 20's" re-fashioned to a Western setting and with a sanitised ending, McCrea as the Cagney character survives and Scott as the Bogart character is killed after changing sides back to the law and Order camp. Worth watching as a good example of Hollywood in its pre message era when a Western was for entertainment. The production values were good with great Technicolour and a strong cast. McCrea was always good in his Westerns having played both comedy and drama in his earlier years and Zachary Scott was a very under-rated actor, good in any movie he was in.

Not as bad as one IMDb critic found it, nor as bad as the "Time Out" review suggests. The opening shot was a bit amateurish, with the usually excellent Victor Jory emerging from behind a flaming torch, laughing manically and chucking it through a window. His character's name, Cottrell, and behaviour brings to mind Quantrell and his raiders, but Jory is mainly on the Union side, something not appreciated by one Union officer when Jory and his henchmen swagger into a saloon. Alexis Smith as the saloon girl Rouge did a lot of grimacing, and, rather more effectively, Bob Steele did a lot of glowering,.The ending was a bit contrived, and everything works out as one might have predicted, though I'm not sure that McCrea got the best girl.