This John Wayne film from Four Star Westerns has a decidedly Spanish flavor, even more so than the picture that came before, "Somewhere in Sonora", and that one actually took place south of the border. The story has to do with large scale Spanish Grant landholders who are required to register their land with the U.S. government, but in typical fashion, there are holdouts who must be persuaded to comply.John Wayne is Captain John Holmes, who's mission is to get the land owners to fall in line by persuading one of the biggest operators to register. However Don Jose Castanares (Lafe McKee) is reluctant to do so, and his friend Don Pablo Gonzalez (Francis Ford) urges him not to. Some friend, Don Pablo intends to move in on the property by registering it himself if it should fall into public domain by a certain date.This time out, the romantic interest for John Wayne's character is pretty senorita Dolores Castanares (Ruth Hall), daughter of Don Jose. There will be some complications, since the Don intends for his daughter to marry Don Luis (Donald Reed), son of Don Pablo, thereby further guaranteeing an interest in the Castaneras property for the Gonzalez family. For his part, Captain Holmes avails himself of a Mexican sidekick by teaming up with Felipe Guadalupe Constacio Delgado Santa Cruz de la Verranca (Luis Alberni). I included all those names for Felipe because despite all of them, Holmes wound up calling him 'Leo' a couple of times and I couldn't figure out where that came from.Well for an early oater like this there's a lot of goofy stuff going on, whether intentional or not. When Captain Holmes is locked up in a home made dungeon at one point, the bars on the cell are made of wood! A cantina gal named Anita (Nina Quartero), who claims to be engaged to Don Luis, somehow manages to pull a switcheroo during the wedding ceremony and marries Don Luis herself. And in a sword-fight against Don Luis's henchmen, John Wayne proves he's no Errol Flynn by waving his sword back and forth in a manner best designed not to hurt himself.Well look, virtually all of these early oaters were pretty sub-standard by most accounts, even John Wayne's. But the good news for Wayne was that he had only about forty of these types of flicks to go before hitting it big with "Stagecoach" in 1939. Right after completing this stint with Warners' Four Star Westerns unit, he signed up with Paul Malvern's Lone Star Productions where he plied his craft in sixteen more, mostly forgettable Westerns.

John Wayne made a series of six films for Vitagraph from 1932-1933. The Man From Monterey was the last of the bunch and no better or worse than the others. Wayne stars as a cavalry officer in old California and tries to help a Spanish landowner from land-grabbers. The chief villain is played by Francis Ford, brother of the great western film giant: John Ford, who would later play a role in establishing Wayne as a mythic western hero as well as a legitimate actor. The film moves quickly but contains amateurish acting from the supporting cast, missing Spanish accents, non-Spanish-looking actresses, and laughable swordplay. Wayne's sidekick does offer up a few laughs though, especially when in drag. *1/2 of 4 stars.

Throughout the 1930s, John Wayne made a steady stream of cheap B-westerns. While none of these were classics, they were enjoyable little films--much like those of Gene Autry or Roy Rogers, though Wayne's films rarely had any singing. However, early in his career, he was still learning his craft as an actor and a few of these films are rough and just not up to the standards of his films just a year or two later. I've seen several dozen of these films and I think "The Man From Monterey" might be the worst of the bunch. Here are some examples of how bad this film is: At the 11 minute mark, there's some really bad acting and terrible action. A jerk beats a poor guy over the head with a guitar. He actually hits the guy in slow-motion and Wayne's reaction is amateurish as well--it's obvious he still has a lot to learn as an actor and the entire scene looked fake.A few times, lines were flubbed but the director didn't care enough to re-film the scene.Few of the Hispanics in the film seemed of Spanish origin! They often lacked accents and couldn't speak the language in the least. In one scene, a supposedly Hispanic lady says that "hasta luego is 'see you later'". No, in Spanish, hasta luego means 'see you later' and hasta pronto is 'see you soon'. Another 'Spanish' lady gets angry and shouts "...enough of your impudence!!". Heck, most native Americans don't even use the word impudence!! Wayne is taken prisoner by a gang who threatens to kill him. When his fellow US Cavalry troops arrive, Wayne LIES--telling the men he is okay and not being held prisoner! Why would he do this?! The WORST sword fighting scene in history--many high school plays feature more realistic sword-play! Stock footage from a silent film is used in one scene. You can tell because the speed is way too fast--the result of using silent stock on sound machines.The only GOOD thing about the film is Philippe in drag. Seeing this ALMOST made this bland film worth seeing...almost.

The Man from Monterey has virtually nothing to offer the movie fan, not even the John Wayne completist. Its story is hackneyed, its actor's mostly amateurish and their character's boring. On the plus side, the exterior scenery is pleasant and Luis Alberni gives a comic performance that, while not especially funny, seems positively inspired compared with the rest of the cast. But undoubtedly the movie's greatest asset is that it lasts less than an hour.