With this 1933 Paramount feature, "To the Last Man" (its TV title "Law of Vengeance"), John Carradine made his Western debut, and though he's only on screen for exactly 16 seconds he certainly did enough of them over the years (particularly on television) to nearly surpass his more famous horror resume, which actually begins with his next role in James Whale's "The Invisible Man." A remake of a 1923 silent of the same name, it's a story familiar from eons ago, feuding Kentucky families carrying their generational grudge out West, to the community of Grass Valley, Nevada. The film opens with Mark Hayden (Egon Brecher) returning home from the newly ended Civil War, determined to avoid any further bloodshed by moving his family away from their bitter enemy Jed Colby (Noah Beery Sr.). His young son Lynn is present when Jed cold bloodedly shoots old Grandpa Spelvin, at his side cousin Pete Garon (John Carradine, who has no dialogue). Grandpa identifies the two killers to Lynn, while his father counts on the law to settle the matter by jailing Colby for a period of 15 years ("murder? Why it was feudin' pure and simple!"). Jack La Rue continues his streak of playing scheming evildoers as Colby's former cellmate Jim Daggs, whose job is to locate the Hayden clan so that Jed can continue the feud, even after a passage of 15 years. Daggs intends to marry Jed's wildcat daughter Ellen (Esther Ralston), only to find a rival in newcomer Lynn Hayden (Randolph Scott), who remembers seeing his grandfather shot by Ellen's father, but wants to assure her that their elders' fight should not be their own. Brother Bill Hayden is played by Buster Crabbe, with Gail Patrick as sister Ann, Barton MacLane as her husband, the one who kills Carradine's Pete Garon off screen, in answer to the Colbys' year long raid of cattle rustling (Shirley Temple makes a strong impression as their daughter). Such a strong cast, coupled with Henry Hathaway's straightforward direction, and a total absence of a music score make this a better than expected early talkie Western, a formulaic plot with several pre-code twists and turns that keep the viewer off guard. John Carradine was making only his 8th feature film, Shirley Temple her 4th, while other unbilled actors included Erville Alderson, Harry Cording, and young Delmar Watson.

It's 1866, the year after the civil war. The Haydens and the Colbys have been a-feuding and a-fussin' for nigh on a long time now. But Pappy Hayden, having fought as a soldier, has seen enough blood for a lifetime, so he packs up with two kids and leaves Kentucky behind, a-headin' for the West, where he manages to set up a cattle ranch.Meanwhile, Pappy Colby was convicted of murder with, I guess, mitigating circumstances since his helpless victim was a Hayden. He gets fifteen years in the slams. When he gets out, he learns that the Hayden family is now out West, so he and his daughter, Esther Ralston, and one of the Colby goons, Jack La Rue, a-ride out West looking for them. Jack La Rue, by the way, sounds exactly like John Ireland if John Ireland couldn't produce a believable line of dialog.This business of feuding is kind of interesting from the point of view of cultural evolution. It's a kind of transitional legal stage, somewhere between abject savagery and written rational/legal authority. There's a sense of personal honor mixed in with it. That's where the Hatfields and McCoy's come in.Appalachia was settled in the early 1700s mostly by immigrants from the borderlands of Scotland and England, where there was very little in the way of rational law. Families settled their own arguments. That's where you get the MacDonalds versus the Campbells. All these traits -- clan feuds, duels, the culture of honor, the thirst for independence from any authority -- were brought from their source region to Appalachia and later the Wild West, where they flourished. And you wind up with Shane out-drawing the bad guys.Nope. As Grandmaw Spelvin puts it, "No Hayden don't go squealin' to the police." Thank you for your attention. Now, where were we? We're out West and the bad family, the Colbys, are trying to prod the good guys, the Haydens, into a continuance of their Kentucky feud. They do this by rustling cattle, shooting at little girls, killing the family dog. Their plan is complicated by two things. One is that, while the Hayden boys are perfectly willing to fight, Old Pappy Hayden keeps insisting that when the time comes he'll take it to the law.Another complication, which comes as no surprise whatever, is that one of the Hayden boys, Randolph Scott, and one of the Colby hoydens, Esther Ralston, fall in love at first sight. We can see why Randy is attracted to her. She's kind of good looking, as brawny in her own way as Randy is in his. But she's rough trade as well. "I ain't used to be polited at." It doesn't give much away to say that the ending resolves the feud forever.The film didn't go through a benediction by the Criterion Collection. The print is spiky and primitive and the sound is muffled. There are problems with the continuity too. For a few minutes I didn't know whether we were in Kentucky or out West. And Ralston catches Randy shaving. He puts down his razor, wipes his chin, reaches for a shirt and when he turns around he's wearing it. And I don't know how Pappy Hayden, who brought only a little boy and a little girl with him, acquired such a large family in so few years. Still --

The transfer of this film is horrible. It has been released by Alpha Video under the title of Law of Vengeance. THe movie starts off slow and is something of an oddity in the beginning. Law of Vengeance is the only film that I have seen that shows the actors credit on the screen when they enter the picture. For example, Randoplh Scott's character makes his entrance at 20 minutes into the picture. It is then that the screen credit "Randolph Scott as Lynn Hayden" rolls across the screen. I thought this was interesting.About 30 minutes into this western the story starts to get good. Mostly due to Scott and the female character known as Ellen Colby. The dialogue is very good in places.This western is of importance for a film historian. Not only was it directed by Henry Hathaway, it also stars Buster Crabbe, Barton Mclane, Jake Larue and two uncredited performances by a very young Shirley Temple and a young John Carradine. This film was important in the career of Randoplh Scott and if you are a fan of his, you definitely want to own this movie. At a price less that 5 dollars, it is surely worth it.

The Haydens and Colbys are two mountain families who've had such a long term feud, everyone's forgotten what it started over. Never mind when Pop Colby (Noah Beery, Sr.) shoots Grandpa down in cold blood, Dad Hayden takes an unorthodox and cowardly approach in some eyes, he calls in the law. The Haydens move west and Colby when he gets out of the joint takes the family and moves to where the Haydens are to take up where they left off. Along the way he has an ally, Jack LaRue, who has an agenda all his own.Of course in Romeo&Juliet fashion, the Hayden son (Randolph Scott) and the Colby daughter(Esther Ralston} meet and flip for each other. If anything that throws gasoline on the feud fire.This is one of the weakest of Randolph Scott's earlier westerns. I'm not sure if I'm seeing the complete film as a budget video company put out a re-release that looks like it was choppily edited. There are a lot of plot gaps and things that don't make sense.This is also one of the earliest films of Shirley Temple who's big scene is when one of the Colbys shoots the head off of her doll. It wasn't for sadistic purposes but to get the Haydens to chase them. Still it's an earlier weepy for Shirley. She later did two more films withRandolph Scott, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Susannah of the Mounties and with her name above his at that point.Also at the very end, the fadeout is Esther and Randy in what looks like a photograph of later domestic bliss. And the soundtrack was blaring the Bing Crosby hit Please. Kind of out of place, but since Paramount had the rights to it, they figured they had to use it.