Empty Saddles

(1936, USA, 67m, b/w)
d Lesley Selander p Buck Jones, Irving Starr sc Frances Guihan ph Herbert Kirkpatrick, Allen Q. Thompson ed Bernard Loftus ad Ralph Berger m Felix Mills cast Buck Jones, Louise Brooks, Harvey Clark, Charles Middleton, Frank Campeau, Lloyd Ingraham, Earl Askam, Gertrude Astor

Amongst Brooks’ final screen appearances, this is a typical Buck Jones-produced oater and a sad affair: the fighting cattlemen and haunted dude-ranch have less sophistication than an episode of Scooby Doo. Brooks plays sweet as “Boots” Boone whom Jones doesn’t notice is in love with him until the last minute, and his dull stolidity stands for the film itself, wooden in acting, direction and script, with a particularly poor soundtrack and even Brooks failing to distinguish herself.

© Time Out Film Guide