Cinevent Notes Past: NO MANS LAW (1927) w/ Oliver Hardy

[Richard M Roberts]

Say, remember those episodes of STAR TREK where they went to an “alternate universe” and found exact copies of the leads except they were evil and got to wear beards and scars and the females got to dress slutty and be mean to folk? Well, NO MAN’S LAW pretty much drops you right into one of those copycat evil places when you come upon Oliver “Babe” Hardy ------as a villain!

And we’re not talking about one of those bewhiskered comic Eric Campbell-types that Babe used to play for Billy West or Larry Semon that’d get lots of goo dumped on him and generally abused. In NO MAN’S LAW, Hardy plays a genuine, nothing-but-rotten murderous nogoodnick, derby tattered, but still in place, eye-patch and scar added. This Ollie left Stan buried in a 55 gallon drum in a landfill years ago and embarked on a life of genuine badness and is not a safe guy to be around, character name Sharkey Nye, in this fourth and final installment of Hal Roach’s series of western features starring Rex, King of the Wild Horses.

The Comedy Producer had been trying to break into feature production all through the 1920’s, making comic multi-reelers with Harold Lloyd and Glenn Tryon, but also dramatic westerns like this Rex series and the two “Big Horn Ranch” features, THE VALLEY OF HELL and THE DESERT’S TOLL for MGM release in 1926. Roach had purchased a number of acres in the Moapa Valley in Nevada just to shoot western locations, even making an occasional comedy like Laurel and Hardy’s FLYING ELEPHANTS with the boys cavorting prehistorically among the rocks and sagebrush.

The Rex series had starred a horse named Casey Jones, who was re-christened the more dramatic Rex moniker after the first Roach film, KING OF THE WILD HORSES was a big success in 1924. Fred Jackman supervised and directed the Rex films, with his brother Floyd Jackman and future director George Stevens photographing them. Although Charley Chase has a dramatic supporting role in the first Rex film, none of the other Roach comics had made appearances in either of the following two Rex pictures, BLACK CYCLONE (1925) or THE DEVIL HORSE (1926). Yet in NO MAN’S LAW, not only does Babe Hardy get a chance to spread his acting wings, James Finlayson has a go as well.

The plot has Hardy and fellow-but-somewhat-nicer-and better-looking no-gooder Theodore Von Eltz coming upon prospector Fin and his fetching daughter Barbara Kent working a mine in the Nevada Nowhere. Hardy and Von Eltz plan to jump the claim, but Theodore has enough good in him to be concerned with Hardy’s lustful lecheries aimed in Kent’s direction (understandable to this audience, especially after a rather daring censor-baiting nude swimming sequence the lovely Barbara treats us to early in the picture) and struggles with his conscience to try to save Barbara and her Dad. Not that Ted should worry that hard, because Barbara’s honor is protected just fine thanks by that Wild Stallion who seems to hang around the place (remember, it is a Rex starring vehicle after all).

NO MAN’S LAW is a surprisingly gritty silent western that’s also a nicely filmed four hander with the small human cast. Hardy’s Sharkey Nye has absolutely no redeeming quality that we can find, and Hardy the actor makes the menace completely convincing. He’s terrific in the part, one of our few opportunities to see that, had he not also been one of our greatest comedians, he could have earned his keep just as well as an equally adept character actor. James Finlayson had a few more opportunities in character parts (he’s good in the Howard Hawks 1930 version of THE DAWN PATROL among others), but he also does just fine as the old miner. In fact, both he and Hardy have the chops to fearlessly bring some appropriate black humor to the mix to leaven the tension when need be. It all works quite well, and makes the style of this silent western surprisingly modern.

NO MAN’S LAW was the last Rex film Hal Roach produced. Though each film had been successful, when Roach moved his distribution from Pathe’ to MGM, his new distributor showed no interest in the features. Roach sold Rex’s contract to Universal, who ground out more Rex pictures until talkies came in. The Equine thespian then found a new berth at Mascot, starring in numerous Nat Levine serials, sometimes in tandem with Rin Tin Tin Jr., finally being literally put out to pasture in the late 1930’s. By several accounts,Rex was a temperamental and dangerous star to work with, having killed one of his early trainers and injuring others over the years. Yakima Canutt offered some less than tender memories of working Rex on Roach’s THE DEVIL HORSE during his interview with Kevin Brownlow for the HOLLYWOOD series.

As of this writing, Barbara Kent is apparently and amazingly still with us. A former WAMPAS Baby Star, she had a fair to middlin’ career in the late silent/early talkie era, playing leading lady to Harold Lloyd in his first two talkies, WELCOME DANGER (1929) and FEET FIRST (1930), and appearing in some solid Universal Pictures like LONESOME (1928) and THE SHAKEDOWN (1929). She gave up movies for marriage in 1933 and now lives in Sun Valley, Idaho at the ripe old age of 102, refusing to talk about her movie career. Perhaps too many have mentioned that nude swimming scene in NO MAN’S LAW.

(of course, as of this current writing, Barbara Kent is no longer with us, having passed away at 103 in 2011, proving again the theory that sometimes in the Movie Business, its smart to get out while the going is good).


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Gary Johnson]

This has always been one of my favorite silents - just for the off-beat casting alone.

It's a shame Laurel was never given his chance to shine in a Roach drama at this time, as all of the other top comics did. In fact, why not all four of the studios top comedians together in one Roach super production. I'm thinking of a reprise of their cameos in CALL OF THE CUCKOOS only this would be a dark Chaney-type melodrama where all four would be members of a murderous gang. Hardy would play the lethal muscle, Fin the unhinged psychotic wheelman, Chase the duplicitous gang member who attempts to rat out everyone and Laurel would play the mastermind brains of the operation.

It goes without saying that this film would contain a lot of black humor.
Do you think they could borrow Tod Browning to helm this masterpiece?

[Jim Roots]

This has always been one of my favorite silents - just for the off-beat casting alone.

It's a shame Laurel was never given his chance to shine in a Roach drama at this time, as all of the other top comics did. In fact, why not all four of the studios top comedians together in one Roach super production. I'm thinking of a reprise of their cameos in CALL OF THE CUCKOOS only this would be a dark Chaney-type melodrama where all four would be members of a murderous gang. Hardy would play the lethal muscle, Fin the unhinged psychotic wheelman, Chase the duplicitous gang member who attempts to rat out everyone and Laurel would play the mastermind brains of the operation.

It goes without saying that this film would contain a lot of black humor.
Do you think they could borrow Tod Browning to helm this masterpiece?

With the Dippy Doo-Dads as the super-efficient police force.

Jim