Law and Order (Universal and The Film Foundation, 1932 / 2025): Another View

 

Jeff Arnold has already written about Law and Order, a 1932 picture presenting a fictionalized take on the famous conflict between Wyatt Earp, Ike Clanton, and the two men’s siblings and friends. His post is in fact very positive; it is accessible using the following link: Law and Order, 1932 .

Having just screened the film, I agree with Jeff’s assessment. So why revisit this early talkie?

Why?

Because, e-pards, the film is now restored by Universal Pictures, the film’s original studio and current owner, in collaboration with The Film Foundation.

The restoration was recently released on a Kino Lorber blu-ray. And the results are stunning.

For those who appreciate vintage movies, the variability of the print on offer is a recreational hazard. Back in the day, over-the-air stations showed films available to them, regardless of condition; now, cable and streaming services do the same. I have viewed many pictures, some deemed classic, in which events unspool as if occurring behind smudged glass.

Even the well-known U.S. cable service TCM, for which older movies are a calling card, has occasionally shown a print so poor that I find another way to occupy my time.

All of which makes restorations such as the one performed on Law and Order so deeply satisfying.

This movie is approximately 93 years old. And now it is a movie with minimal visible damage: no horizontal lines across or vertical lines down the image, no skipped frames. Generally, the image is crisp, displaying deep darks and rich details in costuming and set design. While this writer is certainly no expert regarding the nits and grits of film restoration, this viewer finds the visual quality to be high.

By the way, while these screen shots are representative of the restoration, one truly needs to see it for full appreciation.

Not all is perfect. A few shots are slightly smeary: were they sourced from other, inferior elements to present the picture in its original entirety? But they are not so poor as to be jarring, just noticeable because they aren’t as sharp as those before and after.

The sound is likely where a contemporary viewer will note the film’s age. In 1932, sound in film was still a relatively recent innovation. The Jazz Singer was released only five years prior. The performers are reproduced with no issue: lead actor Walter Huston’s distinctive deep, flat tone; the chainsaw baritone of second lead Harry Carey; the high-pitched quaver of Andy Devine. But the picture excludes backing music from its soundtrack, aside from the opening and closing credits and a few sequences. During Devine’s final scene, set in a large crowd, some shots have crowd noise and others are eerily quiet. (A deliberate choice, one wonders?) Dialogue in a few scenes has more echo than the setting requires.

But these minor quibbles do not detract from the film’s overall impact.

Many pictures are visually and/or aurally sumptuous and yet the storytelling is less than stellar. As mentioned by Jeff, such is not the case with Law and Order. This is an uncompromising picture, stark and tough.

As a version of the Earp story, it’s a town Western, of course. And the town is Tombstone. (To avoid trouble with Wyatt Earp’s widow, the source novel changed character names for its Earp and Clanton protagonists. Location names, however, were apparently outside of litigation’s reach.)

Huston plays Frame ‘Saint’ Johnson, who rides into Tombstone and ultimately becomes the town’s marshal. Various characters speak reverently about his gunslinging prowess.

Carey’s character is gambler Ed Brandt, who seems to love his shotgun, top hat, and an itinerant actress in equal measure.

Johnson’s brother Luther (Russell Hopton), and friend Deadwood (Raymond Hatton) complete the not-Earp central quartet. As marshal and deputies, the four men take on the murderous, cattle-rustling Clanton surrogates, the Northrups.

Oldest brother Poe Northrup (Ralph Ince) glowers, blusters, and postures malevolently against Johnson and friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blustering and sneering

Brother Walt, played by Harry Woods (a foil for Groucho Marx as gangster Alky Briggs in the previous year’s Monkey Business) sports a dandyish hat and pencil mustache, both of which clearly mark him as a villain. He chews a toothpick some, sneers quite a bit, but does little else.

The third brother is the worst. As unpleasantly abrupt as suggested by his name, Kurt (Richard Alexander) is a brutish, violent oaf: the mustache scrawled onto a picture of Carey’s beloved actress is the least of his transgressions. The cold-blooded murder of an unarmed drunk is the worst.

Although Jeff Arnold’s West frowns upon spoilers as a rule, this film IS a reimagining of the Earp story. So one expects Frame and his deputies to have a showdown with the three Northrups and their cronies. And the picture does not disappoint.

Speaking of cronies, one of the cowboys with the Northrups is African-American. And a tough hombre, not a caricature. Refreshing, particularly for 1932.

In his post, Jeff made particular mention of the final confrontation: “snappily edited… and fast, but confused and dark… Perhaps because of the quality of the current print”.

The sequence is, of course, still dark in the current restoration. But the sharpness of image and (presumably) improved clarity in the setting’s dark tones eases confusion about who is shooting who. At least for this viewer.

After viewing a film, my best compliment is immediately wanting to see more by its participants. So it is with Harry Carey and Walter Huston.

The blu-ray provides such an opportunity with Carey, an actor associated with Westerns almost from the beginning of American film. As a bonus, the disc includes Without Honor, another feature from 1932 with top billing for Carey. While unrestored, and definitely a B-movie, this extra is certainly watchable. And an unexpected treat.

Huston is powerful. With hooded eyes, his Frame Johnson character is initially a laconic, yet undeniably tough presence, enhanced by the actor’s facility in delivering lines with a cigarette dangling precariously from his lip.

Multiple scenes of Huston with Devine are notable. Devine’s character is the target of a lynch mob and Huston takes custody of him: in a remarkably fluid shot for the early sound era, Huston briskly marches Devine almost the length of the town while both exchange dialogue. Easy to take for granted now, this sequence was an achievement in 1932.

Cinematographer Jackson Rose has other moments as well, including a street level-to-second story crane shot and a long take with Huston and Devine walking out of a courtroom, through a doorway, and into an adjoining office… all while facing the camera tracking smoothly backwards.

The scene in the office is seemingly the most divisive in the movie among critics and fellow bloggers. Devine is convicted of murder and sentenced to hang; he sits down with Huston and begins to weep. Huston offers him a cigar.

A cigar is no solace

When the stogie fails to alleviate the condemned man’s distress, Huston takes a different approach. And Devine takes curious comfort in knowing that HIS execution will be the first to occur legally in Tombstone.

Whatever one thinks of this plot device, it is handled convincingly by the two actors, one already an old pro and the other new to film.

Also convincing is Johnson shedding his stoic exterior after Brandt’s death: Huston rails against Northrups and Tombstone alike with the sturm and drang one would expect from the great actor.

Sturm and drang

Having thoroughly enjoyed his work as an initially reluctant, then vengeful lawman, I feel the need to wallow in Huston performances. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Furies are both in my near future.

Actually, only one negative comes to mind with this release: the blu-ray isn’t region-free. A Region-A player is required, meaning the restoration isn’t available to some JAW e-pards. Hopefully, another home entertainment company will pick it up for Regions B and C.

Putting aside the economic complexities of regional distribution, support for releases such as this one hopefully encourages film companies to undertake additional restorations.

Highly recommended.

Another reason for Jeff Arnold’s recommendation…