Tonight's Movie: Law and Order (1932) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

In 2024 I had the special experience of seeing the world premiere of the restoration of LAW AND ORDER (1932) at the TCM Classic Film Festival. I wrote some brief thoughts on that screening for my Classic Movie Hub Western RoundUp column a few weeks after the festival concluded.

I'm happy to say that LAW AND ORDER, later known on re-release as GUNS A'BLAZIN, is now available on a beautiful Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

The terrific print, crafted from two 35mm prints, is from the 4K restoration by Universal Pictures and the Film Foundation. You simply won't find a film from 1932 looking or sounding better.

This fascinating, gritty 75-minute film, an early spin on the legend of Wyatt Earp, is important as one of the first truly "adult" Westerns of the '30s.

Tom Reed's screenplay was based on a John Huston adaptation of the novel SAINT JOHNSON by W.R. Burnett. Huston is also credited with dialogue in the opening credits.

As with Burnett's book, the Earp name was changed in the movie to avoid potential litigation with Earp's widow Josephine, but anyone familiar with Earp's story will recognize the familiar threads woven throughout.

Huston's father Walter stars as Frame "Saint" Johnson, who as the movie opens already has a reputation as "the killingest peace officer that ever lived."

Frame and his brother Luther (Russell Hopton) and his good friends Ed Brandt (Harry Carey Sr.) and Deadwood (Raymond Hatton) are roaming the West after taming Dodge City. They decide to head for Tombstone, Arizona, where Saint ultimately takes the job of marshal.

Tombstone is a wild place, and Johnson eventually deputizes his brother and friends and bans citizens from carrying guns in town. This leads to a clash with the Northrup (aka Clanton) clan (Harry Woods, Ralph Ince, and Richard Alexander) and a deadly showdown.

This is a tough movie, directed by Edward L. Cahn, which feels authentic; my husband commented that the bar scenes seemed like what it really might have been like back in the old West. Indeed, some of the extras could have been around since the late 19th century! Earp himself had only passed away three years earlier, in 1929.

The cast is perfect, with the weathered-looking Huston and Carey especially excellent, as one might expect. Carey is a particular favorite and gives a really wonderful performance in the movie as a man who loves his shotgun.

Viewers will also find familiar Western movie faces such as Walter Brennan, Andy Devine, and Russell Simpson among the cast.

The black and white cinematography by Jackson Rose is absolutely stupendous. There's a great scene which starts in one room and the camera gradually backs up through a doorway as the characters walk forward toward the audience, into another room.

In another scene the camera swings across an incredible action scene on the streets of Tombstone, as horseback-riding, gun-shooting cowboys race past, then the camera gradually swivels up to a window. Leonard Maltin, who just wrote about this film, explained that shot was accomplished thanks to what was known at Universal Pictures as "The Broadway Crane," built in 1928.

While most of the film was shot on the backlot, there's a beautifully composed scene filmed at the striking Vasquez Rocks. I shared photos of the area here in a 2020 post.

Kino Lorber's disc extras include a commentary track featuring Max Allan Collins and Heath Holland; a 38-minute talk on the movie and its importance in the Western genre by historian Bertrand Tavernier; and a gallery of four trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber. I have watched the Tavernier featurette and found it interesting, and I look forward to the commentary.

Even better is the inclusion of an additional film on the disc, WITHOUT HONOR (1932), starring Carey Sr. It comes with its own commentary track by Western historian Toby Roan. I expect to review that film here at a future date.

Recommended.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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