Border Devils

Border Devils is a 1932 pre-Code American Western black and white sound film directed by William Nigh and starring Harry Carey, Kathleen Collins, and Gabby Hayes.^[1] The film is Collins's last role and her only sound film.^{[citation needed]}

Border Devils
Directed by	William Nigh
Written by	Harry L. Fraser
Produced by	Louis Weiss George M. Merrick Alfred T. Mannon[1]
Starring	Harry Carey Kathleen Collins Gabby Hayes
Cinematography	William H. Dietz
Edited by	Holbrook Todd
Production companies	Supreme Features, Inc.[1]
Distributed by	State Rights
Release date	April 4, 1932 (1932-04-04)
Running time	63 or 65 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Lobby card for the American western film Border Devils (1932) with Harry Carey and Kathleen Collins (1903 – 1994).

Plot

A man, Jim Gray, is wrongfully put in jail; he escapes to prove his innocence and reveal the real criminal. In the process, Gray discovers a second criminal who has been working behind the scenes with the more obvious villain.^[2]

Cast

• Harry Carey as Jim Gray
• Kathleen Collins as Marcia Brandon
• Gabby Hayes as Dude Sanders
• Niles Welch as Tom Hope
• Olive Carey as Ethel Denham
• Albert J. Smith as Inspector Bell
• Merrill McCormick as Jose Lopez
• Art Mix as Bud Brandon
• Tetsu Komai as The General

Production

Script

The film was written by Harry P. Crist ( credited for "script and continuity' under this pen name is the American director Harry Fraser^[3]). The story was based upon the novel Dead Man's Shoes,^[4] by Murray Leinster.^[3]

Shooting

According to a contemporary issue of The Film Daily, certain scenes were filmed in Palm Springs, California.^[1]

Cast

The film features Gabby Hayes in one of his earliest credited roles, a sidekick figure that would become his signature character.^[5]

Release

Border Devils was theatrically released in the United States on April 4, 1932.^[1] The film was released on DVD in August 2011 by Alpha Video.^[6]

Themes

This film has been noted for the unexpected presence in a Western, of Yellow Peril themes, embodied in the character of the villain, a mysterious 'oriental' criminal figure known as the General.^[3][7][5]

Commentators generally underline the weight of the original novel, a typical Leinster tale, in this adaptation: "the massive conspiracy that figures in his sci-fi, the shifting identity of the hero, and the generally peripatetic nature of the tale as our cowboy commandos shuttle hither and yon like horsing lot attendant."^[8]