In Old Montana

After learning that his father has been shot in a range war between Montana cattlemen and sheepmen, Cavalry Lieutenant Fred Dawson requests a leave-of-absence in the hopes of brokering a truce. With his aide "Doc" Flanders in tow, Fred poses as a medicine-show singer in order to allay the suspicions of both sides. At first he suspects that sheepman Ed Brandt is the instigator of the bloodshed, but Brandt is merely the pawn of a mastermind who is playing for big stakes.

An ambitious Fred Scott western, In Old Montana gives its routine cattlemen-versus-sheepmen plot (concocted by no less than four screenwriters) a historical patina and some extra production gloss. It also presents Scott with additional opportunities to flex his opera-trained vocal chords; he sings no less than five songs here. The film climaxes with a whale of a fistfight between Scott and heavy John Merton, neither of whom required stuntmen. In Old Montana accrues additional merit points for the casting of vivacious Jean Carmen and silent-era veterans Wheeler Oakman and Walter McGrail. - Ed Hulse

• western