Range Law

Escaped convict Hap Connors is blamed for a stagecoach robbery and murder actually committed by henchmen of crooked banker Jim Blont. In the hope of collecting enough evidence to clear himself, Connors secures a job on a ranch owned by Blont's fiancee, Ruth Warren. While trying to persuade the girl that her beau isnot the solid citizen he pretends to be, Hap is arrested by the sheriff and faces charges that carry a sentence of death.

Range Law makes good use of story elements and stacks up as one of Ken Maynard's best early talkies. A top Western performer at Warner Brothers and Universal in the late silent era, Ken tended to be hot-tempered and quarrelsome, and the coming of sound found him banished to Poverty Row. But M. H. Hoffman's Tiffany Pictures produced top-shelf independent films and Ken was lucky to land a berth there in 1931. Range Law, modestly but carefully mounted and well-directed by Phil Rosen, shows this popular Western star in peak physical form. - Ed Hulse

• western