Big Hat, Small Movie
Jack Loomis (Jack Perrin) is in town looking for work and the barman tells him to speak to rancher George Tully (Al Bridge) to see if he is hiring but is turned down. Shortly after he becomes aware of a couple of Indians being swindled out of their high grade and when he intervenes Mr. Tully sees and offers him work as foreman. But Tully has an ulterior motive as he and his gang of outlaws plan to stitch him up from a robbery. And they succeed but after escaping from custody Jack returns to the Tully's who plan to set him up again, except this time Jack plans to prove that Tully and his gang are in fact the criminals.
I often comment about these early 1930s westerns as really being for western aficionados who look to watch as many westerns as possible and that is certainly the case when it comes to the forgettable "North of Arizona". This Jack Perrin western is the epitome of a 1930's b-western with the good guy in the white hat and bad guys in black hates, cheap dialogue and static camera work. It is basically more testing than entertaining because of its weak nature even when you take into account its age.
The trouble is that beyond the cliche storyline of the good guy getting the bad guys it has nothing going for it. That is most certainly the case when it comes to the action which is close to being hilarious in how badly it is staged with brawls where punches constantly miss as things descend into more of a wrestling match. In the end the most memorable thing about "North of Arizona" is the size of Jack's cowboy hat which with being white looks huge on his head,
What this all boils down to is that "North of Arizona" is weak even by 1930s western standards and even as a western fan I found it hard work.
