Without Honor (1932) starring Harry Carey, Mae Busch, Gibson Gowland, Mary Jane Irving, Ed Brady, Jack Richardson, Tom London directed by William Nigh Movie Review

Without Honor (1932)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Harry Carey and Mary Jane Irving in Without Honor (1932)

Harry's Honor

Pete Marlan (Harry Carey) returns home from a gambling trip to Mexico to discover his younger brother, a Texas Ranger has been murdered by a group of smugglers who have left a letter on his brother implicating him of certain crimes. Refusing to believe that his brother could have been a criminal Pete puts on his badge and starts hunting down who ever it was who killed his brother.

That short plot outline for "Without Honor" is pretty typical of 1930s westerns and I can think of half a dozen westerns which featured a man trying to track down who ever it was who killed a wife, father or brother. But in fairness "Without Honor" has more going on that just that we learn of a woman of ill repute who knew Pete and who amongst other things gave a child away. There is of course some double crossing and when it comes to the action it is surprisingly suggestive in its brutality.

But "Without Honor" was made in 1932 and whilst it would be ridiculous to say it is dated it is worth pointing out that it is yet another early western where actors, directors and those doing the editing struggled to deal with dialogue. Nearly every time someone speaks there is always a huge pause at the end and more often than not mid sentence as well. It is just one of those things but it is annoying especially when once every few scenes a couple of actors manage to string a few lines of dialogue together in an almost natural way.

What this all boils down to is "Without Honor" has some interesting aspects, most notably that the storyline has more going on than you might expect. But at the same time it is only typical of the era with the frequently broken up dialogue ending up annoying.


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