The Brand of Hate (1934)

Starring: Bob Steele

Director: Lewis D. Collins

Studio: Supreme Pictures Corporation

PLOT SUMMARY:

Young Rod Camp (Bob Steele) intends to marry pretty Margie Larkins (Lucile Browne) with the approval of both sets of parents. All goes well until Larkins' (William Farnum) sleazy half brother Bill (George "Gabby" Hayes) and his two sons show up to commence with cattle rustling. Unfortunately for Larkins, his half brother threatens to have him sent back to Kansas to serve a prison sentence for a prior arrest, in order to stay on the ranch and engage in the criminal activities. One day while attending to his cattle, Rod's father (Charles K. French) spots Bill Larkins' sons branding his cattle and is promptly shot for his trouble. Rod decides to leave the Larkins alone until his loyal dog Pardner is shot. Rod seeks justice as well as revenge. 

FILM REVIEW:

During the first quarter of the film, I was admittedly more than a little disinterested. However this all changed once Holt, played wonderfully by James Flavin, shoots French. Thereafter, I was hooked. This sequence is handled wonderfully with an enraged Bob Steele standing over his father's wounded body with that famously intense stare he was known for. The Brand of Hate was also quite a shocking film in that Bob Steele's dog is shot, a sequence that will likely still elicit gasps from audiences today. Steele sells this wonderfully when he clutches his four-legged friend's head to his chest and gives yet another intense look, letting the audience know that playtime is over.

George Hayes, years before he would portray Gabby in the Roy Rogers films and even before his days of playing Hopalong Cassidy's saddlepal Windy Halliday, deserves special mention as the film's grisly villain. Hayes is perfectly detestable as Bill Larkins, so much so that one is satisfied to see Steele nearly choke him to death near the close of the picture. We are not dealing with the kindly old codger of the later films, this is a terrible person with no redeemable qualities being completely nasty for his own amusement. 

Steele is quite good during the fighting scenes at the end of the picture and takes some hard decks to his chin, but still shows Flavin, Hayes and crew who's boss. Steele, born Robert Adrian Bradbury, was the son of prolific western producer Robert N. Bradbury and even worked alongside his father in some of his greatest pictures. Steele, with his wonderfully intense scowl and physicality, made him one of the premier heroes of the "B" western. Indeed, Steele's career was a long one and spans from the silent era to the early television era. He was simply one of the greats and it shows in this film. He handles the saccharine romantic scenes with Browne quite well, but it's his no-nonsense approach to heroism that makes him a memorable screen presence. All Steele had to do was give that look and you knew someone was going to get it!

This was one of the 32 films Steele made for A.W. Hackel's Supreme Pictures Corporation, one of the many small independents that produced these "B" grade oaters, and the picture is just okay. The dog shooting and Flavin's sexual harassment of Lucile Browne are the most startling aspects of the picture but other than that, it's just an average film only of note to those of us who love them. A middle of the road picture with some shocking elements that keep audience interest. Bob Steele has made better films, but this is far from his worst.

Until nest time, Pardners!