To the Last Man (1933)

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writers:

Zane Grey (story)
Jack Cunningham (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 September 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Two families at war . . . to the last man!

Plot:

In Kentucky just after the Civil War, the Hayden-Colby feud leads to Jed Colby being sent to prison for 15 years for murder. The Haydens head for Nevada and when Colby gets out of prison he heads there also seeking revenge. The head of the Hayden family tries to avoid more killing but the inevitable showdown has to occur, complicated by Lynn Hayden and Ellen Colby's plans to marry.

Plot Keywords:

Feud | Showdown | Zane Grey | Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Cast

Randolph Scott	...	Lynn Hayden
Esther Ralston	...	Ellen Colby
Jack La Rue	...	Jim Daggs
Buster Crabbe	...	Bill Hayden
Barton MacLane	...	Neil Stanley
Noah Beery	...	Jed Colby
Gail Patrick	...	Ann Hayden Stanley
Egon Brecher	...	Mark Hayden
Muriel Kirkland	...	Molly Hayden
Fuzzy Knight	...	Jeff Morley
James Eagles	...	Eli Bruce (as James C. Eagles)
Eugenie Besserer	...	Granny Spelvin
Harlan Knight	...	Grandpa Chet Spelvin
Jay Ward	...	Lynn Hayden - as child

Also Known As:

Law of Vengeance (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Shirley Temple later chose Delmar Watson to play Peter in Heidi (1937) because she had worked with him in this film.

Quotes:

Ellen Colby: I ain't used ta bein' polite at!

Movie Connections:

Version of To the Last Man (1923)

Feudin' Mountain Families Go West.

The Haydens and Colbys are two mountain families who've had such a long term feud, everyone's forgotten what it started over. Never mind when Pop Colby (Noah Beery, Sr.) shoots Grandpa down in cold blood, Dad Hayden takes an unorthodox and cowardly approach in some eyes, he calls in the law.

The Haydens move west and Colby when he gets out of the joint takes the family and moves to where the Haydens are to take up where they left off. Along the way he has an ally, Jack LaRue, who has an agenda all his own.

Of course in Romeo&Juliet fashion, the Hayden son (Randolph Scott) and the Colby daughter(Esther Ralston} meet and flip for each other. If anything that throws gasoline on the feud fire.

This is one of the weakest of Randolph Scott's earlier westerns. I'm not sure if I'm seeing the complete film as a budget video company put out a re-release that looks like it was choppily edited. There are a lot of plot gaps and things that don't make sense.

This is also one of the earliest films of Shirley Temple who's big scene is when one of the Colbys shoots the head off of her doll. It wasn't for sadistic purposes but to get the Haydens to chase them. Still it's an earlier weepy for Shirley. She later did two more films with

Randolph Scott, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Susannah of the Mounties and with her name above his at that point.

Also at the very end, the fadeout is Esther and Randy in what looks like a photograph of later domestic bliss. And the soundtrack was blaring the Bing Crosby hit Please. Kind of out of place, but since Paramount had the rights to it, they figured they had to use it.