The Return of Daniel Boone (1941)

Director:

Lambert Hillyer

Writers:

Paul Franklin (story)
Paul Franklin (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

7 May 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

When he reached for his gun, outlaws reached for the sky!

Plot:

Leach Kilgrain (Ray Bennett) has a plan to gain control of all the ranches in Pecos. His unscrupulous...

Plot Keywords:

Tax Collector | Twins | Rancher | Fistfight | Concertina

Cast

Bill Elliott	...	Wild Bill Boone
Betty Miles	...	Ellen Brandon
Dub Taylor	...	Cannonball
Ray Bennett	...	Leach Killgrain
Walter Soderling	...	Mayor Elwell
Carl Stockdale	...	Jeb Brandon
Bud Osborne	...	Red, chief henchman
Francis Walker	...	Bowers, henchman
Lee Powell	...	Tax Collector Fuller
Tom Carter	...	Wagner, rancher
Edmund Cobb	...	Henderson, rancher
Verda Rodik	...	Singer Melinda (as The Rodik Twins)
Verna Rodik	...	Singer Matilda (as The Rodik Twins)

Runtime:

61 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Quotes:

Ellen Brandon: What do you think we'd better do?
Bill Boone: Well, I may be throwing a big loop, but there's still one chance.
Ellen Brandon: What is it?
Bill Boone: It's something I got to do alone. You can round up all your friends and ride into town and by the time you get there, I'll either have the proof we need, or you can get shovels and dig me a permanent home.

Soundtrack:

When It's Hitchin' Time in the Chapel

Melinda and Matilda Make It The Best of Elliott's Columbia Westerns

"The Return of Daniel Boone" is arguably the best of the Bill Elliott westerns. In 1941 Elliott (generally regarded as the original "Wild Bill Hickok") got to play both the grandson of Daniel Boone and the "Son of Davy Crockett. These Columbia features look very good for their time, in some ways better and more authentic that similar stuff made on higher budgets by other studios in the 1950's.

In this story Wild Bill Boone (Elliott) stumbles on a town with a scheming town boss Leach Kilgrain (Ray Bennett) and a crooked Mayor (Walter Soderling). They have raised taxes to levels most ranchers cannot pay and plan to acquire the properties at a bargain when they are sold for overdue taxes. Ellen Brandon (Betty Miles), the daughter of a local rancher, has accidentally killed the tax collector just before Bill's arrival. He accepts an offer to assume the now vacant position, believing it a good way to gather the evidence needed to expose the scheme.

Bill's plan is to mark some of the town's tax money and see if it is used to purchase land at the tax sale, thereby tying Kilgrain to the Mayor. Unfortunately Ellen thinks he is in league with the bad guys and her impulsive actions derail his plan. So things get a little more complicated before they finally get sorted out.

"The Return of Daniel Boone" transcends this rather ordinary plot by introducing a very original back-story involving Bill's long-time bumbling sidekick Cannonball Taylor (Dub Taylor). Cannonball is the strangely reluctant recipient of the attentions of identical twin sisters Melinda and Matilda (played by twin sisters Verda and Verna Rodik). This becomes even more comical because Cannonball thinks they are the same girl. Since the Rodik girls are arguably the hottest actresses you will ever find in this type of western (plus they do some nice singing), and Dub Taylor is anything but leading man material; his ability to resist their charms until almost the end seems highly unlikely.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.