Bill Carver is a young medical-school graduate wrongly confined in prison. He escapes and finds a haven and romance in an Arizona small town. But his hopes of happiness and freedom are dashed when gangster Joe Mallon and his four henchmen show up. Mallon was the one who engineered Bill into the frame-up felony that sent him to prison along with Mallon. Bill is forced to lead Mallon and his men into an escape attempt across the blistering, sun-scorched desert. This movie is in the public domain. A friend of mine downloaded it as "Desert Escape" and gave it, along with a batch of other public domain movies, to me as a gift. Whenever the weather is poor and I'm home I pull one out. I've been pleasantly surprised to find some interesting movies and big stars. This movie doesn't have any big stars – at least not any I recognize – but it has an interesting setting: Tempe, Arizona, and the surrounding desert, in modern times (1940 – although the movie appears to have been made a little before that– it has a late 30's feel). So many old movies are set in New York (to take advantage of sets already built?) that my interest is always piqued by an unusual setting. The story revolves around Bill Carver, who was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit – or did he? What makes this movie worth watching is his interaction with Wolf the dog, the old-fashioned sentiments expressed by the main characters, and a scene at a picnic that appeared to use local residents as extras. Will you be riveted by the story? Maybe not. It's a fairly standard crime drama brought home, but I thought it was above average in execution and the dog (a Rin-Tin-Tin-ish shepherd) adds greatly to the story. MARKED MEN is a B-movie thriller with an unknown cast and brief running time. The setting is the desert, where an escaped convict hides out while being pursued by the authorities. The story develops when another, more murderous convict turns up at the scene with his old gang, and there's unfinished business between the two men. All of this material is ordinary and predictable, but where MARKED MEN works is in the presentation of a loyal and heroic German Shepherd called Wolf who saves the day time and again. He's one of the most adorable screen dogs I've seen in a while.
Crimar replied
355 weeks ago