ViewGuide

Created May 18, 2014 06:07PM PST • Edited Jul 28, 2018 11:13AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Good 3.0

   In Old California is a simpleminded recreation of Old Sacramento in 1848 and then 1849, made in 1942. A quasi-historical tale, it mostly exists to showcase John Wayne looking quite-the-dandy, from Boston even. The settings are the thing now: pre-49er San Francisco and then up the river to Old Sacramento.

   Unfortunately, it hasn’t aged well: slapstick, targeted at a teenage sensibility, damn near B Movie form.

   Yet, the Duke cornering the Sacramento drug trade – just as the California Gold Rush hits – is worth a view.

4. Acting

   Good 3.0

   John Wayne is a dandy from Boston, name of Tom Craig. People call him Boston. It’s that kind of movie. He’s a druggist who travels with laudanum, but he’s John Wayne, so it’s all on the up and up.

   Wayne delivers a lively performance that is unfailingly cheerful, oddly cheerful even.

   His 1942 supporting cast went on to more supporting roles. Not a star among them, other than perhaps Edgar Kennedy, who is damn near wasted, notwithstanding playing a character named Kegs McKeever.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars OK 2.5

7. Female Costars OK 2.5

8. Male Costars OK 2.5

10. Film

    Good 3.0

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

12. Play Barely OK 2.0

13. Music Good 3.0

14. Visuals Great 4.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.6

    Movies weren’t edgy in 1940, especially matinee movies like In Old California.

17. Sex Innocent 1.5

18. Violence Fierce 1.6

19. Rudeness Salty 1.6

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.4

    Silly Surrealism

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.8

23. Biological Surreal 2.5

24. Physical Glib 1.8