Heir to Trouble (1935)

One of my all time favorites.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Following the death of his pal Jack Swift, Ken Armstrong (Ken Maynard) decides to adopt the son, whom he has never seen, of his late friend and make him a partner in developing his dilapidated gold mine. Tiring of his wild-and-carefree range life, Ken his hoping to make his fortune marry Jane Parker (Joan Perry, soon to marry Columbia studio prexy Harry Cohen), but runs into trouble when "Honest John" Motley (Harry Woods), owner of the adjoining mine, threatens to take away Ken's property.The arrival of young Swift adds to Ken's trouble for his new charge is only a baby. With Jane away in the city, Ken enlists the aid of Queenie, the dance-hall hostess. Motley, learning that there is a sizable fortune bequeathed to the child's legal guardian decides to gain custody for himself. He sets the town's gossips on Queenie's trail and before long there is a scandal linking Ken and Queenie with the baby. Motley's next move is to have the local Ladies' Society take the child from Ken and then make Motley the guardian. Jane, back from wherever she had been, is present at the meeting, and unbelieving, visits Ken's shack to see for herself. The scene she sees appears to her that Ken and Queenie have set up some light-housekeeping and, heartbroke, she leaves in tears. Motley insults Ken and a fight ensues during which Motley henchman Ike tries to kill Ken, who beats him to the dawn and wounds him in the shoulder.In the meantime, back at the mine, Bill Dwyer (Pat O'Malley), Motley's mining engineer, has been instructed to blast into Ken shaft. Ken is kidnapped and imprisoned in a tool shed, but Tarzan (Tarzan the Horse), Ken's horse who hasn't had much to do to this point, has trailed the abductors and goes for air. Ken's friends shoot his way to freedom but Motley holds them at bay by threatening to harm the baby by setting off a dynamite charge directly below them (and any character played by Harry Woods wouldn't hesitate to do so especially since he was holding the baby.) Motley, deciding that setting off the dynamite was a good idea anyway, sets the child down but doesn't notice that Ike (who was still hacked-off by Motley threatening him back in reel two) has a rifle trained on him from above. Tarzan, making up for inactivity earlier in the film, carries the child away to safety. Ike's shot causes Motley to fall on the plunger and set off the dynamite in the mine below.Jane asks Ken forgiveness.Film credits Maynard with the Story and Nate Gatzert with the Screen Play (as written with two words on the film), but a Story credit for Maynard on his films was usually an ego-credit, especially since this one had been done a few times before, dating back to silent westerns, including one that had Nate Gatzert with an Original Story and Screen Play credit.