A Holy Terror (1931)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

A lot of fun.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Unholy bore is more like it. Creaky western about a greenhorn (George O'Brien) who heads west to find some answers surrounding his father. It's a "modern western" meaning it takes place during the era in which it was made, not the 1800s. Notable only for an early appearance by Humphrey Bogart (his first western). It's interesting to see Bogie still wet-behind-the-ears, acting-wise. He does nothing to impress here, really, but nothing to embarrass either. George O'Brien is as exciting as tooth decay. Sally Eilers plays the girl O'Brien and Bogart both lust after for reasons unknown to me. This is a really boring movie, even for a B western made during this period. Add to that the usual negatives that burden early talkies and you've got a dud on your hands. Favorite scene is the most moronic meet cute ever: O'Brien crashes his plane into Sally Eilers' bathroom!

Humphrey Bogart made his western debut in this film A Holy Terror based on the Max Brand novel Trailin'. It had been filmed ten years earlier as a silent under its original name with Tom Mix in the lead. Western star George O'Brien is in the lead with Bogey as one of the villains.Interestingly enough this might have been Bogart's best outing in a western. He was a villain later in Warner Brothers big budget westerns The Oklahoma Kid where he's too much of an eastern gangster and Virginia City where he sounds laughable as a Mexican bandit. Here he's just right as the foreman of a western ranch who gets a case of the green eyed monster when easterner George O'Brien starts eying Sally Eilers.But that's just a sidebar to the main story. O'Brien is a polo playing easterner whose dad, Robert Warwick, is found shot to death. Searching his papers O'Brien finds that Warwick's original name was changed and that he had kept tabs on the whereabouts of a certain Wyoming rancher for years.O'Brien goes to Wyoming to investigate and by the end of the film all his questions are answered. He might be an eastern dude, but his polo training makes him ride with the best of the cowboys as they learn to their regret. In fact O'Brien whose big break came in the John Ford silent western classic, The Iron Horse, got his start in the army horse cavalry before World War I.As for Bogart he's the foreman who gets his boss's intentions all wrong as far as O'Brien is concerned. He's not bad in the part though and is noticed, especially by his legion of fans for whom he's an existential legend.

You'll want to see "A Holy Terror" if you're a Humphrey Bogart fan, but it would be incorrect to consider this a Bogey film. George O'Brien stars and portrays Anthony Woodbury, the socialite son of a father who legally changed his name twenty five years ago, and at the same time had William Drew (James Kirkwood) placed under surveillance. Adverse to publicity and never allowing a photo, Thomas Woodbury/John Bard (Robert Warwick) is seen only briefly on screen when he is shown going for a hidden weapon as Drew arrives at his estate home to force a confrontation. When Tony learns of his father's hidden past, he's determined to learn more about William Drew and the circumstances of his father's death.The film's most interesting scene occurs when aviator Tony literally crash lands his plane into the home of Miss Jerry Foster (Sally Eilers). She begins a cat and mouse relationship with Anthony, who begins using the name Bard once he reaches Wyoming.The plot of the movie gets muddied when William Drew asks his ranch foreman Steve Nash (Bogart) to bring Bard to the ranch unharmed. Nash has an underhanded side, and involves his partner Butch Morgan (Stanley Fields) in the endeavor. Since Anthony wants to meet with Drew, and Drew is paying Nash a thousand dollars to bring Anthony to him, there's no reason for Morgan to pistol whip Bard and carry out the request like a kidnapping. Obviously done as a dramatic element for the film, the tactic doesn't make much sense, other than to provide a reason for Anthony to arrange his escape in a dramatic ride on horseback, with a rather effective looking leap over Devil's Gulch that the baddies won't risk attempting.The astute viewer can figure out the payoff - William Drew and John Bard were once in love with the same woman, who married Bard. But Anthony's father was really William Drew, and on that note the film ends rather abruptly."A Holy Terror" clocks in at just fifty three minutes, and that's probably a saving grace. The performances are rather stilted with not much more than the characters going through their motions. Bogart's turn as a bad guy is of some interest, building on the con man turn in his prior picture "The Bad Sister". It would be five more years before he gets his hands on a real meaty role as the villain Duke Mantee in "The Petrified Forest".

The only reason that most people will track down this minor Western is the presence of Humphrey Bogart in one of his earliest roles. The Old West was never really looked right on Bogie and this performance, his first with Stetson and Six-gun, could be seen just as a dry run for his appearance as Whip McCord in the James Cagney vehicle 'The Oklahoma Kid'. In fact it was the first time Bogart ever appeared on the wrong side of the law and his depiction of a violent, shiftless man with no moral centre shows that he had this kind of role down pat five years before his breakthrough in 'The Petrified Forest'. He even manages to engage a little audience sympathy when constantly rejected by the virtuous heroine, a fact that also provides a little character motivation, unusual in a picture of this type. It almost goes without saying that he is really the only reason to watch.Elsewhere George O'Brien tries hard to be handsome and charming in the lead role but is merely stiff and wooden, whilst Sally Eilers does a little better as the heroine. The story holds few surprises, and very little in the way of action or thrills, but the resolution is more original than expected. Technically, it's a little basic but some location work and the use of a few crane shots help a little.If it weren't for Bogart this picture would probably be long forgotten and it really won't hold much appeal outside of his loyal fanbase.