Deputy Marshal (1949)

A U.S. deputy marshal (Jon Hall, THE HURRICANE) is given a piece of paper by a man (Wheaton Chambers) before he is shot to death. The marshal keeps the content of the paper to himself as he investigates not only who killed the man and why. Undistinguished low budget fodder tossed off for the lower half of a western double bill. So generic that I was shocked to see it was based on a novel by Charles Heckelmann. It's the kind of time filler that often popped up on TV in the 50s and 60s for a Saturday matinee. For old movie buffs, it has some minor interest like seeing Hall and his then wife the singer Frances Langford (the movie stops cold when she sings two songs) in their only film together. The film's "B" status is further ensured by what appears to be an awful cobbled together (and uncredited) underscore of stock music, I certainly hope no one was actually paid for writing that junk. Directed by William Berke. With Dick Foran, Julie Bishop, Joe Sawyer, Mary Gordon and the rubber faced Clem Bevans, who gives the film its only life.