User Reviews

Val Harris and Anne Howe star in this short western from Vitaphone. Now considering the pair only had one other acting credit, it's obvious that the films did little to further their careers. However, I did find this film very interesting because Harris plays a 72 year-old man and he sure looks it...but he's only 46! It's obvious that he must have specialized in such acts on stage and I guess at the time, there already were a few actors like this in Hollywood, so he didn't get any sort of long-term contract.

The film is a cute little musical short where a young New York dancer makes eyes at an old man--not realizing that the old guy still had a lot of gumption in him! The pair trade some romantic moments, a few laughs and they sing and dance. It's all a lot of fluff--but enjoyable fluff nonetheless.

The Wild Westerner (1928)

*** (out of 4)

A young woman named Remington (Ann Howe) arrives out West and soon meets the old man known as Wilbur (Val Harris). Soon after the brief introductions we get Wilbur's stories on romance and women while Remington does a dance. THE WILD WESTERNER is actually a pretty fun film from Vitaphone clocking it at just around 8-minutes. I think fans of the genre and especially fans of Vitaphone are going to enjoy watching this. I think what really works are the rather pre-code jokes and especially the ones where Val Harris talks about his wives as well as a funny burlesque joke. I really wouldn't say Val was a comic genius but I actually really enjoyed his performance here and thought he was very believable in the role of the old man. Ann, while not having the greatest singing voice, was at least charming and managed to have some nice chemistry.