Alias the Bad Man (1931) Review: Ken Maynard and the Smartest Horse in the West

If you have an hour to kill and like seeing a horse do more stunts than the lead actor, then Alias the Bad Man is your movie. It is a 1931 western that feels exactly like 1931, which is to say, everyone is shouting because they don't trust the microphones yet.

I think people who miss the old Saturday morning matinee vibe will get a kick out of it. If you are looking for some deep, psychological story, please go somewhere else. 🌵

Ken Maynard plays a ranger who decides the best way to catch a killer is to just... pretend to be a bad guy. It is the classic "undercover" trope but done with very little subtlety or planning.

Ken’s horse, Tarzan, is honestly the MVP of the whole thing. I am not even joking about that.

There is this one bit where Tarzan has to untie Ken, and the horse looks more focused than half the human cast. It is almost too smart for its own good. 🐴

The sound in this movie is... something else. You can hear the background hiss like a radiator is leaking just off-camera through the whole thing.

It reminds me of other early talkies like Pack Up Your Troubles where the tech was clearly getting in the way of the fun. You can tell they were still figuring out where to hide the mic.

Charles King plays the villain, and he has this face that just screams 'I am going to kick a puppy later.' He is realy great at being terrible.

There is a scene in the outlaw hideout where everyone is just standing in a semi-circle. It looks like they are waiting for a bus that is never coming, just awkward and stiff.

The dialogue is mostly "Which way did he go?" and "He went that-a-way!" but with more 1930s flair. It's simple, but it works for what it is.

I noticed Ken wears these pants that are so high they are practically under his armpits. It was the style, I guess, but it looks incredibly uncomfortable for riding a horse.

Virginia Brown Faire is here too, but she doesn't have much to do besides look worried and wait to be rescued. Which she does well enough, I suppose.

Compared to something like Breed of the Border, this one feels a bit more frantic and messy. The cuts are kind of jarring sometimes.

The riding scenes are actually pretty impressive, though. No stunt doubles back then, or at least it doesn't look like it when Ken is flying off a ledge.

It is weird how the bad guys just accept him into the gang so fast. "Oh, you have a black hat and a mean face? Welcome aboard, Steve!"

The pacing is a bit "stop and go." You get five minutes of fast riding, then ten minutes of people talking in a very dusty room.

It is not as polished as If I Were King, obviously. But it has more heart than a lot of the junk they churn out now.

I think my favorite part was a random guy in the background of the town scene who just looks totally lost. He stares directly at the lens for a second like he's seen a ghost.

It makes the movie feel human. Like a bunch of guys just went out to the desert with a camera and a horse and hoped for the best result.

The plot is about Ken joining a gang to find a murderer who killed his friend's dad. It is pretty simple stuff that you've seen a million times.

But the way Ken rides is just... wow. He does this thing where he jumps onto the horse while it is already moving at full speed.

I tried to do that once on a fence when I was a kid and nearly broke my arm. Ken makes it look like getting out of bed in the morning.

The villain, Blackie, has a hideout that looks suspiciously like a regular house with some dirt thrown on the floor to make it look "rugged."

There are a lot of gunfights where nobody seems to be aiming at anything specific. They just point the gun in the general direction of the "scenery" and fire away.

It is realy funny when you notice it. The smoke from the guns is thick and just lingers in the air because there's no wind.

I missed some of the names because the audio cuts out whenever someone speaks too softly. That is just 1931 for ya, I guess.

Still, it is a better time than The Valley of Bravery if you ask me. At least things happen here.

I think the ending was a bit rushed. One minute they are shooting, the next minute everyone is shaking hands and the movie is over.

But hey, it is only 60 minutes long. You can't ask for a whole lot of character development in an hour of horse stunts.

The horse gets a happy ending too. That is all that matters in these kinds of flicks anyway.

If you're into dusty old westerns and want to see a very smart horse, give it a look. Just do not expect it to change your life or anything. 🌵