So This Is Arizona (1931) Review - Dusty, Awkward, and Kind of Fun

Skip this if you cannot stand crackly audio and guys in oversized hats squinting at the sun. But if you have a soft spot for dusty, ultra-cheap 1930s B-westerns where the horses do most of the acting, So This Is Arizona is a weirdly charming way to waste an hour. Modern action fans will absolutely hate how slow it is. 🤠

Fred Church plays the Ranger, and he has this incredibly stiff posture, like he is wearing a wooden board under his shirt. He is trying to solve a crime, but the real tragedy is he has to arrest his girlfriend's brother. Talk about an awkward Sunday dinner.

There is a scene early on where a horse just stares directly into the camera lens for what feels like two full minutes. I swear the horse knew it was in a movie and was trying to signal for help. 🐴

The acting is... well, let's just say nobody was taking home any gold trophies for this one. It is a much rougher watch than something like Kindling, which actually had some dramatic weight to it.

The sound recording is so scratchy in one scene that a gunshot sounds exactly like someone popping a brown paper bag. It actually made me jump, then laugh out loud.

I kept thinking about Against All Odds while watching this, mostly because both films feature characters making the absolute worst life decisions possible in the name of "love."

The girl, played by Tete Brady, mostly just looks worried and wrings her hands a lot. You can tell she is trying her best with some really clunky dialogue.

The confrontation at the end happens in this incredibly dusty cabin that looks like it would fall over if someone sneezed too hard. The brother character does this dramatic sigh when he gets caught that goes on for way too long.

It is definitely not a masterpiece, but it is a neat little time capsule of early talkie cinema. If you like old-school dusters and do not mind a bit of jank, give it a spin.