The Star Packer
About The Star Packer
U.S. Marshal John Travers and his friend Yak intercept a stage before the Shadow's men can rob it, then bring passenger Anita Matlock into the town of Little Rock. The sheriff is shot dead. Anita's uncle, Matt Matlock, tells Travers that two earlier sheriffs were killed the same way. Travers takes the badge. Orders to the gang come from a voice behind a false safe in the saloon, and a tunnel runs from that room to a hollow stump in the street. A ranch hand tells Anita that Matlock is the Shadow: he killed her father and the real uncle and took the uncle's name. Travers deputizes the town, stops a wagon bringing a machine gun, and exposes the stump. He marries Anita.
Cast & crew
More about The Star Packer
Robert N. Bradbury wrote and directed. Paul Malvern produced for Lone Star. Monogram Pictures released it on 30 July 1934. Archie Stout photographed it. Carl Pierson edited. John Wayne plays Travers.
Themes
Making
Lone Star and Monogram were turning these Wayne westerns out as program pictures. The villain's post is a saloon room with a hidden line of fire onto the main street.
Look
Archie Stout shot the town and ranch scenes in Santa Clarita, Kernville, and Newhall.
Preservation
A print circulates. The short feature is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- George Hayes, later billed as Gabby, plays Matt Matlock, who is also the Shadow. Verna Hillie is Anita, niece of the murdered rancher.
- Yakima Canutt plays Yak and did stunts on the Lone Star westerns.
- Billy Franey is the henchman in the stump. Eddie Parker and Earl Dwire are henchmen. Thomas G. Lingham is Sheriff Al Davis. Glenn Strange is in the cast.
- The last shot has Yak playing Indians with Travers and Anita's young son.
- The town in the AFI synopsis is Little Rock.
Scenes
- Travers and Yak find that the saloon's empty room hides a tunnel to a hollow stump in the street.
- Anita learns from the ranch hand Jake that Matlock killed her father and is wearing her uncle's name.
- The deputized town stops a wagon carrying a machine gun before it reaches the street.
Also available
- Internet Archive (The_Star_Packer)
- Wikimedia Commons (The Star Packer (1934) by Robert N. Bradbury.webm)
