I watched Yankee Fakir (1947) last night on the Westerns Channel. I was t expecting much, but it turned out to be a pretty good movie.
Medicine show pitchmen Yankee Davis (Douglas Fowley) and Professor Newton (Ransom Sherman) arrive in a small Arizona town and set about plying their wares. Yankee falls for boarding house proprietor Mary Mason (Joan Woodbury). Mary's uncle is murdered by person or persons unknown. When the sheriff and nobody else seems interested in finding out who done it, Yankee, the professor, Mary, and Mary's young nephew Tommy, set about to find the truth. To run a scheme to smoke out the killer, Yankee sends for his old friend, Shaggy Hartley (Clem Bevans). Shaggy is an old weather beaten prospector, but he poses as Yankee's wealthy uncle, who appears to want to share some of his wealth with a few of the townspeople. But can this crazy plot possibly work?
Douglas Fowley usually played a bad guy, but he does very well as the hero. Without his usual pencil thin mustache, Fowley makes a likable hero you want to root for. Joan Woodbury was very attractive, but never really made it big. She does well as Mary. I remembered that Joan had the title role in a 1945 serial, "Brenda Starr, Reporter." After seeing Yankee Fakir, I found a Brenda Starr, Reporter DVD on eBay for less than $10 and ordered it.
Clem Bevans steals the movie as Shaggy. He was already 68 when this movie was made. Clem had been in show business all his life. He dominates every scene he is in here. I remembered him from a 1958 Perry Mason episode, The Case of the Demure Defendant, as Captain Hugo. Clem was 79 at that time and he stole every scene in that episode too. A really great unsung actor.
Check out Yankee Fakir if you haven't seen it. This movie is well worth watching.
