Richard Arlen was apparently a favorite player first of B film producers William Pine and William Thomas and later of A.C. Lyles who kept this man busy working through the Forties up to the Sixties. Never a major film name after the early talkies Arlen did some fine work in some good entertaining films. Wildcat which was a Pine-Thomas production for Paramount's B unit is an example of that work.
Driving along Arlen picks up a hitchhiker in Elisha Cook, Jr. and the two take a liking to each other. Arlen has been in the oil business for years, but always working for wages that someone else pays. He wants his own well and he's quite the promoter. He especially wants to beat out Buster Crabbe whom he worked for before and who stiffed him and others on wages. Crabbe and Arlen go into a race with adjoining wells to see who brings in a gusher, the winner gets $25,000.00.
Arlen may think he's an operator, but he's got nothing on William Frawley and his female come-on partner Arline Judge. When Cook is killed in an accident, she pretends to be his mourning sister in order to cut her and Frawley in on the well. But as these happen in the movies romance develops.
The obvious comparison to make with Wildcat is MGM's Boom Town on which a far more lavish budget was spent. Pine-Thomas did not have the lavish budget or the big name cat, but they did well in this economy conscious film, carefully integrating stock footage. They got good performances out of the ensemble cast, my favorite being William Frawley who turns out to have a sentimental streak in him.
Wildcat is still fine entertainment and Pine-Thomas brought home another economical winner.
