What Price Vengeance (1937)

The film was part of the British Quota Law that existed in the 1930's that basically said in order for films produced in the U.S. by U.S. producers and companies to be shown in Great Britain or any of the colonies, a certain number of films shot somewhere in the British Empire, with the majority of the cast and crew British subjects, had to be shown in the U.S.A. This posed no problems for the major studios who either had production facilities in England or working agreements with the major British producers, but Columbia had neither. In order to comply with the British Quota, so Columbia films could be shown in England and its far-flung outposts, Columbia entered into an agreement with Commonwealth Studios, headed by Canadian-producer Kenneth J. Bishop, in Willows Park, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada to finance and shoot films there for distribution through Columbia's film exchanges. Most of these films starred imported Columbia contractees such as Rita Hayworth, Charles Quigley, Rosalind Keith, Charles Starrett and others, but the vast majority of cast and crew was made up of subjects of the Crown. As such, there were a couple of dozen B-features or westerns shot in Canada with the cast filled with names such as Finis Barton, Robert Rideout, Arthur Kerr, Reginald Hincks, Edgar Edwards et al, directed or written by people such as Del Lord (Canadian-born), J. P. McGowan (Australian-born) or Kenneth/Kenne Duncan (Canadian born). There were a couple of Charles Starrett westerns filmed there and the only American citizens on either side of the camera were Starrett and his double/stunt man Ted Mapes. "Vengeance, 1937" (Canada title) and "What Price Vengeance?,1937" (U.S. title), and there is no re-issue title in 1937 in spite of some source that thinks so (but some uninformed sources also show re-issue titles as being used in the same year the film was originally released, which may have happened only twice in the history of films), has "Dynamite" Hogan as a young policeman who is a crack pistol shot on the firing range, but lets some bank robbers get away because he hasn't the nerve to fire at human targets. Following a fake resignation from the force, he poses as a crook and gets himself accepted as a member of the gang. Before long, with time out for romancing Polly Moore, he soon engages the entire mob in a gun battle.