As the previous reviewer stated, despite the title, this is not an animal film. Human stars Buzz Barton (a teen) and Francis X. Bushman Jr. don't have much presence, and the continuity is confusing. There is a good supporting cast (Edmund Cobb, John Ince, and the unforgettable Black actor Fred "Snowflake" Toones, who sings a country song (and well, too!) in one scene, and tries to out-Stepin Stepin Fetchit in the rest of the film), but not much else to offer. I've been watching some of director J.P. McGowan's late-silent films recently, and at his best he's quite efficient and creates a good pace with some interesting shots, but this must have been a for-hire job that he wasn't really into very much. As a fan of low-budget indie westerns of the early 30's, I'd put this is the lowest 25% of early-sound westerns. It may not be lost, but it's not worth finding or spending the time to watch.
Add a Review
-
JohnHowardReid2 February 2018Although his name is way, way down the cast list (in fact, on the Alpha DVD's credit titles, he isn't listed at all), Fred "Snowflake" Toones is the star of this movie from first to last.
Toones is the first person we see, and his is the character that defeats the villain (played with delightful menace by the misspelled Ed Cobb).
So if you are one of the world's three or four rabid Toones fans, "Human Targets" is the movie for you!
It's also the movie of choice if you like to watch really bad DVDs. I mean movies with noisy sound tracks, blurry, out-of-focus photography and jumpy film editing in addition to the obvious vices of a frozen-faced juvenile (Buzz Barton), a leaden hero (Francis X. Bushman, Jr), an unattractive heroine (Pauline Parker), a hammy doctor... I could go on, but there was one thing I did like. The outlaw gang was dubbed "the mud-daubers", because the members disguised themselves by daubing their faces with mud. A neat trick, that! I wonder why it wasn't used in lots of other movies? Yeah! -
toronto20015 October 2020This film is a dog...except for the song near the beginning. It's sung by Fred 'Snowflake' Toones and is a pretty catchy tune. Toones plays a farmhand, is threatened with being sent back to where he came. Turns out he came from Alabama, as it mentioned in the song. His character is very typical for black actors at the time, high pitched voice, etc. But when he sings, Toones shows his real talent. Worth seeing the first few minutes, for just that.