The Bandit Queen (1950)

When her parents are murdered before her very eyes, “Zara” (Barbara Britton) vows revenge but she has little wherewithal to carry out that threat! She decides to take a more subtle tack, though, and arriving in the town disguised as a travelling American she quickly finds an ally in the local “Murietta” (Phillip Reed) and together they assemble a group of vigilantes all of whom have an axe to grind with the perpetrators of numerous crimes visited upon the Spanish community whose assets are to be seized or stolen by the newly arrived and avaricious American townsfolk. Now we know all along who the baddies are, and after about fifteen minutes this just becomes an episode of “Zorro” only with a feisty female antagonist. The production is basic and the acting ridiculously static from start to finish, especially the terribly wooden Britton and her partner in crime Reed who go through the swashbuckling motions as if someone were calling 1-2-3, 1-2-3 from out of vision. The title offers excitement, the execution - well not so much.