BLACK LASH, THE (director: Ron Ormond; screenwriters: Timothy Ormond/June Carr/Kathy McKeel; cinematographer: Ernest Miller; editor: Hugh Winn; music: Walter Greene; cast: Lash LaRue (U.S. Marshal Lash LaRue ), Al St. John (Fuzzy Q. Jones), Peggy Stewart (Joan Delysa ), Ray Bennett (‘Deuce’ Rago), John Carson (Cord), Kermit Maynard (Lem Woodruff), Larry Barton (Judge), Roy Butler (Mayor Redfield), Clarke Stevens (Johnson, mine foreman), Byron Keith (Bill Leonard), Jim Bannon (Brant); Runtime: 55; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Ron Ormond; Grapevine Video; 1952)

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

The Black Lash is a low-budget b/w sequel, filled with stock footage, to Frontier Revenge (1948). Director Ron Ormond (“Frontier Woman”/”White Lightnin’ Road”/”39 Stripes”)fights through the shoddy production values of this routine B Western and adheres to the unexciting formulaic way of presenting this familiar narrative. Though it provides a good example of the way they used to make the more simple-minded Westerns back in the 1950s, it unfortunately looks like a TV program of the time and is unimaginatively written byTimothy Ormond, June Carr and Kathy McKeel. But, in any case, it should appeal to the fans of the star, Lash LaRue, and to Al St. John, his scruffy character actor sidekick, around for comic relief.