The Baron of Arizona (1950)

Yikes! Talk about playing the long game...! Vincent Price is at his manipulative best as the scheming "Reavis" who concocts a cunning plan to end up owning the entire Arizona territory. As it acceded into the United States, the government agreed to honour land grants given in years gone by by the kings of Spain. "Reavis" turns up one rainy night at the dilapidated home of "Pepito" (Vladimir Sokoloff) and claims that his adopted daughter "Sofia" (Ellen Drew) is the last in the line of the "De Peralta" family who were granted the land by King Ferdinand VI. He proceeds to bring her up as a baroness. He imbues in her all the characteristics of a landed lady whilst cleverly forging the necessary documentation - even spending years in a Spanish monastery - before laying their claim. How can the government and the local population legally challenge this state of affairs? The last ten minutes rather let it down - a touch too much romantic melodrama, but for the most part this is a well constructed exercise in deviousness and plotting that Price holds together well. It's perhaps a little bit long, but is quite an interesting story of an aspect of the formation of the USA that's quite intriguingly, almost menacingly, built up.