It was said that Fox would never turn loose a full-length talker until the studio was convinced the picture was right. In Old Arizona that it’s right is unquestioned at this time. It’s the first outdoor talker and a western, with a climax twist to make the story stand out from the usual hill and dale thesis. It’s outdoors, it talks and it has a great screen performance by Warner Baxter. That it’s long and that it moves slowly is also true, but the exterior sound revives the novelty angle again.
Dorothy Burgess is cast as Tonia, a Mexican vixen who plays the boys across the boards and finally gets into a jam between the Cisco Kid (Baxter) and the army sergeant who is pursuing the bandit.
Raoul Walsh is given screen and program credit for having co-directed this film, as he actually started it and was intent on finishing and playing the Cisco Kid in it. An unfortunate accident made this impossible, hence Irving Cumming’s assignment.
1928/29: Best Actor (Warner Baxter).
Nominations: Best Picture, Director, Writing, Cinematography
