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Alias – the Bad Man

1931 film by Phil Rosen

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ3790557 ↗
Source-derived summary

Alias – the Bad Man, also known as Alias Bad Man, is a 1931 American pre-Code Western film, directed by Phil Rosen and starring Ken Maynard, Virginia Brown Faire, and Frank Mayo. It was released on July 15, 1931.

Plot

Clem Neville and fellow rancher Warner are being plagued by a group of rustlers. He sends for his son, Ken, to come help him round up the criminals. However, when Ken arrives he finds out that his father and Warner have been killed. He does not reveal his identity to any of the townspeople, and Warner's daughter, Mary, suspects him of being one of the rustlers. As they verbally spar, Ken learns that Mary had known of a plan of Clem and her father to trap the rustlers. The only person she shared the information with was Rance Collins. He meets up with an old friend Ranger Simpson, known by the nickname of "Repeater", who he lets know what he is attempting to do.

Suspecting that Rance must be involved, Ken learns who some of his associates are.

Editorial summary

“Alias – the Bad Man” enters the record as 1931 film by Phil Rosen. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Alias, film and Phil can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1931—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1931-01-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Alias, film and Phil.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Alias – the Bad Man” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Alias, film and Phil provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3790557. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1931.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Alias – the Bad Man”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Alias – the Bad Man primary sources, Alias – the Bad Man archive and Alias research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alias – the Bad Man”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Alias – the Bad Man” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.