Mysterious Rider (1938)

Genres - Western, Crime  |   Release Date - Sep 21, 1938 (USA - Unknown)  |   Run Time - 75 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

The oft-filmed Zane Grey story The Mysterious Rider was given another go-round by Paramount Pictures in 1938. Produced by Harry Sherman of "Hopalong Cassidy" fame, the film bestows top billing upon stalwart supporting actor Douglass Dumbrille. Usually cast as a villain, Dumbrille is here seen in a sympathetic role as "good bad man" Pecos Bill, who turned to a life of crime after being falsely accused of murder. In the company of his comic sidekick Frosty (Sidney Toler), Pecos chances arrest by returning to his home town to visit his grown daughter Collie (Charlotte Field). He discovers that Collie is about to enter into a loveless marriage Jack (Weldon Heyburn), the shiftless son of Pecos' former foreman Bellounds (Stanley Andrews), who seems to be in cahoots with an cattle-rustling gang headed by Folsom (Monte Blue). In rapid succession, Pecos ends Folsom's criminal activities, clears the name of his old friend Bellounds, and plays matchmaker for Collie and the boy she really cares about, young Wils (Russell Hayden). To long and expensive to qualify as a mere B picture, Mysterious Rider is one of the best of Paramount's late-1930s "Zane Grey" series.

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Keywords

bad-guy, con/scam, conflict, cowboy, false-accusation, farming, frame-up, good-guy, homestead, innocence, killing, land, name-clearing, revenge