Mascot's first all talking serial, "The Lone Defender" (1930), allowed the movie going public to hear Rin Tin Tin bark for the first time, their next one "Phantom of the West" was the first talkie for popular Western star Tom Tyler. Tyler was one of the few silent screen Westerners to make a smooth transition to talkies. He was surrounded by silent screen stalwarts William Desmond and Tom Santschi as well as Ken Maynard's brother Kermit and his leading lady was cute Dorothy Gulliver, fresh from "The Collegians" series.
When escaped convict Francisco Cortez claims he did not kill Jim Lester's father (the crime he was incarcerated for) he also tells Jim (Tyler) that there are seven men in town, one of whom is the guilty one. When a sheriff's posse ride over to the ranch Cortez's disappearance coincides with the appearance of a masked phantom who is the leader of a ruthless gang called "The League of the Lawless". He begins to leave threatening notes around the town claiming if the guilty man does not confess all seven will die!!! Initially it looks like cute Mona (Gulliver) is under a cloud of suspicion - she is the daughter of Cortez, she confesses to leaving one of the notes and she is making it extremely difficult for Jim, she even rides off when he falls during a horse stampede!!
I found the serial pretty good - as with most of the serials I have seen, the plot only seems to come together in the last few episodes. There are some pretty exciting cliff hanger endings - a fire where the phantom carries Mona downstairs, Mona being rescued by fighting horses and Mona escaping from prison - if it wasn't for Mona this serial would fall pretty flat!!! There is some excellent stunt work which kept the action flowing. I have seen a few Westerns from the early sound period and mostly all action stops when conversation takes place - this is not the case with "The Phantom of the West".
The one weak point is Tom Dugan who plays the "light relief" - a stuttering deputy sheriff (where is Roscoe Ates when you need him)??? For once the villains are a surprise - one of them starts out bad then midway through seems to be ousted as a good guy, obviously to put the audience off the scent!!
When escaped convict Francisco Cortez claims he did not kill Jim Lester's father (the crime he was incarcerated for) he also tells Jim (Tyler) that there are seven men in town, one of whom is the guilty one. When a sheriff's posse ride over to the ranch Cortez's disappearance coincides with the appearance of a masked phantom who is the leader of a ruthless gang called "The League of the Lawless". He begins to leave threatening notes around the town claiming if the guilty man does not confess all seven will die!!! Initially it looks like cute Mona (Gulliver) is under a cloud of suspicion - she is the daughter of Cortez, she confesses to leaving one of the notes and she is making it extremely difficult for Jim, she even rides off when he falls during a horse stampede!!
I found the serial pretty good - as with most of the serials I have seen, the plot only seems to come together in the last few episodes. There are some pretty exciting cliff hanger endings - a fire where the phantom carries Mona downstairs, Mona being rescued by fighting horses and Mona escaping from prison - if it wasn't for Mona this serial would fall pretty flat!!! There is some excellent stunt work which kept the action flowing. I have seen a few Westerns from the early sound period and mostly all action stops when conversation takes place - this is not the case with "The Phantom of the West".
The one weak point is Tom Dugan who plays the "light relief" - a stuttering deputy sheriff (where is Roscoe Ates when you need him)??? For once the villains are a surprise - one of them starts out bad then midway through seems to be ousted as a good guy, obviously to put the audience off the scent!!