Copyright 19 January 1933 by Paramount Productions, Inc. No New York opening. U.S. release: 20 January 1933. 6 reels. 59 minutes.
Alternative title: The FIGHTING PHANTOM.
Favorite Films' re-issue title was BADMEN OF NEVADA (despite the fact that there are no traditional badmen in the picture and that it's set in Arizona, not Nevada).
NOTES: A re-make of Paramount's 1927 movie, directed by John Waters and photographed by Charles Schoenbaum from a screenplay by Fred Myton and Paul Gangelin. The stars were Jack Holt as Wade, Betty Jewell (Dorothy), Charles Sellon (Harkness), and David Torrence (Mark King). The plot closely resembles this version and, judging by the stock shots incorporated into the talkie, it must have been a very spectacular production indeed! Re-made by Paramount in 1938, again as The Mysterious Rider (alternative title: Mark of the Avenger) starring Douglass Dumbrille - of all people! - as the hero and Sidney Toler as his comic sidekick. The PRC 1942 western of the same title is not related to Zane Grey at all but is an entry in the "Billy the Kid" series starring Buster Crabbe and Al St John.
COMMENT: Warren Hymer is not one of my favorite actors. In fact, I always sigh in despair when I see his name on the credits. So it is with some relief that I can tell you that he's actually almost tolerable in The Mysterious Rider. The accolade for this movie's hammiest actor is stolen from Hymer by young Sherwood Bailey. Cora Sue Collins runs Master Bailey a distant second, whilst our Warren makes a good effort for third. Alas, Kent Taylor is not much chop as the hero either, despite his wouldn't-fool-a-prairie-dog Spanish accent.
On the other hand, Miss Andre (often beautifully photographed in close-up by Archie Stout) makes both a believably delightful and skillfully charming heroine; whilst the villains are invigoratingly portrayed by blustering Berton Churchill, insidious Irving Pichel and calculatingly crooked Clarence Wilson.
Fans of Gail Patrick are warned that her role runs for a piffling amount of screen time - about a tenth that allotted Miss Collins!
I've not come across director Fred Allen before. Looking him up, I see that he's a film editor who seems to have specialized in westerns. His films include The Lone Rider (1922) with Denver Dixon, The Canyon of Adventure (1928) and a whole heap of other films with Ken Maynard. Certainly, Allen has handled this entry competently enough and has definitely inserted the silent material with such smooth and deft scissoring that only the darkness of the original images gives the game away!
Alternative title: The FIGHTING PHANTOM.
Favorite Films' re-issue title was BADMEN OF NEVADA (despite the fact that there are no traditional badmen in the picture and that it's set in Arizona, not Nevada).
NOTES: A re-make of Paramount's 1927 movie, directed by John Waters and photographed by Charles Schoenbaum from a screenplay by Fred Myton and Paul Gangelin. The stars were Jack Holt as Wade, Betty Jewell (Dorothy), Charles Sellon (Harkness), and David Torrence (Mark King). The plot closely resembles this version and, judging by the stock shots incorporated into the talkie, it must have been a very spectacular production indeed! Re-made by Paramount in 1938, again as The Mysterious Rider (alternative title: Mark of the Avenger) starring Douglass Dumbrille - of all people! - as the hero and Sidney Toler as his comic sidekick. The PRC 1942 western of the same title is not related to Zane Grey at all but is an entry in the "Billy the Kid" series starring Buster Crabbe and Al St John.
COMMENT: Warren Hymer is not one of my favorite actors. In fact, I always sigh in despair when I see his name on the credits. So it is with some relief that I can tell you that he's actually almost tolerable in The Mysterious Rider. The accolade for this movie's hammiest actor is stolen from Hymer by young Sherwood Bailey. Cora Sue Collins runs Master Bailey a distant second, whilst our Warren makes a good effort for third. Alas, Kent Taylor is not much chop as the hero either, despite his wouldn't-fool-a-prairie-dog Spanish accent.
On the other hand, Miss Andre (often beautifully photographed in close-up by Archie Stout) makes both a believably delightful and skillfully charming heroine; whilst the villains are invigoratingly portrayed by blustering Berton Churchill, insidious Irving Pichel and calculatingly crooked Clarence Wilson.
Fans of Gail Patrick are warned that her role runs for a piffling amount of screen time - about a tenth that allotted Miss Collins!
I've not come across director Fred Allen before. Looking him up, I see that he's a film editor who seems to have specialized in westerns. His films include The Lone Rider (1922) with Denver Dixon, The Canyon of Adventure (1928) and a whole heap of other films with Ken Maynard. Certainly, Allen has handled this entry competently enough and has definitely inserted the silent material with such smooth and deft scissoring that only the darkness of the original images gives the game away!