Tom Tyler (Jim Lester), William Desmond (Martin Blair), Dorothy Gulliver (Mona Cortez), Frank Lanning (Francisco Cortez), Hallie Sullivan (Ruby Blair), Tom Dugan (Oscar), Joe Bonomo (Keno), Frank Hagney (Sheriff Jim Ryan), Tom Santschi (Bud Landers), Philo McCullough (Royce Macklin), Kermit Maynard (Peter Drake), Dick Dickinson (Harvey Stewart), James Carlyle (Sam Hollister), W.J. Holmes (Lafe Johnson), Al Taylor (deputy).
Director: D. ROSS LEDERMAN. Script: Wyndham Gittens, Ford Beebe, Ben Cohen. Photography: Ben Kline and Joe Novak (exteriors), M.A. Anderson (studio interiors). Film editor: Wyndham Gittens. Music director: Lee Zahler. Stunts: Kermit Maynard. Assistant director: Theodore Joos. Sound recording: George Lowerre. Producer: Nat Levine.
Not copyrighted by Mascot Pictures Corporation. U.S. release: 1 January 1931. A serial in 10 chapters, titled as follows: (1) The Ghost Riders; (2) The Stairway of Doom; (3) The Horror in the Dark; (4) The Battle of the Strong; (5) The League of the Lawless; (6) The Canyon of Calamity; (7) The Price of Silence; (8) The House of Hate; (9) The Fatal Secret; (10) Rogues' Roundup. Total running time: 172 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: After serving fifteen years, Francisco Cortez breaks out of jail in an attempt to prove that he was wrongly convicted of the murder of Jim Lester's father.
NOTES: Third of Mascot's twenty-four sound serials.
COMMENT: Chapters one through six are absolutely marvelous. They rate as possibly the best thing director D. Ross Lederman ever did in a 21-year Hollywood career from 1929 to 1950. He is helped immeasurably by Levine's lavish budget and some wonderful pictorial effects achieved by stirring up the dust on actual locations and inspired costuming of the greatcoated night riders.
Unfortunately, Levine's money obviously ran out at the end of chapter six. The remaining episodes are a jerky and even contradictory amalgam of previous footage and long reprises, interspersed with a little bit of new material that appears to have been shot on the run but used anyhow.
Nonetheless, not even inept editing or budgetary restraints can dampen our enthusiasm for Tom Tyler who gives a most ingratiating account of the in-favor, out-of-favor hero. Miss Gulliver is likewise attractive and the support players likewise give their all.
For all the serial's defects and shortcomings, it's impossible to forget such stirring scenes as the spectacular staircase fire or the legion of night riders silhouetted against the evening sky.
Director: D. ROSS LEDERMAN. Script: Wyndham Gittens, Ford Beebe, Ben Cohen. Photography: Ben Kline and Joe Novak (exteriors), M.A. Anderson (studio interiors). Film editor: Wyndham Gittens. Music director: Lee Zahler. Stunts: Kermit Maynard. Assistant director: Theodore Joos. Sound recording: George Lowerre. Producer: Nat Levine.
Not copyrighted by Mascot Pictures Corporation. U.S. release: 1 January 1931. A serial in 10 chapters, titled as follows: (1) The Ghost Riders; (2) The Stairway of Doom; (3) The Horror in the Dark; (4) The Battle of the Strong; (5) The League of the Lawless; (6) The Canyon of Calamity; (7) The Price of Silence; (8) The House of Hate; (9) The Fatal Secret; (10) Rogues' Roundup. Total running time: 172 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: After serving fifteen years, Francisco Cortez breaks out of jail in an attempt to prove that he was wrongly convicted of the murder of Jim Lester's father.
NOTES: Third of Mascot's twenty-four sound serials.
COMMENT: Chapters one through six are absolutely marvelous. They rate as possibly the best thing director D. Ross Lederman ever did in a 21-year Hollywood career from 1929 to 1950. He is helped immeasurably by Levine's lavish budget and some wonderful pictorial effects achieved by stirring up the dust on actual locations and inspired costuming of the greatcoated night riders.
Unfortunately, Levine's money obviously ran out at the end of chapter six. The remaining episodes are a jerky and even contradictory amalgam of previous footage and long reprises, interspersed with a little bit of new material that appears to have been shot on the run but used anyhow.
Nonetheless, not even inept editing or budgetary restraints can dampen our enthusiasm for Tom Tyler who gives a most ingratiating account of the in-favor, out-of-favor hero. Miss Gulliver is likewise attractive and the support players likewise give their all.
For all the serial's defects and shortcomings, it's impossible to forget such stirring scenes as the spectacular staircase fire or the legion of night riders silhouetted against the evening sky.