Riders of Death Valley is a 1941 American Western film serial from Universal Pictures. It was a high budget serial with an all-star cast led by Dick Foran and Buck Jones. Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor directed. It also features Lon Chaney Jr. in a supporting role as a villainous henchman[1] as well as Noah Beery Jr., Charles Bickford, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Monte Blue, Roy Barcroft, Richard Alexander and Glenn Strange.
| Riders of Death Valley | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ford Beebe Ray Taylor |
| Written by | Basil Dickey Oliver Drake Sherman L. Lowe Jack O'Donnell George H. Plympton |
| Produced by | Henry MacRae |
| Starring | Dick Foran Leo Carrillo Buck Jones Charles Bickford Guinn "Big Boy" Williams Lon Chaney Jr. Noah Beery Jr. |
| Cinematography | Jerome Ash William A. Sickner |
| Edited by | Saul A. Goodkind (supervisor) Joseph Gluck Louis Sackin Alvin Todd |
| Music by | Charles Previn |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 15 chapters (283 minutes) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Plot
editThe villainous Wolf Reade and his gang set out to discover the location of a lost mine and lay claim to it.
Cast
edit- Dick Foran as Jim Benton, vigilante hero
- Leo Carrillo as Pancho Lopez
- Buck Jones as Tombstone
- Charles Bickford as Wolf Reade, villain hired by Kirby and Davis
- Guinn "Big Boy" Williams as Borax Bill
- Lon Chaney Jr. as Butch, one of Reade's henchmen
- Noah Beery Jr. as Smokey
- Jean Brooks as Mary Morgan
- James Blaine as Joseph Kirby, one of the mastermind villains
- Monte Blue as Rance Davis, the other mastermind villain
- Glenn Strange as Tex, a Benton Rider
- Roy Barcroft as Dirk, one of Reade's henchmen
- Jack Rockwell as Trigger, one of Reade's henchmen
- Ethan Laidlaw as Rusty, one of Reade's henchmen
- Richard Alexander as Pete Grump, one of Reade's henchmen
Production
editRiders of Death Valley was Universal's "all-star, high-budget western cliffhanger."[2] It provided a lot of stock footage for later serials.[3]
Stunts
edit- Jack Casey
- Leroy Johnson
- Gil Perkins
- Ken Terrell doubling George J. Lewis
- Duke York
Chapter titles
edit- Death Marks the Trail
- The Menacing Herd
- The Plunge of Peril
- Flaming Fury
- The Avalanche of Doom
- Blood and Gold
- Death Rides the Storm
- Descending Doom
- Death Holds the Reins
- Devouring Flames
- The Fatal Blast
- Thundering Doom
- Bridge of Disaster
- A Fight to the Death
- The Harvest of Hate
Source:[4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Cline, William C. (1984). "Filmography". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 229–230. ISBN 0-7864-0471-X.
- ^ Harmon, Jim; Donald F. Glut (1973). "14. The Villains "All Bad, All Mad"". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Routledge. p. 361. ISBN 978-0-7130-0097-9.
- ^ Harmon, Jim; Donald F. Glut (1973). "12. The Westerns "Who Was That Masked Man!"". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Routledge. p. 319. ISBN 978-0-7130-0097-9.
- ^ Cline, William C. (1984). "Filmography". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 229–230. ISBN 0-7864-0471-X.
External links
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