Mystery Ranch

"Mystery Ranch" has a pretty neat plot--too bad the film is pretty bad in most other ways. The acting and direction are so poor, that a good story just isn't enough to recommend this film.

Bob Morris (Tom Tyler) is an Easterner who writes cowboy stories. However, some real cowboys in California invite him out--to show him that his stories are inaccurate and that the REAL west was far more exciting. However, what really is going to happen is that these cowboys work for a dude ranch and want to put on a real show--one that will send lots of business their way when Bob writes about what excitement he saw during this vacation. So, to create excitement, they arrange for a fake hanging, a bucking bronco and a runaway wagon--but somehow Bob is able to handle all this like a true cowboy. Later, when Bob and his partner see a robbery taking place, they naturally assume it's also a put-on--but it's actually real and they end up getting caught up in the robbery! Can all this be sorted out? The idea is great for a B-western. Too often, films in this genre were REALLY repetitive and formulaic--but not this one. Too bad that the film is handled so poorly--so poorly that even a good idea cannot overcome the sloppy acting and direction. Worth a look if you are a very forgiving sort--otherwise, you can skip this one.

After seeing a melodramatic film clip taken from the novel of perennial film favorite Tom Tyler, Dad Morris (John Elliot) tells his son, "Any real westerner would laugh at stuff like this". Tom brushes off the rebuke for trivializing the west but takes the chance to face reality with Roberta Gale and her mother, Louise Cabo, who run a struggling dude ranch. Some funny scenes with sidekick Frank Crane and some great action with Jack Perrin, Charles King, Tom London, George Chesebro, and Lafe McKee. A real curio with great action and a lot of laughs.

Tom Tyler writes western novels that read like Pete Smith narrating GOOFY MOVIES. His father chides him. Tom grew up in the West and he knows it isn't like that. Tom replies that his last book sold 50,000 copies, and he's got this letter from a couple of ladies inviting him to stay at their ranch, where the events in his books look peaceful. He figures on going and seeing if he can get any ideas for his next book.

It turns out that Roberta Gale and her mother, Louise Cabo, run a struggling dude ranch. They figure if they make things interesting enough, Tyler will talk up the place. So they plan a few gags, like a lynching and a runaway team. Tyler catches on fast, and decides to have his own fun with the horse with the burr under its saddle and the fake roadside holdup and.... wait a minute. The holdup is real.

It's a real Poverty Row B western, so the production is done very cheaply, and director Bernard Ray was no one's idea of a great auteur. Still, the stuntwork is topnotch, the camerawork is good, and the script is very funny. That makes it a very engaging comedy western.