Texas to Bataan

In the 17th of the 24 'Ranger Busters' movies, John 'Dusty' King, David Sharpe (replacing 'Crash' Corrigan), Max Terhune, and Max's ventriloquist dummy, Elmer, foil some Japanese an German spies who are trying to arm 'every enemy national in the United States' by smuggling Japanese rifles through Texas. Soon enough, they are conveying some horses they've sold to the Army to Manilla, where they run into exactly the same people.

Not to mention this movie was released five months after the Philippines fell, so they had to have a brief epilogue to cover a situation that was unanticipated when this was first greenlit for production. Roy Luby does a decent job of editing in the can for speed, although the interactions with Terhune's dummy are awkward for everyone. The Range Busters movies were obviously intended for a very young audience, and were probably shot incredibly cheaply. Nonetheless, cinematographer Robert E. Cline gets some nice shots in of the extended riding scene shot at Corriganville. King sings three songs, one of his own composition. It's not quite dire, but if you've seen any of these, I have the feeling you won't need to see this one.