The Mysterious Rider

Douglas Dumbrille played a lot of villains and pompous targets for comics, but in one or two westerns, he got to play a good guy. In THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER, from a Zane Grey story, he's Pecos Bill, who's heading back to his old stomping grounds. He's working under a fake name, because he's wanted for murder.

It takes half an hour for the details of this story to come out, and another half hour to settle matters, but he's surprisingly warm and straightforward and competent here. There are also a few people playing roles that will surprise you. Sidney Toler shows up as Dumbrille's amiable and nasty sidekick who turns out to be a cook, and Russel Hayden takes a break from the Hopalong Cassidy franchise.

Some good location shooting in the Arizona dessert caps off this Harry Sherman production for Paramount. Doubtless he got to spend more money than a Poverty Row B producer, but it shows on the screen.

Between cranking out Hopalong Cassidy movies at Paramount, Harry Sherman got this Zane Grey novel adapted into a film. Utilizing the same sets that Hoppy did, Pop Sherman turned of all people into a cowboy hero, Douglass Dumbrille.

This definitely rounds out the career resume of this character actor, to be cast as the cowboy hero, he who has played so many memorable villains in film history. Two years earlier Dumbrille played his most memorable serious villain as the lawyer Mr. Cedar in Mr. Deeds Goes To Town and three years after this film, Dumbrille would be his most memorable comic villain as the Marx Brothers foil in The Big Store.

Here Dumbrille is cast as Pecos Bill a notorious bandit who was forced into that life because he was framed for a murder. He had to abandon his ranch and small daughter 20 years ago to his foreman who took over the property.

After a stage holdup Dumbrille gets nostalgic for the old place and he and his sidekick Sidney Toler decide to visit the old homestead incognito and maybe gain for the daughter her rightful inheritance.

The girl has grown up into Charlotte Field and she's got both the new owner's son Weldon Heyburn and foreman Russell Hayden after her. The new owner is played by Stanley Andrews and there's Monte Blue in the cast as well who figures in things quite prominently.

There's a bit more plot if somewhat contrived than is normal for a B western of the time in The Mysterious Rider. But with the exception of Douglass Dumbrille, the rest of these character actor fit comfortably in the roles they are normally cast.

And as for Douglass Dumbrille, I could almost get used to him as a good guy.

There is more than adequate financing for this Paramount effort, fourth cinematic interpretation of the Zane Grey novel, second with sound, and producer Harry "Pop" Sherman, creator of the William Boyd starring Hopalong Cassidy series, utilizes the extra funding to mount a generally well-crafted piece, although fiscal considerations cause a change in the film's lead as veteran supporting player Douglass Dumbrille replaces an always bothersome George Bancroft due to the latter's customary excessive salary demands. In this most faithful version to the original, stage nurtured Dumbrille is cast as Pecos Bill, a masked Robin Hood figure of the old west, a cover for his true persona, Ben Wade, who was falsely accused of murder 20 years before. Accompanied by his comical partner Frosty (the future Charlie Chan, Sydney Toler), Ben returns to the crime location to exact retribution, a risky business, but he has come as well to see his grown daughter and is able to assist her to avoid an inappropriate marriage while committing to her true love, a ranch hand played by Russell Hayden. The film moves along crisply under the well detailed direction of reliable Lesley Selander until a flagrant continuity flaw occurs involving Frosty, not recovering, while additionally a viewer will find it difficult to imagine Dumbrille in his vigorous role, despite excellent stunt work and valuable participation by cinematographer Russell Harlan, editor Sherman Rose, and old hand Western players Monte Blue, Earl Dwire and Glenn Strange.

It's a truism, more true in Hollywood than anywhere else, that the book is better than the movie.

Not, I'm finding frequently, when it comes to Zane Grey books.

"Mysterious Rider" was the rather generic title of Grey's book that was made as "Mark of the Avenger," also a rather generic title.

Again, Maurice Geraghty turned an excellent story into an even better screenplay, with enjoyable dialog moving along the exciting action.

Douglas Dumbrille as a cowboy ... I still am having some difficulty fully accepting it, but by gosh he was great! He was as at ease as any long-time cowboy star and thoroughly believable, because he was a star-quality actor, one of the best.

Sidney Toler, whom I had seen once recently in a similar best-pal role, still surprised me: He was perfect!

He and Dumbrille are just excellent actors, likable and believable in roles that are not what they were or became famous for. Excellent.

Russ Hayden is again a good-looking, likable, downright perfect cowboy, a fine actor in parts like this, and who should have become one of the biggest cowboy stars.

There are other superb actors, and some familiar cowboy faces, that make this an almost perfect movie, one I watched in a rather poor-quality print at YouTube, but which I would watch again.

There might be better prints around, and I hope you find one, but I really hope you get to see this excellent B western, well directed, well photographed motion picture that should leave you as it did me, thoroughly satisfied and ready for more.

Ben Wade decides to return to his father's old ranch 20 years after he was framed for a murder and his foreman (who framed him) took over the ranch. In those 20 years, Wade had become the Pecos Kid, highway bandit, who's also had Frosty Kilburn tag along. No one recognizing him, Wade is given the job of tending the hounds by William Bellounds (who framed him). Rustling has been a problem at the ranch, but Bellounds does little about it since a) its not legally his ranch and b) evidence might point to his son Jack, a former convict, who has connections with the head of the rustling gang cap Folsolm. Wade dons his Pecos Bill disguise riding teaming with ranch foreman Wils Moore, who seems to be in trouble at the ranch cause of his love for Collie, the actual ranch owner and Wade's daughter (she's unaware of both facts) and later when accused of leading the rustling gang with Pecos Bill. Wade learns more about the rustlers' actions and, with Frosty, have a showdown at their headquarters in the desert. Excellent B western, even though this may be considered a B+. Unlikely casting here works, considering Dumbrille and Toler may be the oddest of western pairings but both give great performances. The film is more plot and character driven rather than the emphasis on action and Selander's direction really makes that decision succeed. The Saguaro Forest in Arizona made for some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in any western, most notably in the film's shootout climax. Rating, 10.