User reviews

THE UNKNOWN RANGER, starring Rex Ray (one of two roles listed for him on the IMDb) was a 1920 release, "presented" by Nathan Hirsh, a familiar name for z-grade movie fans, as his "Aywon" film company lasted into the mid-1930s. The copy I viewed ran about 41 minutes. It seemed complete, although it could be a later abridged version as one or two of the inter-title cards were clearly of a later vintage than all the others, so the film was reissued later. Other intact credits on the film are "supervised by Harris Gordon" (a Harris Gordon is listed as an actor in a few dozen films of the teens and twenties); photographed by Arthur Boeger (photographer on a number of films in the late teens, including another Aywon production that stars Rex Ray); and "edited by Martin G. Cohn" (editor on many films up through to the 1950s--I notice that he was involved with many of the Ambassador-Conn films of the 1930s, his name rang a bell as I am a big Frankie Darro fan!). Rex Ray, who vaguely resembles a leaner Tim Holt from a distance, is a ranger sent to the "Devil's River" area near the Mexican border to work undercover (with a "cover" job at a local ranch, the Sleepy O) and find someone involved with opium smuggling across the border. The first character introduced in the film, Ray's love interest, is Jo Blair, played by Marie Newell (the title card that introduced her character was a later reissue one, and did not include the actress' name). She is a wispy, post-Mae Marsh lady, who vaguely resembles Mary Kay Place as a thinner silent film heroine. A stranger, posing as a New York author, played by Ben Hill who gets his own title card announcing his character and the actor's name, claims to be seeking "a little local color," but when he is seen with a gun, Rex Ray begins to wonder what's going on...also, Ray remembers seeing the stranger somewhere before. 40 minutes is a good length for this kind of film as it allows more plot development than a two-reel short, but it isn't drawn out any longer than it needs to be (although the fourth reel drags a bit). The independent, states rights distributed silent western is a fascinating genre--a small percentage of those made survive in any form today, and no doubt some "stars" of these films are not remembered at all. In the small backwater towns of the Midwest and southwest, this kind of fare was standard--I have talked to older folks who saw these kind of films, and my father saw some of them in the mid-1920's. There's not much original going on here, but since the film is shot on a shoestring and has NO sets whatsoever, it's an interesting window into a world long gone. Structurally, the film has two flashbacks, both utilized when characters are recounting past actions for the benefit of other characters. The final scene between the hero and the villain was something of a surprise (I won't give it away), and gives an added level of depth to the film. Although a piece of genre product churned out for a particular audience at a particular time and no doubt considered disposable to some extent once it had been played out on its distribution circuit of c-level theaters in small towns, THE UNKNOWN RANGER still entertains, and fans of obscure indie westerns will not regret spending 40 minutes in Devil's River with Rex Ray.

Aside from what now appears as clumsy day-for-night shooting (at least in the black-and-white print under review which does NOT reproduce the picture's original tints), this is a beautifully photographed little pic, almost entirely shot on daringly picturesque locations on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border, where the danger-laden cliffs of the Devil's River region provide a startling background for the first and second stages of the triple action climax. Both Ray and Hill do their own daring stunts, while Miss Newall plays the waif equally convincingly. The direction by actor, Harris Gordon, is remarkably proficient – especially considering this seems to be his only venture behind the camera, though he can also be spotted on-screen here as one of the villains.