poster

1941

NR (07/01/1941) (US)

Action, Western,

4h 43m

65

User Score

A MILLION-DOLLAR SUPER SERIAL! With a thousand teeming thrills in 15 exciting chapters!

Overview

The Saturday matinee crowd got two cowboy stars for the price of one in this lavishly budgeted western serial starring former singing cowboy Dick Foran and Buck Jones. The latter contributed deadpan humor to the proceedings, making Jones perhaps the highest paid B-western comedy relief in history. The two heroes defend the Death Valley borax miners from an outlaw gang headed by Wolf Reade. An extraordinarily strong cast -- for a serial, at least -- supported the stars, headed by Charles Bickford as Reade, Leo Carillo, Lon Chaney, Jr., and silent screen star Monte Blue. Leading lady Jeanne Kelly later changed her name to Jean Brooks and starred in the atmospheric RKO thriller The Seventh Victim (1943). Universal claimed to have spent $1 million on this serial and made sure to get their money's worth by endlessly recycling the action footage in serials and B-westerns for years to come.

1941

65

User Score

NR (07/01/1941) (US)

Action, Western,

4h 43m

A MILLION-DOLLAR SUPER SERIAL! With a thousand teeming thrills in 15 exciting chapters!

Overview

The Saturday matinee crowd got two cowboy stars for the price of one in this lavishly budgeted western serial starring former singing cowboy Dick Foran and Buck Jones. The latter contributed deadpan humor to the proceedings, making Jones perhaps the highest paid B-western comedy relief in history. The two heroes defend the Death Valley borax miners from an outlaw gang headed by Wolf Reade. An extraordinarily strong cast -- for a serial, at least -- supported the stars, headed by Charles Bickford as Reade, Leo Carillo, Lon Chaney, Jr., and silent screen star Monte Blue. Leading lady Jeanne Kelly later changed her name to Jean Brooks and starred in the atmospheric RKO thriller The Seventh Victim (1943). Universal claimed to have spent $1 million on this serial and made sure to get their money's worth by endlessly recycling the action footage in serials and B-westerns for years to come.

Cast

Dick Foran

Dick Foran

Jim Benton

Leo Carrillo

Leo Carrillo

Pancho Lopez

Buck Jones

Buck Jones

Tombstone

Lon Chaney Jr.

Lon Chaney Jr.

Henchman Butch

Jean Brooks

Jean Brooks

Mary Morgan (as Jeanne Kelly)

James Blaine

James Blaine

Joseph Kirby

Monte Blue

Monte Blue

Rance Davis

Glenn Strange

Glenn Strange

Tex, a Benton Rider

Roy Barcroft

Roy Barcroft

Henchman Dirk

Jack Rockwell

Jack Rockwell

Henchman Trigger

Ethan Laidlaw

Ethan Laidlaw

Henchman Rusty

Richard Alexander

Richard Alexander

Henchman Pete Grump

Frank Austin

Frank Austin

Chuckawalla Charlie Morgan [Ch. 1]

Charles Thomas

Charles Thomas

Rimrock [Ch. 4]

William Hall

William Hall

Dan Gordon [Chs. 1, 8-10]

James Guilfoyle

James Guilfoyle

Judge Knox [Chs. 2, 13-14]

Ernie Adams

Ernie Adams

Cactus Pete, Prospector [Ch.14]