rljones-8 Reviews

The Valley of Vanishing Men (1942)

Fun for we who still believe in the heroic and, idealistic romance

[8/10 · 8 June 2011]

The Bill Eliot Columbia Serials are the best serial westerns. The music itself, stirring and melodramatic, matches the settings, story and cast which, for a serial, have Epic proportions. While Overland With Kit Carson has real West location in desert and mountain forests, "Valley" makes good use of the familiar Iverson Ranch/ Chatsworth CA movie location. Republic serials, Westerns and otherwise, simply did it to death. It is now a high price suburbia. In both "Valley" and "Kit Carson' the bad guys are quite original creations and a convincing atmosphere of meanness and evil pervades throughout. The historical slant of Valleyis a cut above the usual Hollywood western. Slim Summerville's comic relief is also above the usual old codger role and is entertaining. Like Republic's "Painted Stallion" serial, "Valley" is into the struggles and intrigues of the "new" free Meico of Juarez in the new territory of New Mexico. Both Valley and Kit Carson I number in the ten best serials.

The Painted Stallion (1938)

Classic Western Ahead of Its Time

[8/10 · 21 December 2007]

First, the film location for this serial was the desert country east of St George, Utah, famous today for Arches and Capitol Reef National Parks and the Moab adventure rock country. It was made famous by Zane Gray in his Rainbow Trilogy anchored by Riders of The Purple Sage.Had this movie been made a mere three years later it would have been breathtaking. As it is it has a genuine punch. Republic fans now know the great William Witney was rushed into the directorship because his boss was stoned, and never gave up his seat, a mere twenty one. There is a real and natural feeling in this serial, a genuine sense of myth such as we get from the classics. The scenes of The Rider, a beautiful and mysterious girl who shoots singing arrows( this would have been my choice for the title) and wears a long "Chief's" head dress, are memorable. A scene, well into the movie, in which she and her painted stallion are trapped in a box canyon, is one of the best done and convincing things I've ever seen. Music lovers will hear echos of Wagner and Litz in the sound track( Les Preludes, by Litz, was used for Flash Gorden serials) The plot, while fiction, is well founded in history, and quite plausible It is a stretch to see the beloved Duncan Renaldo as a heavy, however. The La Sal mountains of southern Utah can pass for New Mexico and Santa Fe. It was in blazing the Santa Fe trail that the name Studebaker enters history as a maker of wagons. Including Kit Carson as a boy was another good touch. Today, revisionist history and modern western writers are not so kind, and Colonel Carson comes across as less than honorable in his dealing with the New Mexico Navajo. But it won't ruin the movie which is pretty darned honest as well as mythic.

Adventures of Red Ryder (1940)

Beginning of what should have been a great career

[10/10 · 21 December 2007]

While the plot is old hash today( most notably Blazing Saddles) it was OK in l940. I am still haunted by the tragic later life of Don Barry. He was really talented and lifted this Saturday western serial genre to another level, although the supporting cast of Republic regulars were top notch thespians. As always, the sound track music(OL Sussana) was superior to anything Hollywood had to offer, and for me, added greatly to the action. I though Barry handled certain scenes as well as James Cagney in The Oklahoma Kid( avenging a father's death down to the last man) Although he had reached the age of 70, Barry was still trying to salvage his image when he shot himself in the presence of police apparently following a domestic quarrel. The great Burt Lancaster, it seems, had been trying to help him. Considering that for twenty nine westerns he was paid between one and two hundred thousand dollars by Republic and had many many parts into the TV era, we ordinary folk must wonder what these people do with their money. But the magic of today's technology enables us to see them at their very best, thank heaven.

King of the Texas Rangers (1941)

Modern Western with WWII Overtones

[6/10 · 4 December 2007]

A cynic might say this is King of the Royal Mounted in the Texas oil fields, but it has its own atmosphere. Sammy Baugh does not attempt to overstep either his role or his acting ability and comes across as well as any of Republic's western stars. He is surrounded by pros, especially the bad guys, and has the ever popular Duncan Renaldo as a right hand man. There is an ample mixture of horses, roadsters, l930s air planes, speedboats, even a Zeppelin and a heroine who is her own man, a professional working girl, a trait for which Republic's B action movies are only now receiving credit. As with many other Republic westerns and serials, the soundtrack music rang in my head all these years and was just as I remembered it.The trick is to tell the Fords, GM and Chryslers apart.

Drums of Fu Manchu (1940)

Possibly best serial ever

[9/10 · 7 November 2007]

I still enjoy Zorro's Fighting Legion and Perils of Nyoka more, but the story, acting and international atmosphere( the scene on the China Clipper is straight out of James Bond) make this serial a class A production. The final scene suggests a sequel as does the mystery of whether Fu Manchu's daughter was actually killed. But WW2 changed our racial profiling, shifting from China to Japan. No more Chinese bad guys, but Pearl Buck movies. But, if a Fu Manchu seemed far fetched at the time, 911 changed that. The Islamic world has several.This may actually be an insult to Fu Manch whose determination and sincerity almost arouse our admiration. Or maybe it is Brandon's brilliant acting.

Perils of Nyoka (1942)

Great music, great fun,

[6/10 · 1 November 2007]

Members of the serial generation view these re-released DVDs in a different light. We took them no more or less seriously than a new generation takes Indiana Jones or 007, characters we immediately immediately recognized as contemporary clones. I have no idea why the title was changed as it doesn't fit. I rate this serial as one of Republic's ten best. Its soundtrack music is first rate and helps overcome a setting which even as kids we knew was north Los Angeles County. But the search for golden tablets by good guys, bad guys, wicked queens and axis spies is simple ground breaking for Indiana Jones. It is a matter of taste how or if you enjoy the various animals that belong to both sides. As kids we thought them a novel touch.