Above: A chapter card for THE PHANTOM RIDER (Universal, 1936), showing Buck Jones and Marla Shelton.

THE PHANTOM RIDER

Universal, 15 Chapters, 1936. Starring Buck Jones, Marla Shelton, Harry Woods, George Cooper, James Mason, Frank LaRue, Diana Gibson, Charles King, and Silver.

After misfiring with THE ROARING WEST, director Ray Taylor and screenwriters Basil Dickey, Ella O’Neil, and George Plympton seem to have gotten back on track for their final collaboration with Buck Jones, THE PHANTOM RIDER. PHANTOM RIDER isn’t quite up to THE RED RIDER or GORDON OF GHOST CITY in terms of overall quality, but it’s nevertheless a highly satisfying and enjoyable serial.

The Phantom Rider of the serial’s title is in reality Buck Grant (Buck Jones), an undercover State Ranger who uses his mysterious get-up to protect the homesteaders and small ranchers of Hidden Valley from a gang of outlaws who have been terrorizing them and trying to force them into selling their land. The outlaws’ mysterious leader has prior knowledge of the railroad’s plans to extend their line through Hidden Valley, and intends to buy up all the land in the area before the railroad begins to purchase directly from the small ranchers. The biggest obstacle to the outlaws’ domination of the valley is the Grayson ranch, biggest spread in the valley. Old Grayson, the owner, is murdered by the bad guys just after discovering a rich gold claim, but Buck Grant comes to the aid of Grayson’s daughter Mary (Marla Shelton) and puts a stop to the villains’ evil schemes, despite being framed for murder, dropped down a mine shaft, and suffering various other inconveniences.

THE PHANTOM RIDER, like Jones’ other cliffhangers, has a very simple plot, but the simplicity helps the serial rather than hurts it. Unlike THE ROARING WEST, PHANTOM RIDER isn’t overloaded with supporting characters, and the leads (hero, heroine, villain, sidekick, and henchmen) are allowed to stand out in an uncluttered storyline. Such subplots as the framing of Buck Grant for murder and the villains’ attempts to keep the heroine from locating her father’s gold mine (the income from the gold will enable her to keep from selling her ranch) are more than enough to keep the serial from bogging down into a simple “tug-of-war,” and to keep the fifteen episodes from ever seeming padded. The chapters seem to fly by, partly because of the laid-back and ingratiating charm that pervades the whole serial. THE PHANTOM RIDER has its share of good horseback chases, lively gun battles, memorable cliffhangers (such as the spectacular scene in which Jones is trapped in the jail as stampeding cattle crash through it) and fistfights, but it’s the wry humor of Buck Jones and of George Cooper as his sidekick Spooky that linger the longest in your memory after the serial is completed.

Jones is great throughout the serial, whether poking sly fun at doltish sheriff Eddie Gribbon (“There’s a lot of brains in that office”), trading wisecracks with Cooper (when the two are besieged in a barn by outlaws, Cooper phlegmatically queries, “Think they’re ready to quit yet?” To which Jones responds, “What’s the matter, you hungry?”), experiencing acute confusion and embarrassment when the heroine sprains her ankle and he’s faced with the task of taking off her boot, or shrugging off the threats of menacing henchmen with a grin. Charisma is pretty hard to define, but Buck Jones definitely had it in spades. Without his unique presence, neither THE RED RIDER, GORDON OF GHOST CITY, nor THE PHANTOM RIDER would be as good as they are.

Marla Shelton is an excellent heroine, intelligent and quite attractive, and plays off Jones in the same enjoyable way that Madge Bellamy, Marion Shilling, and Muriel Evans did, though to a somewhat lesser extent. The deceptively solemn-looking George Cooper, who also worked with Jones in the wonderful B-western FORBIDDEN TRAIL, makes a perfect sidekick for Buck, trading wisecracks with him as mentioned above and often managing to accomplish some important things on his own (as when he thrashes treacherous cowpoke Hal Taliaferro).

The identity of the mystery villain in THE PHANTOM RIDER is pretty obvious, so there’s no reason to keep it a secret. Harry Woods does a great job as the two-faced rancher Harvey Delaney, who pretends to sympathy and friendship with Mary Grayson but who is really out to force her and all the other ranchers out of the valley. Woods manages to be convincingly friendly while talking with Marla Shelton, while also conveying thinly disguised resentment every time he has to deal with Buck Jones. Woods is shot entirely from the back in his scenes with his henchmen, but he nevertheless orders them about with his trademark contemptuous snarl.

James Mason (no relation to the star of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and many other great films) is a good lead henchman, surly, thuggish, and unpleasant. Charles King, surprisingly quick-witted and astute, is the other lead thug, with backup from Jim Corey, Frank Ellis, Charles LeMoyne, Lee Shumway, Tom London, Art Mix, and other reliable members of the henchman “wolf pack” of the 1930s. Paul Regas, Jim Thorpe, and Iron Eyes Cody all pop up as a group of Indian henchmen hired by Woods as “replacements” for his regular men after yet another failure on their part, and Hal Taliaferro is suitably sneaky as Lew, the spy planted at the Grayson ranch.

Helen Shipman adds a few comic moments as the ditzy ranch maid Lizzie, and Diana Gibson is given high billing but nothing to do as Marla Shelton’s friend Helen. Frank LaRue is his usual dignified and imposing self as Jones’ confidant Judge Holmes, and Eddie Gribbon is hilarious as the brain-dead local sheriff (examining a mysterious note, he exclaims, “If I knew whose handwriting this was, I’d know who wrote the note!”). Lafe McKee appears very briefly as the heroine’s father, biting the dust as he did in a hundred other B-westerns and serials, and Matt McHugh pops up in the first chapter as a fellow-Ranger of Jones’ who’s killed by the bad guys.

Joey Ray plays the Grayson ranch foreman and is given prominent billing, but doesn’t do much more than sit around warbling (in an affected, 1930s male-tenor style) a song about Hidden Valley once every couple of chapters. At least his singing is undercut sometimes by amusing comic touches. Much more enjoyable are the occasional cowboy-style musical interludes provided by Cactus Mack and his band, such as “The Old Chisholm Trail.” Incidentally, those serial fans who are fanatical admirers of Priscilla “Princess Aura” Lawson from the first FLASH GORDON serial should look to spot their gal in the saloon during one of Ray’s “Hidden Valley” renditions.

Clem Bevans, one of the screen’s greatest “old timer” actors and veteran of major movies like DAVY CROCKETT AND THE RIVER PIRATES and HANGMAN’S KNOT,, makes a very welcome guest appearance as a cranky and rather paranoid old miner, who nearly kills Jones before becoming convinced of his bona fides (Buck’s half irritated, half annoyed interactions with the crazy old codger are most amusing). And I mustn’t neglect to mention Buck’s horse Silver, who has little to do in the earlier chapters but who emerges strongly in the later chapters, saving the day more than once with his more-than-equine intelligence. I’d almost swear I saw a smile on his face in one chapter, after he’d outwitted a henchman sent to lasso him.

THE PHANTOM RIDER might not be enjoyed by someone enamored of Republic’s slick action marathons, but to a Universal fan it represents all the best elements of their Western serials in general and their Buck Jones Western serials in particular. Ol’ Buck certainly picked a pleasant serial for his starring “curtain call” at Universal Pictures.