The Roaring West

Buck Jones is Montana Larkin with his trusted sidekick Jinglebob (Frank McGlynn Jr.) are superb in this 15 episode series. Gil Gillespie (Walter Miller) is the best at claim jumping with the creme of the crop henchmen Charlie King, Tom London and Slim Whitaker. In these situations, Buck needs to team up with the 'King of the Silent Serials' William Desmond and great western leading lady Muriel Evans. Jinglebob and his brother Clem (Harlan Knight) have a hard time securing the location of the gold-rich land which makes for some interesting battles with the villains. Montana is locking horns with Gillepsie's rustling, robbery and claim-jumping throughout the series whilst keeping the flame alive with gorgeous Muriel Evans. Other notable parts are from Italian actress Eole Galli, the high pitched Tiny Skelton and minstrel and vaudevillian George Ovey. Of course Buck's faithful horse Silver has some screen stealing moments of his own.

This 1935 Western serial starring Buck Jones is so good, it makes most other serials of the 1930's look weak and puny by comparison!

For one thing, just judged as a Western, this is an outstanding movie. There is a big cast, and in every episode, many of them are galloping hell for leather on horseback! Buck Jones rides his longtime favorite horse, Silver, and there are beautiful scenes of them racing along. There are good sets and lots of action. One thing I liked: there are fistfights, but they don't take up too much time and they don't feel repetitive. There is a freshness and an originality about this serial, which are very refreshing.

I have seen a lot of movies of the 1930's, but until I watched this one, in a very nice recent dvd from VCI, I had not previously seen any of these actors or actresses, which surprised me. Buck Jones's sidekick, "Jinglebob," is very entertaining. If you like Westerns, you owe it to yourself to see this one. It's a jewel.