Ghost Patrol

Ghost Patrol (1936)

** (out of 4)

Airplanes begin falling from the sky so a Depertment of Justice worker (Tim McCoy) begins to investigate. Before long he uncovers a group of people using a death ray machine to bring the planes down.

GHOST PATROL often gets credited for being in the Western genre that mixes in horror elements. There aren't any ghosts on display and the film really isn't horror but it does fall into the science fiction field as the story itself is rather ambitious or at least a lot more interesting than you typical "C" Western from this era.

The film actually borrows heavily from the previous year's film AIR HAWKS from Columbia, which was about a mad scientist (Edward Van Sloan) using a ray to bring down planes. The setting here is obviously that of a Western but the story makes for a quick hour and there's no doubt that the story is interesting enough to keep you entertained.

McCoy certainly has no problem playing the hero and makes it look quite easy.

When a woman finds out that a plane which has crashed in the forests in Shiloh, she immediately pulls out another clipping about her father inventing a new ray (but not a new Bob) and immediately, not really too sure how, puts the two together that they're related. And she's right! Bag guys have kidnapped her father so that the ray machine (which makes a LOT of noise) can bring planes carrying loot down from the sky (you know this is happening when the plane sound effects go off and on). FORTUNATELY, Tim Mccoy, still wearing the biggest cowboy hat ever known to man, is also going to Shiloh to check things out! Will they figure out the mystery of why planes are going down in the area before the plane full of G.I.'s to help Mccoy in the mystery is affected by the ray? (why would they take a plane in the first place?), will Dad and Daughter reunite? Will Mccoy ever aim his gun? Tune in to find out. Well, you don't have to. It's not much of a movie, lots of implausibilities. Fortunately, Mccoy is always a hoot, and the hybrid of Western / Sci Fi is always interesting.

Tim McCoy is a government agent looking into how various mail planes are being knocked out of the sky. Pretending to be an outlaw, he and his buddy end up battling crooks with a spectacular ray that shorts out engines.

This brief little western is an okay time killer. It would be better if it didn't have as many stretches of watching the planes falter in the air or guys riding horses. Its an odd mix of "now" and old west with radios, planes, and the typical western stuff so that it some who seems anachronistic. The acting is good, especially when it comes to Tim Mc Coy's hat which is so huge that it borders on parody (If most hats are ten gallon, this is 100). Actually the cast is pretty good since its packed with character actors from top to bottom.

If you run across I'd give it a shot on a slow night. If nothing else its a movie to pick apart for numerous continuity errors and weird shifts in logic.(for example- why do they keep flying over the same place when planes are always crashing there?)

And while you're at it see if you can make sense of the title when compared to the actual content of the film.

This is first and foremost a western. I wouldn't put any science-fiction label on it, even with the "special ray" (which actually looks more like part of an electric chair set-up and makes way too much noise for my tender ears) that causes the engines of planes to fail, which is the basis for the investigations, and which most of the plot revolves around. There are some amusing scenes, which aren't great, but good for a bit of entertainment.

In case you don't know what's going on when you are actually watching the movie, there will be plenty of shots and references to two newspaper clippings from start to finish! Try not to fall asleep when it cuts to the newspaper clippings each time. For slow readers, I guess. This never really works, as by the time I understand that I am supposed to actually read parts of the article, it is already too late to get more out of what I am seeing and the scene changes.

Tim (from the Department of Justice) taking over the character of the bad guy to fool the other bad guys isn't really very convincing and of course he has to have an annoying sidekick to generate what little amusement unfolds.

You've got to love that enormous white hat with matching scarf (Tim's outfit) which always seems to be in perfect placement regardless of what happens! Simply unbelievable! The "lesson on hitchhiking" is somewhat amusing at any rate, as are the scenes on the wagon about twenty minutes in.

I must comment on the extremely annoying amateurish soundtrack, especially the sound of when each plane's engine begins to fail, which sounds a lot more like someone playing with the button on a tape player as it is playing the sound of a plane engine in the distance! For quite awhile in the first scenes, I thought the movie itself (the sound) was actually very messed up, until I understood it was SUPPOSED to sound like that. You can even hear the clicks of the heads making contact with the recording (and other aspects of a recording not playing right) as you are watching it!

4/10. I would have given it 5/10 were it not for the highly annoying soundtrack. It was also saved by Tim's giant white hat and scarf, which gives the movie somewhat of a cartoon feel, along with Tim's penguin-like stance and manner and bizarre way of shooting (which looks more like he is playing darts). Enjoy it on a late night with cold pizza that was left over, or something.

I actually like Westerns set in contemporary times and find the added science fiction elements kinda interesting. While I consider Tim McCoy to be a somewhat lackluster personality, this outing was good enough that I watched it to the end. When movies include newspaper shots, I always quickly scan adjoining articles just for the fun of it. I was thus intrigued when the kidnapped scientist Professor Brant's daughter compares two newspaper articles, the articles were on screen for so long, that it was possible to scan other article headlines, one of which had the title "100,000 Chinese live in trees after flood." Just out of curiosity, I did a quick search and learned that there was indeed a major flood of the Yangtze River in 1935. There were a number of major floods in China in the early 30s so it's not unlikely that sadly someone was having a bit of fun with the "living in trees" business. The best thing about watching this movie was then being able to understand how funny the review of the movie by Spuzzlightyear was – I shall long remember "Will McCoy ever aim his gun"?