Riders of Black Mountain

In the old silent film days, studios often filmed stories without a script or the barest of scripts. Sennett Studio in particular worked using this seat of your pants method...telling actors to 'do funny things' and with only the vaguest of instructions from the director! This method, of course, wouldn't work with sound pictures and was soon abandoned. However, the Tim McCoy film "Riders of Black Mountain" looks almost like they filmed it the Sennett manner! Why? Because so much of the story really makes no sense and McCoy's character behaves very oddly to say the least.

I could try to explain the story, but it ain't easy. McCoy comes to town on the stage pretending to be a professional gambler. He's really a US Marshall there to find out why the stage has been robbed so many times. But he doesn't let the honest local sheriff know and sometimes McCoy's plans seem goofy...such as when he holds up the Sheriff and has him free his prisoners! Don't try to understand it too much...it might give you a headache!

I am a big Tim McCoy fan and have seen most of his westerns....which is NOT an easy task. But it does help me to understand that the McCoy films, while low budget, could be exceptional....and this one sure wasn't!

There has always been something majestic and regal about Tim McCoy's presence in film, and his presence in "Riders of Black Mountain" carries this even a notch or two higher than normal, what with him always being cloaked in a long black gambler's coat and sporting a sharply-cut black hat, less grandiose than his normally-worn super-sized white one; yes, he dons this attire even when riding at breakneck speed on horseback, and he looks sharp for sure!

This picture was produced toward the end of the Colonel's leading-man days (1940) at the lower-budgeted PRC studios, and they didn't throw too many extra morsels into this one. Still, the cast come across as earnest and involved, even if the story is somewhat threadbare and could have used an extra peek by the story editor. Most of the action in this one is on horseback, with variously-sized groups of men riding here and there and everywhere all the time. I was impressed to see the stagecoach riders actually rocking back and forth during the interior on-board scenes. The outdoor scenery , of which there is plenty, is beautiful, too.

In summary, "Riders of Black Mountain" would be dull and uneventful if it were not for Tim McCoy being at the helm; however, because he is leading the way the film is indeed watchable.