The Riding Tornado

The Columbia cow boy Bs that Lederman made with Buck Jones and Tim McCoy are exemplary and this one is a welcome addition to the collection.

Limited by budget and unpolished early sound technique, we still get those evocative western vistas, lots of hard riding and blazing away with side arms and even a bit of characterisation.

Col Tim is a rodeo rider, who the saloon idlers deride ("Ain't he pretty!") till he sorts them out. Rancher McKee's horses are being stolen, so Tim takes on the job, getting into a confrontation with foreman McDonald and stopping a range war with neighbor Love, who must have thought of his brief footage as slumming. This film has a surprisingly strong cast.

There is a rendition of "Bloom is on the Sage" in which our hero doesn't join but the piece lacks background music. That would have helped the stampede in particular - instead of that creaky wind track.

It is difficult to comment about Columbia Picture's 1932 release of Riding Tornado starring Tim McCoy because the only readily available DVD release (Return To The Past #450) is from very substandard source material which may be VHS.

Whatever the source, it is very soft, much surface noise, intermittent lines, and varying density/contrast which makes some scenes extremely dark. Also, there are intermittent missing frames. However, the soundtrack is decent. So, if you want to listen rather than watch then the RTP release on DVD will suffice. Otherwise, this is difficult to watch and therefore even more difficult to pass judgment regarding the story and acting.

Shirley Grey co-stars and Ross Lederman directed. Burt Kempler wrote the screenplay. Tim plays a rodeo champion rider hired to uncover the mastermind behind a gang of rustlers.

This is only for fanatic Tim McCoy fans who don't know of better sources even if only VHS. Paying more than one dollar for this DVD is a waste of money.