Deadwood Dick

Adrian Booth Brian a.k.a Lorna Gray tells the story about one scene in Deadwood Dick where she and the hero are standing on a platform during some type of celebration. The heavies stampede a bunch of cattle down the main street and the hero and Adrian have to duck out of the way. Unfortunately, proper protective measures weren't taken and the cattle crashed into the platform just as Adrian and the hero are making their escape. Adrian said after the dust cleared, the assistant director came over to her and said "I hope you didn't lose your hair ribbon because we don't want to shoot it over again." That along with other reasons is why she was glad to leave Columbia.

Imagine having those two titles on your resume, but the fantastic James M Horne did, and we are all better humans for the result. This is a good serial. I saw it in the 70s screened each Sunday night in a Sydney Suburban cinema at their 6pm session with two whopper features ( eg: GUNS OF NAVARONE + GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER or HELLO DOLLY + CALL ME MADAM etc) and to a usually packed house. Well, if UNDERSEA KINGDOM wasn't enough, the scream of delight when DEADWOOD DICK hit the screen was enough to lift the roof. Inventive and genuinely entertaining, DD has some great set pieces, one especially is that The Mask or whoever bad-dude has a hideout behind a waterfall and the henchmen have to get off their horses, turn off the waterfall and reveal the cave behind....all very clever and silly. And then turn the waterfall back on again. It takes Dick about 3 months of episodes to realize why the hoof prints in the river sand 'disappear' at the waterfall's edge! Geez! Dick would gallop about on his trusty horse and the usual chasings and fights would go on for weeks...actually months, because this thing ran 15 episodes, one a week!! Seasons even changed before this serial was over. Great fun.

Details of the film are sketchy as it was viewed in the early forties - a Saturday afternoon matinee. The character Deadwood Dick intrigued me for his horsemanship (flying mounts) and the fact that he wore a full, black face mask when chasing the evildoers. I hoped for more of Deadwood Dick, but never saw him again.

Deadwood Dick is available from collectors at The Serial Squadron. It pits Deadwood Dick against the evil Skull in a fast paced western of 15 chapters. It features Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickock characters as well. This a very good effort from Columbia studios and is directed by Laurel and Hardy director James Horne. There is humor but it goes hand in hand with the action.