The Mysterious Rider

Residents of the town of Laramie, Wyoming which has had a colorful history with its origins beginning as an end of track station for the Union Pacific will be amused that at one time the place became a ghost town. The population was driven off by outlaws who wanted a free hand in finding what was supposed one big gold strike. At least that's what the story in this Billy The Kid western.

Buster Crabbe and Fuzzy St. John fleeing themselves from the law stop to aid a brother and sister going back to Laramie, not knowing the town is now empty and among the missing is their father who sent for them. In fact he's dead and the outlaws want to get their hands on a map leading to the strike.

A weak story is enlivened by the clownish antics of Fuzzy St. John who knew more ways to milk a scene than any other western sidekick. Also the title is once again a misnomer since the Oklahoma panhandle is nowhere near nor is the world panhandle is not even mentioned.

For a 'B' western, this really wasn't so bad. It involved the Matinee duo of Buster Crabbe and Al ( Fuzzy) St. John in the Billy the Kid serials that ran in most every theater in the 40's. This time Bill the Kid (Crabbe) and his humorous side-kick, Fuzzy Q Jones, help a teenage brother and sister that have returned to their small town only to find it has become a ghost town. Seems that someone has ran out or killed all the citizens, all in the name of Billy the Kid, in order to get gold that has been found in the area. The problem is they have killed the man that knows the whereabouts of the gold so they are digging in the area to find the spot.

It is not long before Crabbe, using a fake name of Billy Andrews, finds a map with the location of the gold. In the meantime, the villains have found that Bill Andrews real name is Billy the Kids and plan to get rid of him by any means possible.

The movie was a typical matinee western made by many companies call the 'skid-row' productions. But what was odd about this film is that it was released under two titles. The first title, upon beginning release, was 'The Mysterious Rider' with a running time of 56 minutes. Later when it was re-released the title was changed to "Panhandle Trail' with a running time of 40 minutes. One can only guess that the reason for the title change was the fact that there were many films in the western genre that used the title 'Mysterious Rider'. Even by 1942 there had been three movies title 'Mysterious Rider' with one being re-released about the time this movie made it debut. And with the shorten time, it appears that the movie houses were wanting shorter films before the main feature. By doing this they can get a double feature or even a triple feature at a small fee to attract the local population into paying price for admission.

Having watch both titles, it is apparent that the production company tried to shorten some scenes in order to get to the 40 minutes mark. Some of the shortcuts mainly involved people riding up, or away, on horse-back. So most of the cuts were really of no value. However, there is a big cut at the start of the movie. In the first release, it shows the Marshal and his posse chasing Billy and Fuzzy which relayed how and why Billy was in the area. The cut even had a nice scene of Fuzzy jumping into Billy's arms when he thinks he sees a ghost. -- Another cut involved how Fuzzy and the violin got into the vacant saloon, the shorter cut ending when the violin was found in the teenagers house. Not much was lost with the editing but watching the full film does make you feel more informed..

Another nice watch from the early western work.

The setting is a creepy ghost town where only a few people remain. A couple of kids are cheated out of a gold mine by the man who killed their pappy. Buster and Fuzzy find their lives in danger when they try to intervene.

Buster Crabbe and his sidekick fuzzy are Righting wrongs again in this ordinary western with the usual shoot em up action. Just add a slice of humour and a little creepy atmosphere via a ghost town. The "ghost" scene involving Fuzzy on the violin is a good bit of fun. It's harmless fun with some decent action. Love ghost town westerns and the town is really spacious and appealing..

Billy the kid and his sidekick Fuzzy ride into the recently abandoned ghost-town of Laramie where they fight to protect it's only residents, a brother and sister, from it's crooked mayor and his greedy bandits looking for their murdered father's hidden fortune in gold.

Even though the version I saw (retitled Panhandle Trail) was trimmed down to forty minutes, this is still pretty lackluster compared to other entries in Producers Releasing Corperation's long-running, generally entertaining Billy The Kid series.

There just isn't enough action and thrills to make this episode worthwhile viewing. However, there is a pretty decent gun battle near the end.