Rocky Mountain Mystery

this is a pretty good western.but it's not just a western.it's also a mystery.actually it's probably more of a mystery than a western.it's short clocking in at around 65 minutes,but it's a pretty good movie.it stars Randolph Scott,Anne Sheridan,Kathleen Burke,Florence Roberts,Howard Wilson,Charles 'Chic' Sale,Mrs.Leslie carter,George F. Marion,among others.i thought it was well done.it had a nice atmosphere,and wasn't wholly predictable.the acting was good by all concerned,and the story was interesting,but similar to another western i remember seeing.though i can't recall weather this movie came out before that one or not.by similar story,i don't mean the general outline and formula that most westerns follow.i mean that some of the story details and specifics are similar.regardless,i liked it.for me,The Fighting Westerner is a 6/10

This is definitely a "B" type western, but Randolph Scott does his normal star role as Randolph Scott. "Chic" Sale's performance as the "old timer" is very entertaining, the plot is decent, and everything moves along. Some interesting little add ins, like the two dogs. You can also see Ann Sheridan before she learned to act.

All in all a little better than average for this era.

The heirs of the dying owner of a valuable radium mine are being murdered as a mining engineer tries to uncover the killer and clear his cousin's name.

Though set in 1934, this film is set in a western parallel universe with only an automobile at the end giving it away. It's a tautly-strung mystery with an enticing creepy atmosphere, some good characters especially the scary looking Mrs Borg, and that horribly sounding stamping machine. It's quite nail biting at times. Scott, in his early appearance, does well as does the sheriff he helps. It's creaky at times, but that can add to the creepiness.

Rocky Mountain Mystery exists in that parallel universe where the old west never really ended but continued on well into the nineteen-thirties and forties, usually inhabited by Gene Autry, Roy Rodgers, Tex Ritter, and sometimes even a very young John Wayne.

The characters ride horses, use oil lamps to light their way, and seemingly live a frontier existence under territorial law, all with six-guns on their hips. The viewer either forgets or is unaware that this is supposed to take place in modern times when suddenly the cowboys encounter modern cars, telephones, radio, and electricity. I sometimes wonder if the depression era children who were the films' main audience actually believed the west was really like this.

This is an above average B-western and a great example of what modern experts are calling "horror western" due to their odd plots and sadistic mystery villains. I prefer to call them mystery or suspense westerns.

Rocky Mountain Mystery effectively mixes an Old Dark House plot with frontier themes. It's not as chilling as I'd like but it does have a creepy fiend dressed in black complete with gloves, hat, and cape; a killer that prefers to crush heads in a hydraulic press but isn't afraid to menace a pretty girl with a straight razor either! The ending is quite surprising and well plotted.

My primary interest in seeing this movie was to catch an early appearance by 'Sheridan, Ann' (qv) where she actually appears in a few scenes and not just in a bit part. She does a nice job with this early effort but is hampered by some fairly clunky dialog. I'd dare any actress to make this dialog come alive, never mind one who is just starting out.

Aside from Miss Sheridan, Randolph Scott is good as the lead but he is also a victim of a story, and script, that doesn't have much to offer. But at a running time of only an hour and combined with an early glimpse of a future star, there are worse ways you could spend an hour.