The Lone Ranger

It never ceases to amaze me the historical variations that our movies, but especially those old time serials would have us believe. This one has Texas out of the Civil War when in fact General Richard Taylor's army there was the last to surrender. In any event Reconstruction has come to Texas and Abraham Lincoln has started it.

Frank McGlyn is once again Abraham Lincoln has appointed a tax collector for the reconquered Texas. But bandit Stanley Andrews has hit upon a real moneymaker of a scheme. He captures and kills the real tax collector and assumes his identity. Then the bandits start collecting in earnest.

When Andrews massacres a group of reconstituted Texas Rangers the story of how Tonto played by Chief Thundercloud rescues the lone survivor comes into play. The gimmick here though is that there are five guys any one of them could be the real Lone Ranger.

In the television series the Ranger often dropped the white outfit and the mask and used disguises as an undercover method of law enforcement. He was primarily masked though. Here he walks around like Don Diego de la Vega, but when trouble comes he dons the mask more like in the Zorro tradition. And we never see Tonto in the serial except when he's riding with the Ranger.

Not till the last chapter do we learn who the Lone Ranger is. The others keep getting themselves killed and they are eliminated one by one. Like overturning the shells at a carnival sideshow to find the elusive pea.

The assassination of Lincoln is worked in as George Cleveland is sent to investigate the Texas situation as to why there still is so much unrest in Texas. His mission gets good and compromised by John Wilkes Booth.

I saw an abbreviated version of the serial and it's as silly as most of those serials back in the day were. I'll take my Lone Ranger straightforward thank you.

"The Lone Ranger" is yet another classic from the Republic thrill factory, one of the best serials ever. It has fine acting (for a serial, anyway), exciting action, thrilling music, and a clever and intelligent plot. Part of the fun is that, unlike most films of this genre, the villain is well-known; the characters (and audience) have to figure out which of the five male leads is the masked Lone Ranger.

I wish I could say "The Lone Ranger" was as exciting to watch as other classic serials as "Spy Smasher" or "Adventures of Captain Marvel," but... unfortunately, due to the serial's divergence from the official Lone Ranger image, most copies were apparently destroyed. My public-domain copy is pieced together from Mexican and French copies, and rendered almost unwatchable by poor picture quality, Spanish subtitles from the Mexican prints, and horrible dubbing in the French prints. The overall effect of the film's state makes it almost unwatchable, but the sheer quality of the movie itself somehow manages to shine through.

If ever there were a film that richly deserves all the benefits of a full restoration, this is it: digital remastering, a new audio track, this serial needs it all!

Somebody needs to come to the Lone Ranger's rescue!

Contrary to what my friend from Italy thinks, the Lone Ranger is not a bank official. He calls him the Loan Arranger. Sorry about that. This is a fairly good serial installment on the origin of the Lone Ranger. Although I prefer the TV version, this one is not too bad. I particularly liked the savage methodology of the antagonist, who mercilessly kills anyone who stands in his way. This type of behavior was not possible to be seen on the TV show, where everyone was "winged" (shot in the shoulder) I believe the Lone Ranger and Tonto must have been winged a dozen times or so. Fun to watch.

This is simply the best serial ever made and it's a crying shame that the original print has been lost (or destroyed as some claim). It was filmed at Lone Pine, Ca., the perfect location for the perfect serial. The 1940 condensation "Hi Yo Silver" is too short, leaving out many key elements, but for dyed in the wool fans of the original its better than nothing.

My copy of the serial is pretty ragged, with Spanish subtitles, but I understand is the only copy available. Too bad. This serial is what all serials should be and seldom are.

."The Lone Ranger"....with Lee Powell starring along with other "Rangers"& ,you do not know who really is the masked man, until the final chapter...! But there are great production sequences of action and suspense...throughout each episode. Republic Pictures Studio knew how to make the Serials that moved fast and offered realistic action. This 15-minute super-serial has been "lost" until now, and hard-core fan-collectors could only hope that a good original print could be found and offered to the public on Video.. now if only it could be colorized...and done correctly! But... It's a winner the way it still is today!