Desert Phantom

Billy Donovan comes to a Texas town and gives sharp-shooting exhibitions in his guise as an ammunition salesman for the Gigantic Shell Company, but is in reality searching for the killer of his brother-in-law who also caused the death of his sister. Bill meets Jean Halloran, who has received several notes signed by "The Phantom" ordering her to vacate the Double Bar-A ranch near an abandoned gold mine. The only other occupant on the ranch is Tom Jackson, her stepfather, who is a cripple, with both legs paralyzed. Billy also learns that Salazar, the town's most noted shot, is looking for him. Could he be the phantom?

Desert Phantom is a mystery-western, which is a rare combination, meaning you have to dig a little to find it, and it's quite an entertaining one, probably better than The range Buster, which has the same story. Johnny Mack Brown lends some star power in this good western which has a plot with the adequate enough twists and suspense- loved the mine and its hidden staircase.

Desert Phantom (1936)

** (out of 4)

Billy Donovan (Johnny Mack Brown) shows up in a small town looking for his sister's murderer but he ends up working on a ranch after being asked by Jean (Sheila Bromley). Pretty soon Billy is trying to figure out who the mysterious Phantom is.

DESERT PHANTOM is a remake of the 1932 Harry Carey film THE NIGHT RIDER and it appears this was remade yet again in 1940 as THE RANGE BUSTERS. This version here isn't nearly as good as the 1932 film but there are a few worthy elements that make it worth viewing if you enjoy these types of Westerns. For starters, the film throws in a good mystery (as long as you haven't seen the original) and I think fans of that genre should enjoy this too.

Johnny Mack Brown appeared in countless Westerns but I think it would be a lie if you called him a good actor. He certainly had a certain image that worked well on the screen but performance wasn't his great thing. The supporting players are all pretty bland as well. The film offers up a mix of comedy as well but this too is rather bland. DESERT PHANTOM isn't a horrible movie but it's just kind of routine.

Most B-westerns of the 1930's to the 1950's followed well worn plot lines. There is a reason that they were called programmers since they often seemed to have been made by a program. They tended to be popular since they gave the audiences exactly what they wanted with out too much effort. As a rule I'm not a big fan of them simply because they are so cookie cutter like.

Cookie cutter or no they did allow for the rise of many heroes, Roy Rogers, Gene Autrey,John Wayne, Johnny Mack Brown rose to star status because through force or personality they could take a run of the mill plot and make it seem fresh. Here we have Johnny Mack Brown doing what he did best, giving us a better than average western tale for our hours enjoyment.

In Desert Phantom we have the story of a gun and ammo salesman, a seeming city slicker, getting hired by the pretty owner of a ranch to help uncover the reason that someone is trying to kill or drive off anyone who comes near the place. Its your standard issue plot but through Johnny Mack Brown's personality and better than average direction the film actual is an enjoyable western. While you may be able to put a group of suspects together its not instantly apparent who the headman is. Sure there are clues but there are enough red herrings to raise doubts.

Run of the mill or no I liked it and I stayed put all the way through to the end which isn't always the case with westerns from the period. (though admittedly I do prefer the films of Mack Brown who turned out consistently better films)

I give it 8 out of 10 on the program western scale. Your results may vary based upon your tolerance for these sort of things.

I have always enjoyed B-western stars like Johnny Mack Brown and Tim McCoy because they were NOT super-handsome nor did they sing. They were pretty much the antithesis of folks like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry because they seemed more real to me. However, I must also admit that in the case of Brown, an awful lot of his films were rather poor because of the writing. Fortunately, this is NOT the case with "Desert Phantom". Aside from one stupidly written character, the film is a winner.

The film begins with Brown playing a traveling ammunition salesman. His routine is to go into western towns dressed as an Eastern dude and put on a shooting exhibition. However, in this particular town, a pretty lady is so impressed by his shooting skills that she offers to hire him, as she's had some unknown phantom shooting folks on her ranch! She hopes he's able to get to the bottom of all this.

While eventually there is the big showdown and you learn why all these shootings have occurred, there is a very odd diversion in the form of the lady's step-father. He is among the strangest characters I've ever seen and his story simply is baffling--and is a case of a writer really missing the mark. See the film and you'll understand what I mean. HOWEVER, the rest of the movie is quite exciting, has some excellent twists and is memorable because it gives Brown a chance to show just how good he could be in the lead. Well worth your time.