Bandoleiro Mascarado

Rex Bell is a polo-playing easterner whose father, Wilfred Lucas, has a half-interest in John Elliott's ranch. Bell has an interest in Elliott's daughter, Helen Foster, but no interest in the West. Rustlers have been hitting the ranch hard, and Bell recommends his father sell out, much to Miss Foster's contempt. When Elliott's and Miss Foster head back out west, Bell decides to study up on the subject by reading pulp magazines. Then Julian Rivero breaks into his house, fleeing from a botched robbery at the next mansion over. Bell hires him, and they head out west to figure out who the rustlers are. They put on big, bushy beards, sunglasses, and 15-gallon hats. They halt Miss Foster on her ride, with Bell putting on a potted Mexican accent proclaiming himself Don Juan.

Thanks to writer Wellyn Totman and director John McCarthy, it all comes out right in the end, if you're willing to overlook the posse riding to the rescue before, during, and after the big showdown. I'm confused about B-movie editing in this period. During the late silent era, the editing of the Gower Gulch westerns was brisk. With the advent of sound, and the need for dialogue, you'd expect the action sequences to be even more briskly edited. Instead, they got considerably worse for more than half a decade. The humor here is too broad even for my taste, but it may not be for yours.