À Procura do Assassino

A fighting foreman exposes the local judge as the culprit behind a frontier town's dwindling silver supply in a fast-paced shoot-em up starring Allan Lane. This is a pre-Rocky Allan series, but not any different. It has the formula of chases, shoots and then some, and of course the diabolical schemes of Glenn Strange who is charming as well as being a smart sidewinder. The way he shoots his partner and frames Peggy Castle is clever, but Allan Lane and his sidekick are there to save her. Eschewing psychological or character study, Silver City kid - there's no reference to such character in this film - is a straight-forward, straight shooting western programmer designed to keep you anticipating the moment the bad guy gets his up-commence.

As was the case in many series westerns, the title of the movie had nothing to do with the plot. First of all there's no silver in the story, its an unpronounceable metal (molybdenum) that is used to harden steel. Secondly, there is no one in the cast identified in any way as The Silver City Kid.

Having said all of that, this movie is one of a series that starred Allan Lane in the days before he became Red Ryder and "Rocky" Lane. Lane is Jack Adams the foreman of the Clayton Ranch. Owner Steve Clayton (Lane Chandler) is murdered when he finds out why bad guys Ballard (Harry Woods) and Banker Stoner (Frank Jaquet) are trying to convince him to sell his ranch. It seems that a rich deposit of the ore is right under the ranch.

Clayton's sister Ruth (Peggy Stewart) and Adams and his pal Wildcat (Wally Vernon) take up the fight. There's plenty of action including a pretty good saloon brawl and a couple of gunfights, before the baddies are brought to justice in the final reel.

Director John English keeps the story moving and Republic's expert stunt people keep the action scenes exciting and entertaining. And there is the usual supporting cast of veteran players. In addition to those already mentioned, there is Glenn Strange as the chief henchman and Tom London as the sheriff. Stuntman Tom Steele even has a small role as "one of the boys". "Twinkle" Watts is along for the kiddies as, you guessed it, Twinkle.

Allan Lane had appeared in a few serials at Republic in the early 40s before getting this series. This I believe, was Wally Vernon's only appearance as Lane's sidekick.