A Rider of the Plains

When my Dad was a boy in the late 1920s, he spent a lot of Saturday afternoons at the local theater watching cowboy movies. One of his celluloid heroes was Tom Tyler, and that is why I purchased this dvd. It turned out to be a pretty good western, despite its cheap production values and Alpha Video imprint. Tom Tyler was a tall, handsome fellow, who in both looks and voice, reminds one of a young Gary Cooper. He wasn't much of an actor, but "A Rider of the Plains" gave him a rare opportunity to appear in a good yarn about bandits who change for the better under the influence of a good woman (Lilian Bond) and a needy orphan boy (Andy Shuford). These are the themes that would be more fully developed later in "Shane" and "Hondo," but this was 1931, and we need to make allowances for the evolution of sound equipment and bulky cameras. My Alpha Video print was a little washed out, but still watchable, and there was a humming sound that was persistent, but not intrusive. Another reason to like this movie is the presence of Lilian Bond, a vivacious British actress who made the transition to Hollywood, and appeared in many quality films including "The Old Dark House" with Charles Laughton and "Air Mail" with Gloria Stuart, both in 1932, and "The Westerner" with Gary Cooper in 1940. In "A Rider of the Plains," Bond plays a pretty store clerk who captures the heart of bad boy, Tom Tyler. At just 57 minutes, it's a nice little western to watch when there's just an hour to spare before that trip to the bunkhouse.