Serial of the Month: Gordon of Ghost City
Trevor graciusly offered me a copy of Gordon of Ghost City (1933) along with The Monster and the Ape (1945), and I selflessly accepted his offer for no other reason than to magnanimously review it on my site. (Checks to see if anyone is buying this, sees they are not and decides to act like previously self serving statement wasn’t made.) All kidding aside it was very gracious of Trevor to offer me two for one and after watching I knew I had to feature it here as soon as I could.
Rancher John Mulford (William Desmond) is being plagued by rustlers swiping a great deal of his stock. The rustlers are secretly being led by Mulford’s ranch foreman Rance Radigan (Walter Miller) who has been sneaking the stolen cattle across the border and selling them in Mexico. Radigan returns to the ranch along with the totally ineffective Sheriff (Dick Rush) after another in a long string of failed attempts to catch the rustlers.
While Mulford is berating both his men and the Sheriff’s posse’s uselessness drifter Buck Gordon (Buck Jones) rides up on Silver (Himself) with two rustler’s in tow and the evidence to convict them. Buck explains he saw them skinning a calf out on the range and when he got closer they took a shot at him, so he captured them and brought them to Mulford as it was the closest place he could find. The hide turns out to have Mulford’s brand on it.
Mulford turns the men over to the Sheriff and immediately hires Buck to be his range detective and drive the rustlers out of the area. Radigan isn’t pleased with the idea and not unreasonably argues that they don’t know anything about Gordon and he could be a part of the gang trying to infiltrate the ranch and send inside information to the rustlers. Mulford counters with the also not unreasonable fact that Gordon is the only one who has gotten any results so far. The matter is settled when word gets back that the gang rescued the arrested rustlers. Mulford gives Buck a free hand to deal with the rustlers.
Buck gets to work right away and breaks up a rustling attempt, knocking one of the men off his horse, Buck then uses the animal to lead him to the gang’s hideout. The horse leads him to Ghost City, an old abandoned mining town. The horse goes right to a feeding stall, proving to Buck that he is in the right place. A man starts sneaking up behind Buck but is shot by an old man (Francis Ford) hiding in the stable barn, who then disappears down a trap door.
Buck goes looking for the shooter and runs into a young woman (Madge Bellamy) sneaking around the town. He thinks she shot the man and chases her. When he catches the woman she accuses him of shooting the man. Things are further complicated when they find the body that had been laying in the middle of the street is gone.
Buck goes to investigate the barn when the rustlers arrive in full force. Spotting the girl they grab her and are shot at by Buck. Throwing her in a wagon, the gang ride off. Buck jumps on Silver and heads off in pursuit. The gangg scatter and Buck goes after the wagon. Jumping aboard, Buck fights with the driver, knocking him off as the horses break free, leaving the wagon rolling wild. Buck goes to jump off the wagon with the unconcious woman in his arms when the wagon vears off the road and over turns, rolling down a hill and smashing into a tree……….
Like Heroes of the West (1932) and it’s remake Flaming Frontiers (1938), Gordon of Ghost City is based on a story by prolific western author Peter B Kyne. Comparing them, I find this one the better of the two stories, with a more interesting romance between the leads and the added benefit of a mystery man causing trouble for heroes and villains alike.
The romance between Jones and Bellamy is one of the more amusing ones attempted in serials, with the early chapters having them bicker continually and even after they have become allies, and the girl explaining about trying to protect her crippled father’s gold mine from the rustlers, the two still fight continually. The funniest is in Chapter Two when Bellamy tries to steal Silver and Jones just sits back and watches as his horse keeps returning her to him while her frustration mounts. Also amusing is when Bellamy tells Jones she loves him in Chapter Ten and he looks like he’s been punched in the gut. After several attempts to respond, he says he’ll be back and rides off, leaving her looking dazedly surprised.
The action is what you would expect coming from Universal at this time. There is plenty of hard riding and shootouts between the good guys and the bad guys. But the real high light are the fist fights, which are a little different. Jones has a signiture move he uses on his opponents in every fight, running at the man and then at the last minute jumping up and kicking the guy in the chest with both feet. It’s a visually interesting move and really stands out among the usual fisticuffs serials were using at the time.
Of course acting wise the serial is great, with Jones giving a powerful performance as the lead. He is tough and steely eyed, like a western hero should be, but he also displays a playful sense of humor, like the horse stealing scene. He also pops off some great one liners. My favorite is after about the third time he has captured the same henchman and is angrily tying him up again, quips “You’re getting to be a nuisance!”
Madge Bellamy is a good compliment to him, tough and feisty, fighting both Jones and the rustlers with equal vigor, then finally softening to Jones and giving him big soulful looks with her Bette Davis eyes. One of her best scenes is after she has been caught in an explosion in Chapter Eight and is unresponsive to Jones’ pleas to wake up. So he kisses her. She immediately wakes up and slaps him, reasurring Jones who cracks, “Yep, you’re alright.”
Perpetual old timer Tom Ricketts plays Bellamy’s cranky father. Confined to a wheelchair due to a mine cave in that killed his partner, Ricketts portrays an angry and frustrated man who hates that he has to depend on Bellamy and eventually Jones to do the things he should be doing. Though constantly complaining he is never whiny or morose. He also proves that he is not a man to be mesed with, taking out a few rustlers himself when they attack his farm house.
Willaim Desmond adds an authorative tone to the serial with his stern and crusty ranch owner. He is one of those characters who is always yelling at his men, but beloved by them because he really cares and is a fair boss. Desmond allows a little softness to come through in his occasional amusement at Jones’ fumbling romance with Bellamy, becoming a father figure of sorts to Jones.
As the main villain, Walter Miller is in top form as the sneaky, conniving Radigan. This is one of Miller’s best villains, ruthless and crafty, he easily convinces both Jones and Desmond he is one of the good guys. But he is also not one of those cowardly villains who tries to avoid any personal confrontations with the hero, Miller gets in on plenty of action and is always ready with a quick spin on the facts to cover himself.
Helping him is Bob Allen as his assistant on the ranch. Allen is unfortunately undersused , doing little more than running messages to Ethan Laidlaw as the head of the gang while out on the range. Laidlaw is the one who takes on Jones for most of the serial and is an effective and nasty opponent, keeping his men in line by shear force of personality, while sneering and snarling threats at Jones and Bellamy when he occasionally gets the upper hand.
Stealing the serial is Franci Ford as the mystery man. Cackling manically about gold while in his tunnels under the town, he continually pops up unexpectedly throughout the serial, taking pot shots at the rustlers and the heroes alike for trespasing on his property, giggling like Tod Slaughter on steroids, he is the most entertaining aspect of a highly entertaininng serial.
Well, I really can’t end this review without commenting on the infamous still that crops up in books on serials, most notably in Weiss and Goodgold’s To Be Continued…., where Jones is pulling Bellamy up through a trap door and looks like he is coping a feel from the way his hands are wrapped around her chest. Didn’t see it in the actual film. I didn’t even see a scene where he pulled her up out a trap door. I don’t know if it was a deleted scene from the finished film or a posed publicity shot. Either way, it’s not in the serila. Sorry if I have disappointed any inner adolescents who haven’t seen this serial yet.
