I have to often wonder about Republic’s cavalier attitude toward their serials’ source materials. Their infamous blowout with Timely Comics (now better known as Marvel Comics) over the arbitrary changes to Captain America had to be the height of arrogance on the part of the company even if they were justifiably the best action picture studio in Hollywood. I can only imagine how Fran Striker and George W. Trendle must have been horrified about the treatment of their flagship property The Lone Ranger. If it wasn’t bad enough in the first serial having him be one of five suspected Texas Rangers in a reversal of the mystery villain plot line, the second one has him becoming an American version of Zorro complete with a secret identity know to only a trusted few, plus an extra sidekick. It must have been especially galling to the creators to see their character walking across the silver screen unmasked much of the time. No wonder Universal got the rights to The Green Hornet.
The serial opens with a group of outlaws known as The Black Raiders, so called because they wear black hats and shirts, burning down homesteader houses in the San Ramon valley. Juan Vasquez (Duncan Renaldo) is horrified to find his brother shot up and dying. His dying words say The Lone Ranger did it. Juan vows to kill The Lone Ranger and begins hunting.
Many days later he comes upon a wagon train of homesteaders heading for San Ramon and led by Jed Scott (William Gould), who tells Juan that The Lone Ranger is just ahead of them searching for a watering hole for their train. Juan finds The Lone Ranger (dubbed by Billy Bletcher) and Tonto (Chief Thunder Cloud) at a stream, and challenges the masked man to a duel for the murder of his brother. The Lone Ranger disarms Juan and makes a deal with the embittered man. He asks for just three days to look into what’s going on in San Ramon, at the end of which he will face Juan in whatever setting the other man chooses. Juan grudgingly accepts the deal.
After riding hard for two days, the three men come to the outskirts of the valley. Juan wakes up on the morning of the third day and finds The Lone Ranger and Tonto gone. Convinced now of the man’s guilt he rides for San Ramon. Along the way he spots the Black Raiders waiting to ambush Scott’s wagon train. Juan rides to the train and warns them in time for them to circle their wagons.
The Raiders attack but are driven off. One of the Raiders is captured and Juan recognizes him as a ranch hand of Craig Dolan (J. Farrell MacDonald), a cattle baron who considers most of the valley to be rightfully his. Juan, along with Bill Andrews (Robert Livingston) who had just recently joined the train, take their prisoner to Dolan. The gruff and abrupt cattle man claims their attacker had been fired over a week ago. Then he gives a little tirade against homesteaders, calling them nesters, and complaining about how they destroy good grazing land by plowing it up to make farms.
Just then his niece Sue (Jinx Falken) and nephew Bart (James Dunn) enter and want to know what is going on. When it is explained both are shocked that their uncle should be accused of being involved in the trouble happening in the valley. Bill suggests that if Dolan would meet with Scott they could iron out their differences amicably. Both Dolan and Bart are adamantly opposed, but Sue convinces her uncle that the idea has some merit as a peaceful solution to the animosity between the two parties and gets him to agree. After Bill and Juan leave to take their prisoner to the local sheriff, Bart rides off into the hills and meets with Black Raiders leader Thorne (Glenn Strange). Bart is behind the raids as a way to keep the nesters out of the valley, feeling that his uncle’s belief in doing things legally is a foolish and naive sentiment in this fight. He has a plan to get rid of the latest party of nesters.
That night at the local saloon, Scott is waiting to meet Dolan when he is approached by Doc Grover (Ernie Adams) who says he has some important information about Dolan that Scott will need before they meet. The two men go into a back room where immediately someone shoots Doc through a window. Scott returns fire and starts to climb out the window after the killer but is stopped by the just arriving townspeople.
He is understandably accused of the crime. Dolan comes into the saloon and hearing what has happened, erupts into an inflammatory diatribe against those “dirty, back shooting, murdering nesters” that incites the people into a lynch mob. The sheriff arrives and quells the mob, then arrests Scott.
As they are crossing the street to the jail, The Lone Ranger comes up out of nowhere, knocks the sheriff over and spirits Scott away on a horse. This is seen by Juan and Bill, who jump on their horses and head off in pursuit. When the quarry separate, Bill heads after Scott while Juan closes in on The Ranger. Bill catches up with Scott and persuades the man to return to San Ramon and give himself up to the sheriff.
Juan meanwhile has cornered The Ranger, who tries to shoot Juan from hiding. Juan returns fire and avenges his brother’s murder. Bill rides up and helps Juan unmask The Lone Ranger, who turns out to be another of Dolan’s ex-ranch hands. Before dying, the man says Doc isn’t dead, it was all a set up to frame Scott and the supposed dead man is now hiding somewhere out of town.
Juan is a little confused about the Ranger’s identity, he has known the dead man at their feet for some time he couldn’t have been the same person Juan spent two days with on the trail. Bill says that Juan is right because he is in fact The Lone Ranger. He had started the ruse of Bill Andrews so he could nose around and find out who is in back of the Black Raiders. Both men are convinced it must be Dolan and make plans to find where Doc is hiding.
The next day Bart has Thorne send a man among Scott’s train and start a rumor that the townspeople are going to lynch Scott without a trial. The homesteaders go to the jail and demand Scott’s release. The sheriff refuses and orders the men to return to their camp. Juan convinces the homesteaders that they are making a mistake by using force this way. As they start to leave, a Black Raider fires into the crowd from hiding, causing a shoot out to commence with the homesteaders caught between the sheriff and the Black Raiders. A stray shot hits an oil lamp which sets the jail on fire. The sheriff and his men rush outside, leaving Scott locked in a cell in the burning building.
The Lone Ranger and Tonto gallop into town on Silver and Scout. Tonto hops off his horse and helps the homesteaders defending themselves against the Raiders, while The Ranger dodges bullets and rushes to rescue Scott. He manages to get the keys to the cells and unlock Scott’s cell door. Scott has been overcome by the smoke and The Ranger goes to help him. Just then part of the ceiling collapses and a flaming timber jams up against the cell door, blocking it shut and trapping the two men as the flames creep closer and closer…
Watching the serial I can see what must have rankled Trendle and Striker beyond tolerance. Most of the episodes have their hero joining in on discussions with the settlers or listening in on conversations among the towns people, learning of trouble, riding out of town, changing into The Lone Ranger outfit so that he can return on Silver and put a stop to the trouble. That was always Tonto’s job on radio. Tonto went to town, gathered information, returned to Kemosabe, and then they would ride in together. Here Tonto is kept on the fringe of the action as “Bill Andrews” does all of that, and even gets involved in some heroics on his own, sans mask. Tonto’s sole function seems to be to rescue The Lone Ranger from about every third cliffhanger.
To play Devil’s Advocate, I would have to argue “Bill Andrews” is never stated as being The Lone Ranger’s real identity, it is an character he adopts for the situation, much like the old prospector and Eastern dude disguises he sometimes used on radio. And let’s face it, if you’re a popular western star fans are going to want to see your face, otherwise why even have a name actor in the role, especially since Republic loved using a full face mask for their Western heroes.
While they may have played fast and loose with a lot of the character’s more recognizable aspects, the most important part of his character was kept intact. The Lone Ranger never takes a human life. He does get in a slew of shoot outs but it is never shown that any of The Ranger’s bullets kill any of the outlaws. Some could argue that he instigated the main villain’s demise, but the scene is ambiguous as to whether or not The Lone Ranger intentionally killed the villain or if he just didn’t have time to stop what was happening and the villain stupidly blundered into his own trap.
This is a well paced serial made at Republic’s peak of action film making. There is a nice progression in the story ark as the homesteaders work steadily toward building farms and The Lone Ranger foils the Black Raiders attempts to thwart them. There is an interesting twist in the final chapters, with the villain, having been exposed decides to stop playing around and just destroy everyone and everything in the valley, if he can’t have it no one can.
Republic does an interesting thing with the serial’s music. Everyone knows that The Lone Ranger’s theme is the William Tell Overture, but Republic is justifiably famous for their original scores. So they split the difference. The main title music and most of the incidental cues and action themes are original. Then at the final minutes of each chapter when The Lone Ranger appears the William Tell Overture comes roaring out of the soundtrack, giving his exciting entrances the force of a sledge hammer and a perfect example of less is more.
The acting is all top notch and contains some unexpected complexities among both heroes and villains. Robert Livingston is his usual jovial, cocky self as Stony Brooke…er…I mean Bill Andrews. But when he puts on the mask he is a dynamic and forceful character. Some would argue that once the mask goes on we are just looking at a stunt man, but I disagree. Livingston has a distinctive way of moving that no one else does and there’s not a B Western fan worth his salt who can’t spot Livingston’s patented hat cocked over the left eyebrow style in the way The Lone Ranger wears his ten gallon hat.
Both Duncan Renaldo and Jinx Falken play conflicted characters. Renaldo’s character is the more complex. He starts out an angry and bitter man seeking revenge, who softens up after killing his brother’s murderer, and eventually becomes a selfless hero like The Lone Ranger and Tonto, even riding off with them into the sunset at the end . Sadly as the serial progresses he gets moved farther and farther into the background, like Chief Thunder Cloud (real name Victor Daniels) who is the most under used character in the serial.
Jinx Falken’s character doesn’t go through a transition, she plays good person who is caught in the middle of the conflict. She effectively plays someone who is loyal to the cattlemen, yet feels that the homesteaders have a right to farm and that there is room for both in the valley. Her best scene is in Chapter Four when she rushes to get help for the Lone Ranger and isn’t believed by Renaldo and the homesteaders because she a cattlewoman. Her justifiable angry reaction is perfect and we are on her side when she vows not to help them again. Later when they find out she was telling the truth and apologize to her, her acceptance is full of grace and dignity. Unfortunately after this great moment she too is pushed into the background.
James Dunn as the main villain does a good job, but his character is so straight forward that even when he is trying to ingratiate himself with the townspeople as a solid citizen, he comes off as antagonizing and angry. He is just plain nasty and can’t seem to grasp he is constantly giving himself away to the heroes with his venomous attitude and tone.
What keeps him from being found out till toward the end is J. Farrell MacDonald. He gives the most multi-layered performance in the serial. Not a bad man, he is very stubborn and opinionated on his views. Even though we can understand his point of view, his brusque manner and hair trigger temper keep you from sympathizing with him for most of the serial. He has two scenes that turn him around for us. In Chapter Ten when government regulations come in opening the land to the settlers, he turns to Dunn and Falken, tearfully saying he had always hoped to leave the valley to them is so emotional that it chokes you up. Then in Chapter Thirteen when he discovers Dunn is behind all of the trouble, his face registers shock, betrayal, disappointment, and then finally stern determination as he tells Dunn he is going to turn him over to the sheriff. When Dunn shoots him in the back he slowly turns around and gives one last sad look at the other man before collapsing. Wow! Now that is some good acting.
Farrell is so good in this serial, with his tirades and diatribes that it took several chapters before I realized he wasn’t in on the villainy with Dunn. Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part that he would turn out to be the main villain as his personality is much more dynamic and forceful than Dunn’s, but such was not the case.
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