For those of us here in the future far removed from 1933, Ken Maynard as a Western hero is primarily of interest because of the way he interacts with horses. He had been a trick rider before making movies, and his natural ease around horses, and his skill in mounting, riding and seemingly merging his body with that of a horse, set him far apart from the whole class of 'actors-on-a-horse' movie characters.
That's about it for the value of this movie. The story is wafer thin-- basically the capture and rescue of 'the prairie flower,' the cattleman's daughter, Eileen Carey (played by Dorothy Dix, with immense eye make up left over from epics of the teen years). Slow pace; poor direction by J.P. McGowan (veteran director of over 242 films) and an extreme low budget (a single room does triple duty set-wise as the homes of the cattleman, the villain and of 'Indian Joe'). What a sad come down after Ken's previous film, "Tombstone Canyon" (1932) with its exciting literal cliff hanging ending.
The other high points of the film include seeing 17-year-old Frank Coughlin, Jr. as Ken's nephew and a young Boy Scout. He has a few lines of dialogue; you can hear his unmistakable intonation, so much a part of his starring role (at 25) as Billy Batson in the wonderful serial "The Adventures of Captain Marvel" (1941). Kermit Maynard (Ken's real brother) plays Frank's father, the Scout leader, and Ken's brother. We get to see Boy Scout life of 1932, some interesting camera shots from the floor during two of Ken's fights, and one shot through a fence, but that's about it.
Ken is also noted for how much actors, directors and crew hated Ken off screen. You can check his IMDb bios for all the details, but there was nothing in evidence during this film of his obnoxious nature.
Just great horsemanship! For that, the movie gets a 3.
That's about it for the value of this movie. The story is wafer thin-- basically the capture and rescue of 'the prairie flower,' the cattleman's daughter, Eileen Carey (played by Dorothy Dix, with immense eye make up left over from epics of the teen years). Slow pace; poor direction by J.P. McGowan (veteran director of over 242 films) and an extreme low budget (a single room does triple duty set-wise as the homes of the cattleman, the villain and of 'Indian Joe'). What a sad come down after Ken's previous film, "Tombstone Canyon" (1932) with its exciting literal cliff hanging ending.
The other high points of the film include seeing 17-year-old Frank Coughlin, Jr. as Ken's nephew and a young Boy Scout. He has a few lines of dialogue; you can hear his unmistakable intonation, so much a part of his starring role (at 25) as Billy Batson in the wonderful serial "The Adventures of Captain Marvel" (1941). Kermit Maynard (Ken's real brother) plays Frank's father, the Scout leader, and Ken's brother. We get to see Boy Scout life of 1932, some interesting camera shots from the floor during two of Ken's fights, and one shot through a fence, but that's about it.
Ken is also noted for how much actors, directors and crew hated Ken off screen. You can check his IMDb bios for all the details, but there was nothing in evidence during this film of his obnoxious nature.
Just great horsemanship! For that, the movie gets a 3.