Western fans, especially John Wayne fans, remember in Chisum when newly arrived storekeeper Andrew Prine after seeing Forrest Tucker's business methods changes his mind and goes to work for Wayne. The premise for the whole plot of the Zane Grey story Desert Gold is just about the same.
Tom Keene and tenderfoot sidekick Robert Cummings come out west and take one look at Monte Blue's methods and decide not to work for him. Coming west on the same stage is Marsha Hunt who is to marry Blue. Of course she starts to have some second thoughts as well.
Keene and Cummings are mining engineers and what Blue is after is a secret mine that the local Indians have access to. What they witness is Indian chief Buster Crabbe tied to a post and being whipped by Blue to divulge the location of his mine. I don't think I have to mention any more.
In that series of Zane Grey stories that Paramount filmed in the Thirties this one is one of the best. It's got plenty of western gunplay to satisfy any fan of the genre. And it is one of the first roles of substance for Robert Cummings.
Television fans remember Cummings for his Love That Bob show from the Fifties, a TV Land classic. Some of the comic timing is plainly evident in his sidekick role. And that's unique too. Sidekicks are usually the salty oldtimers. But Cummings has some very funny moments as the fish out of water tenderfoot in the old west. He shoots at a gopher snake and misses because he mistakes him for a rattlesnake. After getting a lecture by Keane about gopher snakes he nearly gets himself killed by a real rattler. Of course Cummings is of little help in that final gun battle with the bad guys. When he thinks he's wounded, that's another funny moment.
Zane Grey aficionados should have little to complain about this one.
Tom Keene and tenderfoot sidekick Robert Cummings come out west and take one look at Monte Blue's methods and decide not to work for him. Coming west on the same stage is Marsha Hunt who is to marry Blue. Of course she starts to have some second thoughts as well.
Keene and Cummings are mining engineers and what Blue is after is a secret mine that the local Indians have access to. What they witness is Indian chief Buster Crabbe tied to a post and being whipped by Blue to divulge the location of his mine. I don't think I have to mention any more.
In that series of Zane Grey stories that Paramount filmed in the Thirties this one is one of the best. It's got plenty of western gunplay to satisfy any fan of the genre. And it is one of the first roles of substance for Robert Cummings.
Television fans remember Cummings for his Love That Bob show from the Fifties, a TV Land classic. Some of the comic timing is plainly evident in his sidekick role. And that's unique too. Sidekicks are usually the salty oldtimers. But Cummings has some very funny moments as the fish out of water tenderfoot in the old west. He shoots at a gopher snake and misses because he mistakes him for a rattlesnake. After getting a lecture by Keane about gopher snakes he nearly gets himself killed by a real rattler. Of course Cummings is of little help in that final gun battle with the bad guys. When he thinks he's wounded, that's another funny moment.
Zane Grey aficionados should have little to complain about this one.