Mystery Ranch (1932)

An undercover ranger investigates a deranged rancher who acts as a law unto himself, finding a girl held as a prisoner until she agrees to marry the madman.

Director:

David Howard

Writers:

Alfred A. Cohn, Stewart Edward White (story)

Stars:

George O'Brien, Cecilia Parker, Charles Middleton

Cast

Complete credited cast:
George O'Brien	...	Bob Sanborn
Cecilia Parker	...	Jane Emory
Charles Middleton	...	Henry Steele
Charles Stevens	...	Henchman Tonto
Forrester Harvey	...	Artie Brower
Noble Johnson	...	Henchman Mudo
Roy Stewart	...	Buck Johnson
Betty Francisco	...	'Appetite' Mae
Russ Powell	...	Sheriff Bill Burnham

Storyline

To maintain his vast ranch holdings, Henry Steele holds Jane, the daughter of his deceased business partner, against her will. Stalwart ranger Bob Sanborn rescues Jane in a riding incident and is invited to stay over at the ranch by the malevolent Steele, who catches on immediately to the fact that Sanborn has been asked by Jane to help her escape. Steele escorts Bob off the ranch just after giving the order to his vicious ranch hands, Mudo and Tonto, not to let him leave alive.

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Plot Keywords:

hostage | texas ranger | kidnapping

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Genres:

Mystery | Western

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 July 1932 (USA)

Also Known As:

Das Haus des Schreckens

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

56 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

Great ending and the rest is pretty good too.

I'm a fan of George O'Brien and have seen many of his silents and two of his later movies with John Wayne, but, until I saw this movie I hadn't seen any of his movies from the 1930's. This is not the formulaic B Western even though it has been lumped into the genre by history, but, a terrific Gothic Western (if indeed there is such a thing) Charles Middleton is suitably creepy as the classical music loving and talented pianist, but, horribly nasty bad guy. George O'Brien was solid as usual as the good guy and Cecilia Parker was very good too, not an annoying whiny girl as many of the females in this type of movie are, basically all the characters were enjoyable and plausible. It goes along at a good pace and there is a stunt by George O'Brien that makes you go "Wow". And the ending is very good too, no cop out in that one. All in all a really good way to spend an hour, the only bad thing was the quality of the print, it would have been nice if it had been better, but, even with that quality it was possible to see the great lighting and camera-work of this movie. I have to say I disagree with some of the other reviewers. The acting was not "stiff". George O'Brien's scenes with Cecilia Parker were not forced and for my money, he didn't have his shirt off enough ;)