Mystery Ranch (1932) User Reviews

This was not a formula western.

[stevehaynie · 7/10 · 3 June 2005]

Mystery Ranch follows no formula for B westerns. Sure, the hero is undeniably good. There is a girl in trouble. Everyone is dressed like a cowboy. Other than that, Mystery Ranch stands out as an original western. I got the feeling that this movie was intended for a broad audience rather than playing to the kids like those that would later worship Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and Hopalong Cassidy a few years later. Mystery Ranch is tense most of the time because of a strong villain and his evil henchmen. Those people were more violent than other western villains.

George O'Brien certainly was a strong looking figure of a cowboy. I noticed two different approaches to acting as I watched O'Brien in Mystery Ranch. He looked natural, as if he were not acting, when he was interacting with the male characters. When he had romantic dialogue with Cecilia Parker, O'Brien seemed to be forcing his lines. Maybe it was the script; maybe O'Brien was not as comfortable with the dialogue.

Mystery Ranch is an early sound western. There are no singing cowboys, but the villain, Mr. Steele, plays classical piano. It is this piano music that helps set the mood for the movie and works well with the dark lighting. Shadows were used to great effect in making the movie feel like a horror movie. Charles Middleton played Steele in a way that you could feel the evil emanating from the screen. Steele was a villain that had no weakness. I have not seen an evil character this strong in quite a while, and by strong I mean that the character is truly confident and unrepentant. Steele's manner of dealing with his defeat at the end is quite unusual for a B western, but in the context of the character it is totally understandable.

With just enough humor, great performances by O'Brien and Middleton, and a lot of action, Mystery Ranch is an excellent early western movie.

Great ending and the rest is pretty good too.

[Damfino1895 · 8/10 · 5 October 2005]

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 ;)

Great Gothic Western

[noahax · 8/10 · 17 March 2000]

I was interested in seeing this film for one reason and one reason alone, Charles Middleton. "Flash Gordon" is without a doubt one of my all-time favorite films, and I was curious to check out some other work by the actor who played Ming the Merciless, one of the greatest villains in cinema.

"Mystery Ranch" did not disappoint, and I highly recommend this creepy, gothic western to anyone who appreciates unusual films. Parts of this movie are more like a horror film than a standard western, and there are some great, atmospheric scenes. The ending of the movie is also quite memorable.

"Mystery Ranch" is included in the book "Forgotten Horrors," which documents many poverty-row talkies of the early 30s. Both the book and this movie are worth seeking out.

The best of the worst

[westerfieldalfred · 8/10 · 5 December 2013]

Mystery Ranch may well have the best teaming of bad guy and henchman ever. It is hard to find such unrepentant evil with such joy in accomplishment than Charles Middleton and Noble Johnson. The James Bond films had such pairings but they were done tongue in cheek. Here the evil is deadly serious but not outrageous in the tie-her-to-the-railroad-tracks vein. The fact that the heroine is taking matters into her own hands helps a lot. The cinematography shows major studio quality. All of this raises the film well above standard B westerns.

Don't get me wrong: Mystery Ranch is no magnum opus. But put in perspective with B westerns it's head and shoulders above the pack. I give it an 8 because of Middleton and Johnson.

delightful precode villainy

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 26 August 2007]

Moody pre-code western that is aces thanks to a villainous turn by Charles Middleton and some truly great cinematography. The plot isn't anything you haven't seen before, a foul villain is attempting to run off or kill all of the homesteaders so he can seize their land, however its rare that you get a villain as smooth as the piano playing Middleton. Here is a character that makes you hair stand up every time he shows up on screen. If you want to know why he was so good as Ming in the Flash Gordon films see this movie for some of his other screen villainy. Adding to the fun is some wonderful imagery, some of it decidedly pre-code. the rain drenched opening is absolutely stunning and unlike anything I've seen in Westerns of the period. Here he wave a cowboy walking in the rain, going on some sort of secret mission, who is ambushed and strangled by mysterious hands in the heavy down pour. Shocking stuff. However a few minutes later when Middleton asks where the intruder is he's directed towards a doorway where we see the shadow strung up body of the cowboy. Its a shocking image that hangs over the rest of the film. This is a wonderful little western than manges to be something more than a mere programmer.

Is There No Evil Under the Sun That Charles Middleton Won't Stoop To!!

[kidboots · 9/10 · 11 August 2016]

The 1920 story "The Killer" by Steward Edward White told of a rancher with a mania for killing anything that crossed his path. Presumably based on a true story, it was made as a silent and then again in 1932 by Fox who used it for one of their series of George O'Brien westerns. A quality thriller in every way - screenplay was by Al Cohn who had crafted "The Cat and the Canary" and "The Last Warning". The director was David Howard who had been busy directing Spanish language versions of Fox movies including "The Big Trail" and "Charlie Chan Carries On".

Filming was done on location in Arizona (where the real deeds had taken place) and top marks go to Charles Middleton who has never been better (and that's saying something!!) as Henry Steele, the crazy rancher whose reign of terror has incited the State Rangers to send for trouble shooter Bob Sanborn (George O'Brien). The moody evocative lighting of cinematographer Joseph August makes for a spine tingling start as yet another rancher is strangled and strung up. A little later when Bob rescues Jane Emory (beautiful Cecilia Parker looking a lot like Joan Bennett) on a runaway horse Steele says "I was just scolding this chap" - the man is half dead through being flogged!!

At 57 minutes there is no wasted space - Bob accepts Steele's hospitality and is very soon made aware that Jane is in great danger and, in another unusual bit of casting, his sidekick is Artie (Forrester Harvey), a jaunty little cockney ex-jockey. There's plenty of riding action with O'Brien, and Parker is stunning but Middleton just commands all the attention. His clipped, precise tones reek menace whether to Jane when he informs her that they are to be married in the morning "I am doing the gentlemanly thing when I could just take"!! Or at the end "If you want to serve that warrant you will have to do it in Hell"!! To say nothing of the punishment he dishes out to Artie who has sneaked into town to tell Bob the secret plans - needless to say it includes being hog tied to a killer horse!! Also of note is the great Noble Johnson who plays Mudo, a mute Apache warrior devoted to Steele and as deadly as his master!!

Highly Recommended.

Good B-Western With Gothic Touches

[FightingWesterner · 7/10 · 10 September 2009]

Mystery Ranch is hailed by some as the perfect blend of Gothic horror elements and B-western. While I wouldn't call it perfect, it was unique and a very entertaining movie.

Excellent character actor Charles Middleton portrays a classical piano playing madman and land baron, who in order to expand his empire, uses his deranged Apache servants to kill. He also holds the daughter of his late partner prisoner in his foreboding ranch house with hopes of making her his bride, while our (bland) hero George O'Brien schemes to free her and bring Middleton to justice.

The performance by Middleton, along with Joseph August's excellent cinematography with his really effective use of light and shadow, help to give this a great Gothic atmosphere.

This has a great end scene too!

Ming the Rancher

[rbyers · 5/10 · 13 December 2003]

The story and writing and much of the acting is not so great, but the Gothic atmosphere and visuals are worth a look. (I'd like to see a better version than the Sinister Cinema DVD-R, but at least it's from a 35 mm print, if I recall correctly.) Charles Middleton is great as the grand piano-playing bad guy (and only says "heh" once), but George O'Brien as the hero is kind of a stiff. I also liked Noble Johnson as the murderous, mute Apache. Between his appearance and the piano-playing villain, this movie starts to make me think of another 1932 adventure film, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME. But the shadowy cinematography of Joseph August is the real attraction here, and there are some terrific tracking shots as well. Some of the action sequences are also pretty exciting, but in the end the stakes of the plot just aren't strong enough to generate any tension. I agree with the other comment, however, that the ending is great stuff.