Fighting with Kit Carson (1933)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Directors:

Colbert Clark
Armand Schaefer

Writers:

Jack Natteford (story) &
Barney A. Sarecky (story) ...

Release Date:

1 July 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

A pack train led by Kit Carson is attacked by Kraft and his Mystery Riders, who want a government shipment of gold carried by the wagons...

Plot Keywords:

Serial | 12 Chapters

Cast

Johnny Mack Brown	...	Kit Carson
Betsy King Ross	...	Joan Fargo, aka Johnny Fargo
Noah Beery	...	Cyrus Kraft (as Noah Berry Sr.)
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Nakomas, son of Dark Eagle
Tully Marshall	...	Jim Bridge [Chs. 1-2]
Edmund Breese	...	Matt Fargo [Chs. 1-7, 12]
Al Bridge	...	Henchman Reynolds [Chs. 1-7, 10, 12]
Edward Hearn	...	Henchman Morgan
Lafe McKee	...	Luke Foster
Jack Mower	...	Henchman Carter, posing as Johnny's benefactor [Chs. 7-9]
Maston Williams	...	Henchman Chuck, knife thrower [Chs. 1-5, 10, 12] (as Mastyn Williams)
Lane Chandler	...	Army Sergeant [Chs. 10-12]

Runtime:

250 min (12 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Garden of the Gods, Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Mascot Pictures

Trivia:

An edited/condensed feature version of this serial was released in 1948 by Albert Dezel Productions with a changed title, The Return of Kit Carson, and was played on a double bill with "The Return of the Mohicans", an edited/condensed feature version of Mascot's "The Last of the Mohicans" serial.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Miracle Rider (1935)

Pretty Weak Battle

Kit Carson is sent to escort a gold wagon train, but Cyrus Kraft (posing under the respectability of a general store owner) has his masked Mystery Riders ambush the train. Carson is led away and returns to find everyone massacred and he framed by Reynolds (a Mystery Rider) as a traitor. One other person survived the massacre and that is Matt Fargo, who hid the gold, but is now a prisoner of Kraft and his men. Kit, Nakomas, (an Indian chief whose father was murdered by Kraft's agent), and Joan Fargo (the 11 year old daughter of the prisoner who is posing as a boy - don't ask) to find Joan's father and recover the gold to clear Kit's name and expose Kraft. Noah Beery, Sr. gives probably his best serial performance here playing Kraft sneaky, clever, cunning, and ruthless, but once you get past his performance, everyone else is pretty weak, which is an improvement over the repetitive storyline and ship-shod production values. The cliffhangers contain numerous cheats or are just plain weak and there are too many recap chapters that take way too long. I have no idea why Joan kept on pretending she was a boy throughout the entire serial, but it only distracted me from the boredom of this serial. Rating, based on serials, 3.