Every once in a while, the B Western format took time off from the more common water rights/mineral rights/rangeland feuds, and offered up a story about competing business interests like the one found here. Billy Carson (Buster Crabbe) rides for the Pony Express in competition with the stage line owned by Tom Farrell (Frank LaRue) and his daughter Sally (Patti McCarthy). But the real story has villain Del Stone (Charles King) trying to pit Carson against Farrell so he can position himself to gain valuable land grants along the stage route. It's not really clear to me why having the friendly rivals battle each other would have helped out Stone, but it sounded devious enough when Stone hooked up with his attorney Higgins (John Merton).
Now I've seen Fuzzy St. John any number of times side-kicking for the likes of George Houston, Lash LaRue and Buster Crabbe, but I don't think I've ever seen him kick out the jams with the kind of slick moves he does here at the Mesa City barn dance. All eyes are on Fuzzy as he gyrates to the sounds of the Big Slicker Band, and if I was a betting man, I would have lost when he did that cartwheel in the middle of the floor. You go Fuzzy.
Even with a run time of just under an hour, the picture eats up at least a good ten minutes with a series of chases at various points, making the fast forward button a valuable ally when watching flicks like this. After watching a few hundred of these oaters, I'm well past the point of worrying that I'll miss something important.
At the start of the 1940's, Buster Crabbe did a series of films for Producers Releasing Corporation in which he portrayed the character Billy the Kid, very loosely based on the historical figure, but generally positioned as a good guy who found himself in questionable circumstances. Starting with "Devil Riders", PRC changed his name to Billy Carson, kept Fuzzy as the comedic sidekick, and banged out another twenty three pictures; he did thirteen as The Kid. In the majority of those movies he rode the same golden palomino with the long white face blaze that he has in "Devil Riders". It's not mentioned in this story, but the horse's name was Falcon.
Now I've seen Fuzzy St. John any number of times side-kicking for the likes of George Houston, Lash LaRue and Buster Crabbe, but I don't think I've ever seen him kick out the jams with the kind of slick moves he does here at the Mesa City barn dance. All eyes are on Fuzzy as he gyrates to the sounds of the Big Slicker Band, and if I was a betting man, I would have lost when he did that cartwheel in the middle of the floor. You go Fuzzy.
Even with a run time of just under an hour, the picture eats up at least a good ten minutes with a series of chases at various points, making the fast forward button a valuable ally when watching flicks like this. After watching a few hundred of these oaters, I'm well past the point of worrying that I'll miss something important.
At the start of the 1940's, Buster Crabbe did a series of films for Producers Releasing Corporation in which he portrayed the character Billy the Kid, very loosely based on the historical figure, but generally positioned as a good guy who found himself in questionable circumstances. Starting with "Devil Riders", PRC changed his name to Billy Carson, kept Fuzzy as the comedic sidekick, and banged out another twenty three pictures; he did thirteen as The Kid. In the majority of those movies he rode the same golden palomino with the long white face blaze that he has in "Devil Riders". It's not mentioned in this story, but the horse's name was Falcon.