Contrary to the general rule, The Book Is Always Better Than The Film, most of Zane Grey's stories adapted well to the screen and often much better.
Gray was rather a Writer of the Purple Prose and too often his great stories were therefore hard to read.
But, boy, as action-packed movies? They moved!
Director Lynn Reynolds used his camera for some beautifully framed shots, and even moved his camera to add drama to, for example, the hero's entering a scene.
And hero? Tom Mix was unquestionably one in this, with his own ability and his reputation and with the aid of Reynolds and the camera.
One cutaway of Mix's character almost caressing his pistol, in the holster, subtly made a very unsubtle point.
Leading lady Mabel Ballin has only 28 credits here at IMDb but she showed a real talent in expressing herself.
The rest of the cast, from villain Warner Oland to the as-usual-uncredited Hank Bell, shine and make this story -- made and re-made many times -- the classic that it is.
For some strange reason, VerdeValleyTV, who uploaded this at YouTube, continued the upload instead of stopping it at the end so the run time shows double the fact. WHY this kind of nonsense is so common at YouTube is a mystery to me. Maybe there is a better version. But "Riders of the Purple Sage" starring Tom Mix is a definite good watch, and I highly recommend it.
