The Mystery of the Hooded Horsemen
Cast & Crew
Ray Taylor
Tex Ritter
White Flash
Iris Meredith
Horace Murphy
Charles King
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
A horde of hooded riders who terrorize farmers and ranchers find Tom Wilson riding alone on his buckboard and shoot him. Their leader, Blackie Devlin, takes a deed from Wilson's wallet. Tex Martin and his sidekick Stubby, on their way to take jobs awaiting them in another town, find Wilson, who is an old friend of Tex and his father. Before Wilson dies, he tells Tex that the Masked Riders killed him and asks him to help his partner, Dan Farley, to save their mine. Tex and Stubby go into a saloon at nearby Red Eye to ask directions to the mine. Blackie, who has given the deed to his superior Norton, tries to intimidate Tex, but Tex knocks him out, and Stubby holds off others by drawing his gun. Sheriff Walker arrives, and after Norton blames Tex for the fight, the sheriff warns Tex to stay away from the mine, where, he says, there have been fires, shootings and killings. Tex and Stubby disregard the warning and ride toward the mine, where, after they elude the sheriff and his men, Wilson's daughter Nancy aims a gun at them. Tex tells her about her father's death, and she takes them to meet Farley, who says that Wilson was on his way to mortgage the property to buy new mining equipment. Farley professes that the ore is only worth enough money to earn them a living. When the Masked Riders attack the mine, Tex shoots one before they ride off, and Nancy is shocked to discover that the man is her foreman, Bill Dawson. Farley gives Dawson whiskey to revive him, but he dies. In town, the citizens decide to band together as a vigilante force and ask Tex to be their leader. Blackie tells Norton of their plans, and Norton calls a meeting that night of the Riders. When Tex sees Norton, Blackie and others leave the saloon at ten that night, he stealthily follows and joins the Riders wearing the hood he took from Dawson. He listens to Norton state that the "big boss" is pleased with their progress in taking over the ranches and mines of Red Eye, but that they must break up the vigilante group and get Tex. When they find that they have one too many men at the meeting, Tex escapes on his horse, White Flash. He returns to the mine, where the sheriff, seeing his hood, arrests him. After Stubby helps him to break out of jail, Tex gets the vigilantes together, and they capture the Masked Riders. Tex chases Norton to a hiding place among the rocks, where Norton retrieves a pouch with gold coins. The big boss shoots Norton to get the money, but Tex then struggles with the boss, as the sheriff rides up with Nancy. Tex reveals the big boss to be Farley and says that Farley gave Dawson poisoned whiskey so that he would not talk. Tex tells Nancy that Farley tried to drive her out to get control of the whole valley and that a mineshaft is connected with his hideout. Later, Tex, Nancy and Stubby sing as they ride together.
Director
Ray Taylor
Cast
Tex Ritter
White Flash
Iris Meredith
Horace Murphy
Charles King
Earl Dwire
Forrest Taylor
Joseph Girard
Lafe Mckee
Heber Snow
Ray Whitely And His Range Ramblers
Oscar Gahan
Jack Smith
Chick Hannon
Crew
Edward L. Alperson
Frederick Bain
Michael David
Edward F. Finney
Edmond Kelso
Al Lane
Lindsley Parsons
Gus Peterson
Tex Ritter
Fred Rose
Cliff Ruberg
Frank Sanucci
Frank Sanucci
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were The Mystery Riders and Mystery of the Hooded Rider. According to publicity in the copyright descriptions, some scenes in this film were shot at the Big Blue Mine in Kernville, CA, which formerly had been called Whiskey Flats and was notorious as a "tough town." Film Daily commented that the "Masked Riders" were portrayed "with an eye to Michigan's ill-famed Black Legion." For information about the Black Legion, please see the above entry for Warner Bros.' Black Legion. Snub Pollard and Colleen Ward are listed as cast members in a Hollywood Reporter production chart, but their participation in the final film has not been confirmed. Modern sources add the following additional cast members: Tex Palmer, Lynton Brent, Victor Cox, Ray Henderson, Rube Dalroy, Allan Greer and Sherry Tansey.
