Phantom Ranger
Cast & Crew
Sam Newfield
Tim Mccoy
Suzanne Kaaren
Karl Hackett
John St. Polis
John Merton
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Joan Doyle is baffled when her father Pat, an engraver for the treasury department, disappears. She is unaware that Pat has been kidnapped by Sharpe, a mining engineer, who wants Pat to engrave plates for him to make forged bills. Sharpe and his gang are keeping Pat in a mountain hideout from which they send out about $1,000,000 a month on pack animals. When the forged bills start to appear, J. P. Matthews, Pat's colleague in Washington, recognizes the work as Pat's. Matthews knows that the money is originating in the West, so he sends for government agent Tim Hayes to solve the case, even though Hayes is about to leave on vacation, because Hayes is familiar with the West. During a meeting with Tim, treasury man Rogers projects the corner of one of the forged notes on a large screen, revealing the word "Topek," intricately worked into the design as a clue to Pat's whereabouts. Tim then proceeds to Topek, Arizona, unaware that Joan has overheard the conversation and plans to go there herself. In Topek, Joan poses as a dancehall girl named Dolores, hoping to learn information on her father at the saloon in which she works. When Tim comes to town, he makes Sharpe's gang think that he is really bad when he rescues their second shipment of forged money while federal agents are attempting to capture it, and pretends to shoot one of the agents. He then lets Bud, one of Sharpe's men, walk back to the hideout, while he goes into town and spends liberally at the saloon. Joan plays up to Tim, not realizing his true identity, after she overhears Sharpe and his men talking about ambushing Tim to get their money back. She then searches through Tim's room, but is caught by Tim, who tells her to drop her phony Spanish accent. When she reveals her true identity, he reveals his by showing her his badge. He then tells her that the holdup of Sharpe's men was planned by him. She wants to work with Tim, and the next day the two ride away from town together. After finding the way to Sharpe's hideout, Tim boldly goes into the cabin and offers to fence the forged money for them in Mexico. Sharpe agrees, and sends Tim away with $500,000, but has his men follow. Using smoke signals from a fire, Tim alerts the government men and Sharpe's men are captured. Tim then goes back to Sharpe's hideout and claims that there is really a spy in the camp. When Joan is then brought in by one of the men, Tim is forced to admit who he is, just as some of the government men close in on the hideout. Sharpe escapes, followed by Tim, who captures him on top of the mountain. Tim then arrests Sharpe, but as Sharpe backs away, he falls off the mountain to his death. Soon Tim wires Matthews that he is finally about to go on vacation, and Joan adds the message "with my wife." Finally, when Tim starts to pay for the telegram he can't, because all he has are the forged twenty-dollar bills.
Director
Sam Newfield
Cast
Tim Mccoy
Suzanne Kaaren
Karl Hackett
John St. Polis
John Merton
Edward Earle
Robert Frazer
Harry Strang
Charles King
Dick Cramer
Tom London
Bruce Warren
Bob Mckenzie
Jimmy Aubrey
Donald Dean
Herbert Holcombe
Sherry Tansey
Jack Hendricks
Crew
Maurice Conn
Glen Glenn
Jack Greenhalgh
Connie Lee
Joseph O'donnell
Joseph O'donnell
Richard J. Pearl
E. H. Reif
Stanley Roberts
Henry Spitz
Richard G. Wray
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film's pre-release title was Ridin' Gent. An ad for Monogram Pictures in the 1935 Film Daily Product Guide listed the title Phantom Ranger, but there is no evidence that the film actually went into production until 1938. Modern sources list the following additional cast members: Wally West, Horace B. Carpenter, George Morrell, Herman Hack, Frank Ellis and Ray Henderson.
