MARK OF THE AVENGER/ THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER

US, 1938, 74 minutes, Black-and-white.
Douglass Dumbrille, Sidney Toler, Russell Hayden, Stanley Andrews, Weldon Heyburn, Charlotte Field, Monty Blue.
Directed by Lesley Selander.

Mark of the Avenger was one of the many film versions of Zane Gray novels during the 1920s and 1930s. It was renamed The Mysterious Rider.

It has quite some interesting ingredients, two masked stagecoach robbers who turn out to be men in middle age. One is called Pecos Bill who has a long back history, owning a ranch, his partner being murdered, his being accused and having to go on the run, leaving behind his ranch and his young daughter. The other is called Frosty, a friend, a cook.

Even more interestingly, Bill is played by a middle-aged actor, Douglass Dumbrille, a character actor, often a villain, in numerous films. And, Frosty is played by Sidney Toler who was about to embark on a 10 year career as Charlie Chan. As with the other Zane Gray adaptation, Heritage of the Desert, it is interesting to see and listen to Toler as a character in westerns.

Bill and Frosty decide to resolve the situation, Bill wanting to see his daughter, the two of them going as hands on the old ranch, befriending a young man in who is in love with Bill’s daughter, encountering the foreman who was in on the original plot as well as his aggressive son who has just been released from prison. In the meantime, the proprietor of the hotel in the town, is the brains behind the crime as well as the subsequent rustling of cattle.

There is some comedy with Frosty in the kitchen. There is some romance with the daughter and her boyfriend. There is some action with Bill donning his mask, investigating the rustling, finding the headquarters, eventually revealing the truth and a final confrontation with his partner’s murderer.

An interesting Zane Gray Western, popular ingredients but quite offbeat with the casting. The film is directed by Lesley Selander who directed the number of Gray adaptations at this time.