I would never have figured Randolph Scott and Ann Sheridan in a picture together, much less a Western. At least it's nominally a Western, with it's fair share of mystery elements as hero Larry Sutton (Scott) arrives on the scene as a mining engineer with a penchant for detective work.
I saw this picture under the title "The Fighting Westerner", packaged as part of a two hundred fifty film Western collection by Mill Creek Entertainment. The surprise of the movie in retrospect was the actor Chic Sale portraying Deputy Sheriff Tex Murdock, who I would have sworn was in his Seventies, but a quick check of his bio revealed he was only fifty at the time he made this picture. He died the year after this film's release of pneumonia and something tells me he would have been a cool character to know personally.
If you think about it, the way the villain dispatched his victims here was pretty gruesome. But I have to tell you, that hydraulic press made such a hideous noise I had to lower the volume every time it's power was engaged. At one point, our hero is knocked out and placed strategically under the press to become it's next victim, but if you're attentive, you'll see the 'unconscious' Randolph Scott move his left arm across his chest. Fortunately, he wakes up just in the nick of time to solve the murder mystery and hook up with Ann Sheridan by the end of the story. I did a double take when I saw them under those palm trees, but heck, that made as much sense as anything else in the story.
I saw this picture under the title "The Fighting Westerner", packaged as part of a two hundred fifty film Western collection by Mill Creek Entertainment. The surprise of the movie in retrospect was the actor Chic Sale portraying Deputy Sheriff Tex Murdock, who I would have sworn was in his Seventies, but a quick check of his bio revealed he was only fifty at the time he made this picture. He died the year after this film's release of pneumonia and something tells me he would have been a cool character to know personally.
If you think about it, the way the villain dispatched his victims here was pretty gruesome. But I have to tell you, that hydraulic press made such a hideous noise I had to lower the volume every time it's power was engaged. At one point, our hero is knocked out and placed strategically under the press to become it's next victim, but if you're attentive, you'll see the 'unconscious' Randolph Scott move his left arm across his chest. Fortunately, he wakes up just in the nick of time to solve the murder mystery and hook up with Ann Sheridan by the end of the story. I did a double take when I saw them under those palm trees, but heck, that made as much sense as anything else in the story.