VIGILANTES OF BOOMTOWN

(director: R.G. Springsteen; screenwriter: Earle Snell; cinematographer: Alfred Keeler; editor: William P. Thompson; cast: Allan Lane (Red Ryder), Bobby Blake (Little Beaver), Martha Wentworth (Duchess Wentworth), Roscoe Karns (Billy Delaney), Roy Barcroft (McKean), Peggy Stewart (Molly McVey), George Lloyd (Kidnapper), George Chesebro (Henchman Dink), George Tumer (Jim Corbett), John Dehner (Bob Fitzsimmons), Roscoe Karns (Corbett’s Manager), Ted Adams (Sheriff), Earle Hodgins (Governor); Runtime: 58; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Sidney Picker; Republic; 1947)

“In the seven pictures Allan Lane made for Republic as Red Ryder, this one is probably the best.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

In the seven pictures Allan Lane made for Republic as Red Ryder, this one is probably the best. R.G. Springsteen (“Rustlers of Devil’s Canyon”/”Santa Fe Uprising”/”Homesteaders of Paradise Valley”) adequately helms it and it’s grandiosely written by Earle Snell.

Gentleman Jim Corbett (George Turner), the heavyweight champ, and Bob Fitzsimmons (John Dehner), the challenger, are in Carson City, Nevada, to fight for the championship in 1897. Leading citizen Molly McVey (Peggy Stewart), the daughter of a senator, considers boxing barbaric and opposes the fight. On the other hand, Red Ryder (Allan Lane), allows Corbett and his manager Bill Delaney (Roscoe Karns) to use the ranch of his feisty aunt, the Duchess Wentworth (Martha Wentworth), to train for the fight. Molly, in order to prevent the fight, hires two thugs (George Chesebro and George Lloyd) to kidnap Corbett, but they mistakenly kidnap Ryder instead of Corbett. When Ryder gets free, he must prevent a million dollar robbery of the bank and the purse money orchestrated by the out-of-town gang led by McKean (Roy Barcroft).

REVIEWED ON 6/27/2007 GRADE: B-