THE MIRACLE RIDER (1935)

In the last decade of the silents, Tom Mix was, by some distance, the biggest of all cowboy stars.  Hardly remembered now, Talkies (and age) slowed him down, though still releasing multiple features each year before taking a two year break, returning in 1935, now 55, for one last roundup, this seriously successful/seriously fun serial from little Mascot Pictures.  At 15 ‘chapters’ (the first is double-length), the whole shebang runs just over five hours.  And worth every minute.  (Okay, every other minute.)  Well produced as these things go, co-directed by B. Reeves Eason and Armand Schaefer.  If Eason’s name rings a bell, he was largely responsible for the 1925 chariot race in BEN-HUR.  (Plus B-pic whiz Joseph H. Lewis (see GUN CRAZY/’50) as supervising editor.)  Mix and his amazing horse Tony Jr., still do all the stunts and those leaping mounts look painful, as do a few mountain tumbles for man & beast.  The horse wouldn’t be allowed to do them today.  The story ain’t bad, either.  Ranger Mix, protector of the local Indian tribe against a pair of White capitalist villains.  One running the general store wants to chase the Indians off their land and have the government buy his spare property for resettlement.  The other runs an oil distributor as cover, but wants the Natives off the reservation so he has exclusive access to a powerful explosive he hopes to mine.  Typically, the best episodes come early, look out for the mechanical radio controlled Firebird!  And Mix outnumbered by the villains, minions and a (coatless) turncoat Indian.  Chapters ending with the traditional cliffhanger (Is Tom Dead?) before doubling back Next Week to show how Mix jumped off the exploding bomb/derailed train/pilotless glider just in the nick of time.  The later episodes are in better physical shape.  Not exactly great, even as serial trash, but addictive.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  The film yet another example of how often Indians weren’t treated just as marauding savages, but often shown with sympathy.  Patronized & infantilized by their Great White Hollywood Fathers.  Which portrayal is worse?  Discuss.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  During his peak years, Mix took a swing at expanding his range with something more serious, an excellent, if not well received 1925 adaptation of Zane Grey’s RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE/1925.  It makes a fine introduction for modern audiences to get to know Mix.  But hard-wired Mixologists find it a bit ‘high hat,’ and Mix-Nixers won’t give it a try. 

DOUBLE-BILL:  SUNSET/’88.  Blake Edwards’ Hollywood-set modern Western has Bruce Willis as Tom Mix and James Garners’ Wyatt Earp join forces to solve a showbiz murder.  Sounds promising, but it's all downhill (period inaccurate, pointlessly coarse and lazy plotting in Edwards’ late manner) after its neat action set-piece opening.