The Phantom of the Range

Starring:Victor Adamson, Sammy Cohen, Richard Cramer, John Elliott, Herman Hack, Soledad JimÃ©nez, Charles King (II), Beth Marion, Clyde McClary, Tex Phelps, Bud Pope, Tiny Sandford, Forrest Taylor, Tom Tyler
Studio: Alpha Video
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Okay b-movie western from 1936

The Phantom of the Range
Starring: Victor Adamson , Sammy Cohen , Richard Cramer , John Elliott , and Herman Hack
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

Westerns | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

All Deals | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( P ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Terror of the Plains
Rio Rattler
Bulldog Courage
Young Blood
The Nevada Buckaroo

ASIN: B00011D1LS
Release Date: 2004-01-27

Customer Reviews:

Okay b-movie western from 1936.......2006-03-04

An old rancher dies with no heirs. There's talk that he buried a fortune `neath the desert brush in them thar hills, but nobody's found it yet, although not for want of trying. When a square-jawed stranger buys the ranch at auction, all heck breaks loose.

The stranger is rancher Jerry Lane, played by the movie's over-the-title star, Tom Tyler. The movie is THE PHANTOM OF THE RANGE, a cheap, quick, Poverty Row production from 1936. The dead man's niece, played by pretty young Beth Marion, motors into town in an old jalopy at about the same time Tyler arrives astride his horse. The time setting, 1936, threw me for a bit, but I guess you could have cowboys mixing with motorists back then. Anyway, setting it in the here and now probably saved the production a bundle on sets, as well as saving them from worrying about making sure phone and electric lines didn't appear onscreen. Rounding out the trio of good guys is Sammy Cohen, a Chicago actor who plays Tyler's Cockney housekeeper. Although Cohen's grasp of a British accent is shaky at best, he does play a couple of obscure dance hall tune - talk sings them - and provides the only music to grace this film.

`Modest' is the keyword for a movie like this, although cheap, tacky, bland, flat, or insipid would work just as well. Tyler makes an okay hero, kind of a cross between Gary Cooper and Randolph Scott, but the plot is weak and the dialogue uninspired. The title-inducing gag - the bad guys have a white-clad cowboy ride across the dead man's land, leading the local rubes to believe the land is haunted - is the first and last good idea this movie has, and it ain't all that good. During the fight scenes, Tyler seems to be a fist-fighting, rather than a gun-slinging cowboy, the sound of a fight crowd is unconvincingly dubbed in. It doesn't help much that you watch this Alpha/Gotham release through a grimy veil of scratches and nicks, flares and sparkles. The print is in deplorable condition, but I have a hunch a movie like THE PHANTOM OF THE RANGE won't be lovingly and expensively restored anytime soon. I gave this movie a generous three stars. I didn't expect much going in, so the possibility I'd be disappointed was practically non-existent. In any event, the next time someone tells you the old movies are better, recommend this one to them as proof that sometimes they are worse, too. More interesting than entertaining.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Vampire Vixens from Venus

Bishop's Wife

I Dream of Jeanie

DVD: Dry Cleaning

Tru 2 Form - Urban Heat