''The Miracle Rider'' is a 1935 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film serial directed by

B. Reeves Eason William Reeves Eason (October 2, 1886 – June 9, 1956), known as B. Reeves Eason, was an American film director, actor and screenwriter. His directorial output was limited mainly to low-budget westerns and action pictures, but it was as a secon ...

and

Armand Schaefer Armand Schaefer (5 August 1898 – 26 September 1967) was a Canadian film producer and director. He produced more than 100 films between 1932 and 1953. He also directed 24 films between 1931 and 1946. He was born in Tavistock, Ontario, Canada. ...

for

Mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

. It stars silent movie cowboy star

Tom Mix Thomas Edwin Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix; January 6, 1880 – October 12, 1940) was an American film actor and the star of many early Western films between 1909 and 1935. He appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent films. He w ...

in his last major film role.

Plot summary

Zaroff ( Charles Middleton), a rancher and oil company owner, wants to drive the Ravenhead Indians off their reservation so that he can mine the rare element X-94, a super explosive, found there and sell it to the highest bidder. Texas Ranger Tom Morgan tries to stop him and save the tribe.

Cast

as Tom Morgan, Texas Ranger *

Joan Gale Joan Gale, born Lorraine Gilmartin, (September 13, 1912 – June 11, 1998) was a vaudeville performer as part of the Gale Sisters and a film actress. She was the twin sister of Jean Gale and performed with a second set of twin sisters (June Gal ...

as Ruth * Charles Middleton as Zaroff, a rancher and oil company owner * Robert Frazer as Chief Black Wing *

Niles Welch Niles Eugene Welch (July 29, 1888 – November 21, 1976) was an American performer on Broadway, and a leading man in a number of silent and early talking motion pictures from the early 1910s through the 1930s. Early life A native of Hartfor ...

as Metzger * Jason Robards Sr. as Carlton *

Bob Kortman Robert F. Kortman (December 24, 1887 – March 13, 1967) was an American film actor mostly associated with westerns, though he also appeared in a number of Laurel and Hardy comedies. He appeared in more than 260 films between 1914 and 1952. ...

as Longboat *

Edward Earle Edward Earle (16 July 1882 – 15 December 1972) was a Canadian-American stage, film and television actor. In a career which lasted from the 1910s to 1966, he appeared in almost 400 films between 1914 and 1956. He was born in Toronto and died ...

as Christopher Adams, Indian Agent * Edward Hearn as Emil Janss *

Tom London Tom London (born Leonard T. Clapman; August 24, 1889 – December 5, 1963) was an American actor who played frequently in B-Westerns. According to ''The Guinness Book of Movie Records'', London is credited with appearing in the most films in ...

as Sewell, one of Zaroff's henchmen *

Edmund Cobb Edmund Fessenden Cobb (June 23, 1892 – August 15, 1974) was an American actor who appeared in more than 620 films between 1912 and 1966. Biography Cobb was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the son of William Henry Cobb and Eddie (Edmundi ...

as Vining, one of Zaroff's henchmen * Ernie Adams as John Stelter *

Max Wagner Max Wagner (November 28, 1901 – November 16, 1975) was a Mexican-born American film actor who specialized in playing small parts such as thugs, gangsters, sailors, henchmen, bodyguards, cab drivers and moving men, appearing more than 400 ...

as Morley, one of Zaroff's henchmen * Charles King as Hatton, one of Zaroff's henchmen *

Stanley Price Stanley Price (December 31, 1892July 13, 1955) was an American film supporting actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1922 and 1956. He was a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild. Career Price was an actor whose artistic career sp ...

as Chapman, one of Zaroff's henchmen *

George Chesebro George Newell Chesebro (July 29, 1888 – May 28, 1959) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 400 films between 1915 and 1954. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and died in Los Angeles, California. Partial filmography * ''Mi ...

as Crossman, Janss Hand *Tex Cooper as

Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa, Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but ...

(uncredited) *

Bud Geary Bud Geary (February 15, 1898 – February 22, 1946), was an American film actor. He appeared in 258 films between years 1920 and 1946. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and died in Hollywood, California, aged 48. Partial filmography ...

Davy Crockett David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Re ...

(uncredited) *Pat O'Malley as Capt. Sam Morgan (uncredited) *

Jay Wilsey Jay Wilsey (February 6, 1896 – October 25, 1961) was an American film actor (born Wilbert Jay Wilsey). He appeared in nearly 100 films between 1924 and 1944. He starred in a series of very low-budget westerns in the 1920s and 1930s, billed ...

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

/Henchmen (uncredited)

Production

This was Tom Mix's last film and his only sound serial. Tom Mix was still an A-list star in 1935, alongside

Charles Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckler film, swashbuckling roles in silent films in ...

and

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

. He was paid $40,000 for four weeks work on ''The Miracle Rider'', which he used as urgent funding to support his circus. The serial combined the large cast and interlocking plots of a silent serial with the science fiction and cliffhangers of the sound era. Filming of the outdoor action sequences took place primarily at the

Iverson Movie Ranch Iverson may refer to: Computing * Iverson Award, an ACM honour for APL contributions * Iverson bracket, a mathematical notation * Iverson Notation, the syntactic basis of APL (programming language) Other uses * Iverson Movie Ranch, Chatsworth, Ca ...

in Chatsworth, Calif., on the outskirts of Los Angeles. The movie ranch, which had been in use as a filming location since the early silent movie era, was known for its rugged landscape and giant sandstone boulders. One of those boulders became known as Tom Mix Rock in later years, after it was discovered that bootholes had been carved in the rock to help the actor shoot a scene atop the rock for ''The Miracle Rider.''

Stunts

Tom Mix, whose voice was strained and nasal due to a repeatedly broken nose and a bullet through his throat, did a lot of his own stunts, although some were doubled by

Cliff Lyons Cliff Lyons (born 19 October 1961) is an indigenous Australian former international rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A Clive Churchill Medalllist and two-time Dally M Medallist, he made 309 first-grade appearances wit ...

Chapter titles

# The Vanishing Indian # The Firebird Strikes # The Flying Knife # A Race with Death # Double Barreled Doom # Thundering Hoofs ic# The Dragnet # Guerilla Warfare # The Silver Road # Signal Fires # A Traitor Dies # Danger Rides with Death # The Secret of X-94 # Between Two Fires # Justice Rides the Plains _Source: This was Mascot's only 15-chapter serial. "Zaroff" is obviously inspired by Basil Zaharoff, a notorious early twentieth-century arms merchant, often cited as one of the so-called "merchants of death", who supposedly helped bring on

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

References

External links

* *
Tom Mix Rock and filming of ''The Miracle Rider'' at the Iverson Movie Ranch

Iverson Movie Ranch: History, vintage photos.The Miracle Rider Original Trailer (1935)

Texas Archive of the Moving Image The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) is an independent 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002 by film archivist and University of Texas at Austin professor Caroline Frick, PhD. TAMI's mission is to preserve, study, and exhibit Texas film h ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miracle Rider, The 1935 films 1930s English-language films American black-and-white films Mascot Pictures film serials Films about the Texas Ranger Division Films directed by B. Reeves Eason Films directed by Armand Schaefer 1935 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films 1930s American films