DVD: The Miracle Rider #2 -- October 11, 2011

A few more thoughts after yesterdays post: http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2011/10/dvd-miracle-rider-october-10-2011.html

One of Zaroff's henchmen was played by Tom London, who may have appeared in more movies than anyone else, from the mid-Teens to the early 1960s.  Another was Charles "Blackie" King, who was always worth watching.

I enjoyed the credits and introduction for each episode.  There was a stirring classical theme, whose name I can never remember.  There was a tracking shot of Tom and Tony Jr riding hell for leather, followed by a tracking shot along a rocky hillside that underlay most of the credits.  Underneath the cast of characters, there was a Native American crouching, then standing and scanning the horizon, then invoking the gods, then squatting, then standing.

The general treatment of Native Americans?  So-so.  Bob Kortman, whom I loved in Laurel and Hardy movies, played Long Boat, who wanted to be chief.  He worked secretly for Zaroff.  Tom Morgan was his great rival.  I liked the way Long Boat kept calling Tom "My brother" with a great sneer.

I lost count of how many times Zaroff said he was going to be "the most powerful man in the world."  I liked the wireless telephones he used to communicate with Long Boat and his cowboy henchmen.  He used what looked like a text terminal to communicate wirelessly with a buyer in Europe.

I first saw this serial on Channel 20's Old Sourdough or Worst of Hollywood.  I managed to stay awake late enough each Friday night to see all 15 chapters.  I had read William K Everson's disparaging comments on the movie.  I didn't agree with him.