![]() However, Trooper’s screenplay is also a bit too thin, even for a ten-chapter serial its relentless focus on the back-and-forth battle for the map halves and the mine quickly starts to make the serial’s narrative seem excessively repetitive. ![]() Trooper’s screenplay, the work of Webb’s production partner Flora Douglas (“story”) and Austrian-born scenarist Carl Krusada (“continuity and dialogue”), is simple and straightforward, with few of the strange dead-end plotting detours common to many other independent serials (the long and pointless flashback to an Indian ceremony in the ancient gold mine is the only really notable example of this syndrome here). Above right: Charles King rides along a forest trail in the San Bernardino National Forest. The outdoor scenes predominate, however–which gives the serial a huge visual boost Iverson’s Ranch and the San Bernardino National Forest–later to figure in many Republic and Columbia Mountie serials–are both heavily utilized throughout the serial, their appealing hillsides and pine forests very nicely photographed by cinematographers Edward Kull and William Nobles (the latter would go on to shoot most of Republic’s Golden Age chapterplays).Ībove left: A long shot of a rugged “Canadian” (Iverson’s) cliff (the objects falling down the side are–supposedly–the hero and a henchman). The remote semi-wilderness setting of Trooper makes it fairly easy for Webb and director Stuart Paton to mask the serial’s budgetary constraints, at least where sets and locations are concerned almost all of the action either takes place outdoors or against interiors that don’t need to look spruce to be effective–the Bartons’ humble cabin, Gregg’s backwoods trading-post, a ghost-town saloon, and several caves. Trooper’s pacing and action scenes aren’t up to Mascot’s, and its production values and performances aren’t as strong as Universal’s, but it’s nowhere near as dull, convoluted, or cheap-looking as many other independent chapterplays. Mystery Trooper was the first of these, and was overall one of the better independent serials. Webb was one of several “independent” low-budget serial producers who attempted to compete with Mascot and Universal during the early sound era (he’d directed several Mascot entries himself during the silent era) in 1931 he turned out a pair of chapterplays under different company imprints, but with the same basic production crew. Logan and the Holts soon join forces to search for the map and the gold mine, but must continually battle the henchmen of smuggler and trading-post proprietor Jean Gregg (Al Ferguson), who wants the mine for himself in this fight with Gregg’s gang, they’re aided by Red Eagle, a sagacious wild stallion named White Cloud, and the Holts’ cloaked and enigmatic benefactor, The Mystery Trooper. Many years later, one-half of a map showing the mine’s location comes into the possession of Jack Logan (Robert Frazer), Romero’s nephew hoping to find either the map’s second half or the lost mine itself, Logan heads north–where he encounters Holt’s children Helen (Blanche Mehaffey) and Billy (Buzz Barton), who’ve been raised by the kindly Indian Red Eagle (William Bertram) after the loss of their father, and have been financially supported by an unknown benefactor who regularly but mysteriously provides them with gold nuggets. ![]() Prospectors Frank Holt and George Romero discover an ancient Indian gold mine in the Canadian northwoods–but a quarrel between the two men leads to a cave-in that buries both them and the mine. Starring Robert Frazer, Blanche Mehaffey, Buzz Barton, Al Ferguson, Charles King, William Bertram, and White Cloud. ![]() ![]() The Files of Jerry Blake Movie Serial Reviews and Other Cliffhanging Material ![]()
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