The Miracle Rider (1935)

The Miracle Rider is a 1935 American Western film serial directed by B. Reeves Eason and Armand Schaefer for Mascot. It stars silent movie cowboy star Tom Mix 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

Tom Mix as Tom Morgan, Texas Ranger

Joan Gale as Ruth

Charles Middleton as Zaroff, a rancher and oil company owner

Robert Frazer as Chief Black Wing

Niles Welch as Metzger

Jason Robards Sr. as Carlton

Bob Kortman as Longboat

Edward Earle as Christopher Adams, Indian Agent

Edward Hearn as Emil Janss

Tom London as Sewell, one of Zaroff's henchmen

Edmund Cobb as Vining, one of Zaroff's henchmen

Ernie Adams as John Stelter

Max Wagner as Morley, one of Zaroff's henchmen

Charles King as Hatton, one of Zaroff's henchmen

Stanley Price as Chapman, one of Zaroff's henchmen

George Chesebro as Crossman, Janss Hand

Tex Cooper as Buffalo Bill (uncredited)

Bud Geary as Davy Crockett (uncredited)

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

Jay Wilsey as Daniel Boone/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, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and Mary Pickford. 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 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.

Chapter titles

The Vanishing Indian

The Firebird Strikes

The Flying Knife

A Race with Death

Double Barreled Doom

Thundering Hoofs [sic]

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.

See also

List of film serials

List of film serials by studio

References

External links

The Miracle Rider at IMDb

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