
Another of Paramount's "pocket epics" based on the works of Zane Grey, The Mysterious Rider pits good guy Kent Taylor against villain Irving Pichel. A crooked land dealer, Pichel spends most of his screen time seeking out legal means to cheat the homesteaders out of their property. He is thwarted by the Lone Ranger-like "Mysterious Rider," who may well be hero Taylor. One of the two leading ladies is Gail Patrick, later a specialist in scheming "other women" roles, and much later the producer of TV's Perry Mason series. The film's director was Fred Allen, not the comedian but a one-time film editor who specialized in cinematic sagebrushers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi