Under a false name, famed outlaw Pecos Bill gets a job at the Bellounds ranch along with his sidekick Frosty. Bill is actually Ben Wade, former owner of the Bellounds ranch and father of beautiful young Collie, the girl the two ranch foremen are fighting over. Ben works unrecognized, biding his time until he can expose the men who, years before, killed his partner and framed him for the crime, then stole his ranch. Ben Wade and his partner Frosty return to Bellounds' ranch where twenty years earlier Wade was wanted for murder. Unrecognized, he gets a job on the ranch and soon becomes involved in Folsom's cattle rustling and a chance to settle an old score. It's a truism, more true in Hollywood than anywhere else, that the book is better than the movie.<br/><br/>Not, I'm finding frequently, when it comes to Zane Grey books.<br/><br/>"Mysterious Rider" was the rather generic title of Grey's book that was made as "Mark of the Avenger," also a rather generic title.<br/><br/>Again, Maurice Geraghty turned an excellent story into an even better screenplay, with enjoyable dialog moving along the exciting action.<br/><br/>Douglas Dumbrille as a cowboy … I still am having some difficulty fully accepting it, but by gosh he was great! He was as at ease as any long-time cowboy star and thoroughly believable, because he was a star-quality actor, one of the best.<br/><br/>Sidney Toler, whom I had seen once recently in a similar best-pal role, still surprised me: He was perfect!<br/><br/>He and Dumbrille are just excellent actors, likable and believable in roles that are not what they were or became famous for. Excellent.<br/><br/>Russ Hayden is again a good-looking, likable, downright perfect cowboy, a fine actor in parts like this, and who should have become one of the biggest cowboy stars.<br/><br/>There are other superb actors, and some familiar cowboy faces, that make this an almost perfect movie, one I watched in a rather poor-quality print at YouTube, but which I would watch again.<br/><br/>There might be better prints around, and I hope you find one, but I really hope you get to see this excellent B western, well directed, well photographed motion picture that should leave you as it did me, thoroughly satisfied and ready for more. Between cranking out Hopalong Cassidy movies at Paramount, Harry Sherman got this Zane Grey novel adapted into a film. Utilizing the same sets that Hoppy did, Pop Sherman turned of all people into a cowboy hero, Douglass Dumbrille.<br/><br/>This definitely rounds out the career resume of this character actor, to be cast as the cowboy hero, he who has played so many memorable villains in film history. Two years earlier Dumbrille played his most memorable serious villain as the lawyer Mr. Cedar in Mr. Deeds Goes To Town and three years after this film, Dumbrille would be his most memorable comic villain as the Marx Brothers foil in The Big Store.<br/><br/>Here Dumbrille is cast as Pecos Bill a notorious bandit who was forced into that life because he was framed for a murder. He had to abandon his ranch and small daughter 20 years ago to his foreman who took over the property. <br/><br/>After a stage holdup Dumbrille gets nostalgic for the old place and he and his sidekick Sidney Toler decide to visit the old homestead incognito and maybe gain for the daughter her rightful inheritance.<br/><br/>The girl has grown up into Charlotte Field and she's got both the new owner's son Weldon Heyburn and foreman Russell Hayden after her. The new owner is played by Stanley Andrews and there's Monte Blue in the cast as well who figures in things quite prominently.<br/><br/>There's a bit more plot if somewhat contrived than is normal for a B western of the time in The Mysterious Rider. But with the exception of Douglass Dumbrille, the rest of these character actor fit comfortably in the roles they are normally cast.<br/><br/>And as for Douglass Dumbrille, I could almost get used to him as a good guy.
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344 weeks ago