Riders of Death Valley Backdrop Blur
Riders of Death Valley Poster

Riders of Death Valley

"A MILLION-DOLLAR SUPER SERIAL! With a thousand teeming thrills in 15 exciting chapters!"

The Saturday matinee crowd got two cowboy stars for the price of one in this lavishly budgeted western serial starring former singing cowboy Dick Foran and Buck Jones. The latter contributed deadpan humor to the proceedings, making Jones perhaps the highest paid B-western comedy relief in history. The two heroes defend the Death Valley borax miners from an outlaw gang headed by Wolf Reade. An extraordinarily strong cast -- for a serial, at least -- supported the stars, headed by Charles Bickford as Reade, Leo Carillo, Lon Chaney, Jr., and silent screen star Monte Blue. Leading lady Jeanne Kelly later changed her name to Jean Brooks and starred in the atmospheric RKO thriller The Seventh Victim (1943). Universal claimed to have spent $1 million on this serial and made sure to get their money's worth by endlessly recycling the action footage in serials and B-westerns for years to come.

Top Cast

  • Dick Foran

    Dick Foran

    Jim Benton

  • Leo Carrillo

    Leo Carrillo

    Pancho Lopez

  • Buck Jones

    Buck Jones

    Tombstone

  • Charles Bickford

    Charles Bickford

    Wolf Reade

  • Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams

    Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams

    Borax Bill

  • Lon Chaney Jr.

    Lon Chaney Jr.

    Henchman Butch

  • Noah Beery Jr.

    Noah Beery Jr.

    Smokey

  • Jean Brooks

    Jean Brooks

    Mary Morgan (as Jeanne Kelly)

  • James Blaine

    James Blaine

    Joseph Kirby

Overview

The Saturday matinee crowd got two cowboy stars for the price of one in this lavishly budgeted western serial starring former singing cowboy Dick Foran and Buck Jones. The latter contributed deadpan humor to the proceedings, making Jones perhaps the highest paid B-western comedy relief in history. The two heroes defend the Death Valley borax miners from an outlaw gang headed by Wolf Reade. An extraordinarily strong cast -- for a serial, at least -- supported the stars, headed by Charles Bickford as Reade, Leo Carillo, Lon Chaney, Jr., and silent screen star Monte Blue. Leading lady Jeanne Kelly later changed her name to Jean Brooks and starred in the atmospheric RKO thriller The Seventh Victim (1943). Universal claimed to have spent $1 million on this serial and made sure to get their money's worth by endlessly recycling the action footage in serials and B-westerns for years to come.

Related Movies

Ramrod

A cattle-vs.-sheepman feud loses Connie Dickason her fiance, but gains her his ranch, which she determines to run alone in opposition to Frank Ivey, "boss" of the valley, whom her father Ben wanted her to marry. She hires recovering alcoholic Dave Nash as foreman and a crew of Ivey's enemies. Ivey fights back with violence and destruction, but Dave is determined to counter him legally... a feeling not shared by his associates. Connie's boast that, as a woman, she doesn't need guns proves justified, but plenty of gunplay results.

Ramrod

6.5 1947