"Adventures of Frank and Jesse James" was the second of three serials produced by Republic Studios between 1947 and 1950. In this one Jesse (Clayton Moore) is joined by brother Frank (Steve Darrell).
The story picks up with Jesse returning from Tennessee (the sight of "Jesse James Rides Again"), in the same black hat, waistcoat costume, to Missouri to join up with brother Frank. There, without explanation, he changes into a ridiculous looking costume consisting of a really, really wide brimmed hat and chaps that are usually associated with cattlemen. There's nary a cow to be seen in this film. Actually it was the practice of the "B" studios to dress their characters in costumes that would match stock footage lifted from earlier productions. Frank James is garbed in buckskins for goodness sake.
The story involves the James boys , under assumed names of course, coming to the aid of helpless heroine Noel Neill as partners in her father's (who has been murdered by the villains) gold mine. The boys hope to reimburse victims of crimes that were committed in their name for which they are innocent. Trying to foil their efforts are "respectable" mining engineer John Crawford and his gang lead by George J. Lewis and the usual endless supply of henchmen.
I guess seeing Yakima Canutt's name as co-director (with Fred C. Brannon), I expected more. But the stunts although well done by the Republic stunt crew, are no different from any of 100 other serials. There are the usual fights, gunfights, and chases but really none of the spectacular stunts for which Canutt was famous.
Rounding out the cast are Stanley Andrews as the heroine's father, Sam Flint as Thatcher the banker who bankrolls the boys, House Peters Jr. as the sheriff, Gene Roth as the Marshal and George Cheseboro as the owner of the General Store. On the other side of the law we have I. Stanford Jolley as a crooked lawyer and Lane Bradford in his first serial as a henchman. In an inspired bit of casting veteran stunt men Dale Van Sickel and Tom Steele play characters named "Dale" and "Steele". Steele also appears as two other henchmen as well.
Clayton Moore who was about to become TV's The Lone Ranger plays Jesse for the second and last time. Boy, no one ever lost so many fights or could roll out of harms way faster than he. Noel Neill was also about to realize her 15 minutes of fame as Lois Lane in the Superman serials and later in the TV series.
