Terror of the Plains

Good cowboy-movie players and a solid if routine story save this low-budget B Western.

Its title is downright ridiculous since the Plains are obviously hundreds of miles to the east.

Script supervising and editing were woefully lacking, and the fight scenes ... well, we've been spoiled by the choreographed battles and these, where the actors might well have hurt one another, just look like school-kids rough-housing.

Plus there are no sound effects of fist on jaw.

However, the story gets told otherwise pretty well, although it's admittedly possible that this fan of Tom Tyler is sometimes too soft in his reviews.

Tyler's leading lady is an adorable cutie, of some obvious acting talent, named Roberta Gale. She is shown at IMDb as having only 17 credits and her mini-biographer says she was bitter about her career. I think we can be too because with all her assets, she should have been busier.

Playing the bad guys were several men who well fit their roles, able to show believable menace and perform the necessary action.

Pardon me for a quirk: The two men most often posted as guards at the entrance to the hideout were both lefties. Why I notice things like that, I just don't know. But it does seem unusual for two left-handed riflemen to be stationed together.

Murdock MacQuarrie, Fern Emmett, Nelson McDowell, and, as "Nevada," the great Slim Whitaker -- here billed as Charles Whitaker -- help make this such a good cast. Some of the other and uncredited greats include Herman Hack, Budd Buster, and Silver Tip Baker.

With such a cast, you know the production flaws won't prevent you from seeing a darn good B Western. There's a mediocre print at YouTube presented by Westerns on the Web, for whom I am so very grateful.