Riders of Death Valley

Riders of Death Valley is a 1941 American Western film serial from Universal Pictures. It was a high budget serial with an all-star cast led by Dick Foran and Buck Jones. Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor directed. It also features Lon Chaney Jr. in a supporting role as a villainous henchman^[1] as well as Noah Beery Jr., Charles Bickford, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Monte Blue, Roy Barcroft, Richard Alexander and Glenn Strange.

Riders of Death Valley
Directed by	Ford Beebe Ray Taylor
Written by	Basil Dickey Oliver Drake Sherman L. Lowe Jack O'Donnell George H. Plympton
Produced by	Henry MacRae
Starring	Dick Foran Leo Carrillo Buck Jones Charles Bickford Guinn "Big Boy" Williams Lon Chaney Jr. Noah Beery Jr.
Cinematography	Jerome Ash William A. Sickner
Edited by	Saul A. Goodkind (supervisor) Joseph Gluck Louis Sackin Alvin Todd
Music by	Charles Previn
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	July 1, 1941 (1941-07-01)
Running time	15 chapters (283 minutes)
Country	United States
Language	English

Plot

The villainous Wolf Reade and his gang set out to discover the location of a lost mine and lay claim to it.

Cast

• Dick Foran as Jim Benton, vigilante hero
• Leo Carrillo as Pancho Lopez
• Buck Jones as Tombstone
• Charles Bickford as Wolf Reade, villain hired by Kirby and Davis
• Guinn "Big Boy" Williams as Borax Bill
• Lon Chaney Jr. as Butch, one of Reade's henchmen
• Noah Beery Jr. as Smokey
• Jean Brooks as Mary Morgan
• James Blaine as Joseph Kirby, one of the mastermind villains
• Monte Blue as Rance Davis, the other mastermind villain
• Glenn Strange as Tex, a Benton Rider
• Roy Barcroft as Dirk, one of Reade's henchmen
• Jack Rockwell as Trigger, one of Reade's henchmen
• Ethan Laidlaw as Rusty, one of Reade's henchmen
• Richard Alexander as Pete Grump, one of Reade's henchmen

Production

Riders of Death Valley was Universal's "all-star, high-budget western cliffhanger."^[2] It provided a lot of stock footage for later serials.^[3]

Stunts

• Jack Casey
• Leroy Johnson
• Gil Perkins
• Ken Terrell doubling George J. Lewis
• Duke York

Chapter titles

1. Death Marks the Trail
2. The Menacing Herd
3. The Plunge of Peril
4. Flaming Fury
5. The Avalanche of Doom
6. Blood and Gold
7. Death Rides the Storm
8. Descending Doom
9. Death Holds the Reins
10. Devouring Flames
11. The Fatal Blast
12. Thundering Doom
13. Bridge of Disaster
14. A Fight to the Death
15. The Harvest of Hate

_Source:^[4]

See also

• List of film serials
• List of film serials by studio