Gordon of Ghost City [Blu-ray]

The first of five Western serials Buck Jones was to make for Universal, this film was based on a story by Peter B. Kyne, Oh, Promise Me!. Jones, who was doubled in this serial by Cliff Lyons, is hired to look into a series of cattle rustlings, quickly discovering that the leader of the rustlers is the Mulford ranch foreman Rance Radigan (Walter Miller) and that the gang uses the notorious Ghost City as their hideout. Unfortunately, Mary Gray (Madge Bellamy) and her grandfather (Tom Rícketts), a prospector, have discovered a secret gold strike underneath one of the town's empty stores. If that didn't complicate matters enough, a mysterious gun man suddenly appears, threatening both Buck and the outlaws. A major Fox star of the '20s, Madge Bellamy found her career plummeting at the changeover to sound. Spending the remainder of her screen career at dreaded Poverty Row, Bellamy is today best remembered for co-starring with Bela Lugosi in the ultra-cheap White Zombie (1932).