The Unknown Ranger (1920)

 

Starring: Rex Ray

Director: Harris Gordon

Studio: Aywon Films Corporation

PLOT SUMMARY:

Local ranch-hand Buck Manning (Rex Ray) discovers author John Chandler (Ben Hill) stuck on a county road and decides to bring him and his vehicle back to his ranch close to the Mexican border. Manning knows he has seen Chandler's face before but cannot place the name. Chandler claims to be unfamiliar with this part of the country, however is strangely aware of the cliffside hideout of two Mexicans. As it turns out, Chandler is not an author at all and is the headman of an opium smuggling operation. One night while believing everyone is asleep, Chandler escapes to the hideout. Unbeknownst to him, Manning is on his trail. Manning gets the drop on the bandits and chases Chandler along the cliffs and trails him back to the ranch where he seeks medical attention from Jo (Marie Newell). Manning enters the scene and gives Jo the entire story of how he was an undercover ranger sent to track down Chandler. Chandler escapes and Manning is about to shoot before being convinced not to by Jo as Chandler swims across the border.

FILM REVIEW: 

I have never seen a western with a pacifistic bent and, though I'm a pacifist myself, I hope to never see another again. Manning is the first western "hero" I've ever seen who allows the culprit to escape just because his girlfriend told him to. This was the most unsatisfying ending I think I've ever seen, it was akin to watching this past Saturday Night's Main Event where the villainous Gunther overtook and defeated the heroic John Cena. That match did not "send the folks home happy" and I doubt The Unknown Ranger did either in 1920. 

The enigmatic Rex Ray certainly lives up to the film's title. There is virtually nothing known about the wide-mouthed western actor aside from the fact that he made at least three films for Nathan Hirsh's Aywon Film Corporation before seemingly falling off the face of the Earth. Indeed, my friend, the noted western film historian Ed Hulse, was stumped as to who Ray was when I told him of my plans to pen this review. Honestly, it is for the best that Ray dropped out of the movie scene as he certainly does not make for a convincing cowboy hero. Ending notwithstanding, Ray is a diminutive man who possesses the widest grin this side of Joe E. Brown. His face was built for comedy and I'm surprised he landed in westerns instead of appearing in one of the thousand or so comedy shorts being produced at this time. Not once during the film did I believe in Ray and, in all honesty, even the weakest amputee could likely defeat him in a heartbeat.

The other actors are fair to poor and, with all due respect, Marie Newell is the homeliest heroine I've ever seen in a film. She looks less like a woman and more like a twelve year old girl, which makes the "love" scenes more than cringeworthy. 

I was both amused and shocked to see this was a drug smuggling plot and of opium no less. One must wonder who the intended audience was. Imagine the child who went to the theatre, expecting to see some cheap western thrills, coming home to ask his parents at the dinner table, "Mom? Dad? What's 'opium?" I am unsure if this was a common plot element in these near impoverished productions, but it was certainly a new one on me.

One of the elements that made the film a slog to sit through were all of the incessant flashbacks that occur during the film's brief forty-four minute runtime. There were three altogether and it felt like unnecessary padding just to get the film to feature length. The story was weak, the direction uninspiring and the acting was middling to poor. Not recommended unless you are a hardcore western nut like I am.

Until next time, pardners!