The Night Riders

Republic release of William Berke production originally titled ‘Heroes of the Desert’. Directed by George Sherman. Original screenplay by Betty Burbridge and Stanley Roberts. Photography Jack Marta; editor Lester Orlebeck; music score William Lava. Completed February 24, 1939, released April 12, 1939. Running time 58 minutes.

Weekly Variety: Fairly consistent in turning out well-written westerns for the Three Mesquiteers series, Betty Burbridge and Stanley Roberts have outdone themselves on ‘Riders’. Despite the aura of incredibility, as a whole the finished negative raises the Mesquiteer standard a notch. Exhibs have a selling point in John Wayne, leader of the trio, based on the approval given his performance in ‘Stagecoach’.

While written around an almost impossible happening--the claiming of 13,000,000 acres of ranchland via a grant made in 1744 by a king of Spain--the story deviates a little from the usual western fare. Basically it’s the same stuff for the Mesquiteers; they still rate cheers at the finale for being champions of the oppressed and go about the latter in the best workmanlike manner.

Charter to the aforementioned land grant is forged and possession granted by the US government wich creates untold hardships and eventual eviction for the tenants of the land when exorbitant lease rates are demanded. Mesquiteers are one of the ranch owners evicted for being unable to get up the fee. They don’t like being kicked out and decide to investigate. They take the form of modern Robin Hoods in the guise of hooded horsemen to harass messengers of the land baron and eventually clear the whole thing up.

All performances are above average for sagebrush tales, direction smoothly paces the footage and photography is okay throughout. Story neatly ties in with history near the close. Trio are under sentence of death for their nocturnal activities for robbing messengers of the land baron and returning the money to land owners. Evidence dug up by a femme friend of the trio reaches President Garfield a moment after he’s assassinated. Friendly sheriff, realizing their crimes were for the people’s good, loads firing squad’s guns with blanks, thereby saving the Mesquiteers for the next in the series.

Film also featured western stars Tom Tyler and Kermit Maynard.

Motion Picture Herald, April 8, 1939: Starring the popular trio, the Three Mesquiteers, this latest of their western stories for Republic goes back to the 1880s for its story. It is an unusual story, in line with the apparently increased attention this season to the story content of westerns. It tells of a gambler who poses as a Spaniard and with a phony land grant dating from Phillip of Spain, establishes himself as a virtual dictator within the United States. The pseudo Spaniard evicts all tenants on his ‘lands’ who fail to meet his tax demands. Among those evicted are the Three Mesquiteers--John Wayne, Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune, who is ventriloquist to boot. The Mesquiteers appeal to President James Garfield, but he points out that the United States court of claims has found the land grant claim valid. So the Mesquiteers become ‘night riders’.

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