Customer Reviews

Battling with Buffalo Bill

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Congradulations to VCI Entertainment for releasing BATTLING WITH BUFFALO BILL (1931) an early Universal talking serial. The print used is EXCEPTIONAL and makes viewing a wonderful experience.
Tom Tyler is probably the best looking Buffalo Bill ever, complete with long hair, beard and buckskins! The action is fast and furious and serial fans should readily welcome this addition to their dvd libraries.
Jim Rodney played by Francis (director John's brother) Ford is after the gold near Hard Rock and ignites an Indian war to get it. Buffalo Bill, Dave Archer (future cowboy star and lieutenant governor of Nevada, Rex Bell) and John Mills (William Desmond, vetern Western and serial star) are the main good guys thwarting Rodney and his henchmen at every turn. Giving them a hand are stuntman Yakima Canutt as scout Jack Brady and usually bad-guy Ed Cobb as a good townsman. Pretty Lucile Browne (MYSTERY SQUADRON, LAW OF THE WILD) is Dave Archer's sweetheart, needing rescued every now and then, mostly by Buffalo Bill.
On the bad side of things Bud Osborne plays back-shooting Joe Tampas and George Regas plays a character named Breed, not unlike similar characters to appear in future Universal Western serials essayed by George Stevens (Snake-eye in WINNERS OF THE WEST,1940).
All said, this is a fine example of an early all-talking Western serial, a little crude and disjointed, but quite enjoyable and certainly action-packed! You not only get to see the same Indian shot off his horse at least six times during the 12 chapters but even again during the previews for THE OREGON TRAIL (1939), a Johnny Mack Brown serial!!!
This is really a fun time for fans, and again HATS OFF to VCI for releasing a great looking print of BATTLING WITH BUFFALO BILL!...Be sure to buy this one.

VCI Entertainment presents "BATTLING WITH BUFFALO BILL" (1931) (digitally remastered) --- Universal Studios 12 Chapters vintage serial loaded with thrilling drama and high adventure sequences featuring heroes and villains --- Story by Henry MacRae -- Suggested by "The Great West That Was" by William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) --- Tom Tyler as the legendary Bill Cody (complete with long hair, mustache, buckskins, goatee--the whole nine yards) --- Tom battled Indians, badmen, and other pesky menaces on the studio lot for twelve chapters --- Interestingly, the head villain, a gambler out to take possession of a gold mine, was none other than Francis Ford, brother of Tyler's former and future director the great John Ford --- Filmed and released at the beginning of the sound era --- This serial lacked the polish of some of Tyler's later serials, but was a step above "PHANTOM OF THE WEST" (Mascot/1931) --- This would lead to three more serials with Universal --- Tyler was one of the great serial heroes plus one of the cliffhanger's most underrated actors.

Under the production staff:
Ray Taylor - Director
Henry MacRae - Producer
Ella O'Neill - Dialogue
George Plympton - Continuity
Alvin Todd - Film Editor
Chief Thunderbird - Indian Authority
Jack Foley - Synchronization
C. Roy Hunter - Recording Engineer

BIOS:
1. Tom Tyler (aka:Vincent Markowski)
Date of Birth9 August 1903 - Port Henry, New York
Date of Death: 3 May 1954 - Hamtramck, Michigan

2. Lucile Browne
Date of Birth: 18 March 1907 - Memphis, Tennessee
Date of Death: 10 May 1976 - Lexington, Virginia

3. Rex Bell (aka: George Francis Beldam)
Date of Birth: 16 October 1903 - Chicago, Illinois
Date of Death: 4 July 1962 - Las Vegas, Nevada

4. Ray Taylor (Director)
Date of Birth: 1 December 1888 - Perham, Minnesota
Date of Death: 15 February 1952 - Hollywood, California

the cast includes:
Tom Tyler ... William 'Buffalo Bill' Cody
Lucile Browne ... Jane Mills
William Desmond ... John Mills
Rex Bell ... Dave Archer
Francis Ford ... Jim Rodney
George Regas ... 'Breed' Johns
Yakima Canutt ... Scout Jack Brady
Bud Osborne ... Joe Tampas (Henchman)
Joe Bonomo ... Joe Brady
Bobby Nelson ... Ezra Podge
Chief Thunderbird ... Chief Thunder Bird
Jim Thorpe ... Swift Arrow
Bob Burns ... Rider
Fred Burns ... Steve
Edmund Cobb ... Andy
Art Mix ... Henchman Mix

CHAPTER TITLES:
1. Cornered By Redskins
2. Circling Death
3. Between Hostile Tribes
4. The Savage Horde
5. The Fatal Plunge
6. Trapped
7. The Unseen Killer
8. Sentenced To Death
9. The Death Trap
10.A Shot From Ambush
11.The Flaming Death
12.Cheyenne Vengeance

If you're into vintage serials as I am, why not pick up a copy of the following titles from VCI Entertainment:
VCI CLIFFHANGER TRAILERS:
1. Adventures of Red Ryder (Don "Red" Barry)
2. Adventures of the Flying Cadets (Bobby Jordan)
3. Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe)
4. Captain Midnight (Dave O'Brien)
5. Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere (Judd Holdren & I. Stanford Jolley)
6. Dick Tracy's G-Men (Ralph Byrd)
7. Don Winslow of the Navy (Don Terry)
8. Don Winslow of the Coast Guard (Don Terry)
9. Drums of Fu Manchu (Henry Brandon)
10.Fighting Kit Carson (Johnny Mack Brown)
11.Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (Buster Crabbe)
12.The Green Archer (Victory Jory)
13.Jungle Girl (Frances Gifford)
14.Jungle Jim (Grant Withers & Raymond Hatton)
15.Lost City of the Jungle (Russell Hayden & Keye Luke)
16.Mandrake the Magician (Warren Hull & Dick Curtis)
17.Miracle Rider (Tom Mix & Tony Jr)
18.The Painted Stallion (Ray "Crash" Corrigan)
19.The Phantom (Tom Tyler)
20.The Return of Chandu (Bela Lugosi)
21.Riders of Death Valley (Dick Foran, Leo Carrillo & Buck Jones)
22.Secret Agent X-9 (1937) (Scott Kolk & Henry Brandon)
23.Secret Agent X-9 (1945) (Lloyd Bridges & Keye Luke)
24.Sky Raiders (Donald Woods & Billy Halop)
25.Undersea Kingdom (Ray "Crash" Corrigan)
26.Winners of the West (Dick Foran, Harry Woods, Roy Barcroft & Charles Stevens)
27.Zane Greys "King of the Royal Mounted" (Allan "Rocky" Lane)
28.Zorro's Cliffhanger Collection (Reed Hadley, John Carroll & Linda Stirling)

Hats off to VCI Entertainment and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc), Buck Rainey (author of: The Life and Films of Buck Jones: The Sound Era (Paperback) and Bob Nareau (author of: "The Real" Bob Steele) as they have rekindled my interest once again for B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on DVD --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out Amazon and VCI where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns and Serials --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 217 mins on DVD ~ VCI Entertainment ~ (12/04/2007)

"Battling with Buffalo Bill" is a 12-chapter All-Talking Universal serial, released in 1931, directed by Ray Taylor, with the story by Henry MacRae, "Suggested by 'The Great West That Was' by William F. Cody."

The citizens of Hard Rock send a wagon train back East to obtain a stamp mill to process their gold ore. John Mills (William Desmond), his daughter Jane (Lucile Browne) and her sweetheart Dave Archer (Rex Bell) hope this will allow them to make some money. But saloon owner Jim Rodney (Francis Ford) and his henchmen, wanting control of Hard Rock and its wealth, plot to wipe out Mills and his followers by stirring up the Cheyenne Indians, who attack the town. Fortunately Bill Cody (Tom Tyler) comes to the rescue with some troopers, and he has to come to the rescue many more times before Rodney is finally brought to justice.

This is a well-made serial for its time, with decent settings and costumes, though Lucile Browne often seems oddly dressed for trips into the wilds near Hard Rock. Rex Bell isn't much help, because he's not the title character, though Tom Tyler looks every inch the heroic Buffalo Bill. The dialogue isn't as bad as might be feared, even from Tyler, but the serial was made early in the sound era and for a modern audience the chapters seem long; no question that it was intended to be watched one chapter at a time. There is very little music anywhere, not even for the titles. And if the Cheyenne Indians aren't attacking it's the Blackfeet, in a pattern that should be familiar to those who have seen later Universal Western serials, though it doesn't seem quite as tired here. And yes, the Indian who gets shot off his horse is present at least every other chapter; he should get screen credit. The Indians include Chief Thunderbird as the Cheyenne Chief, also credited as the "Indian Authority" and Jim Thorpe as the Chief's son Swift Arrow.

The opening "recap" narration by Lew Kelly, deserves special mention. He comes out, dressed as cowpoke in front of a cabin, giving his talk in a "western" drawl with a horse at the extreme right tied to the hitchin' post. During the laborious oration the horse seems to be providing critical comment, though no other sounds are heard; the speech must have been dubbed. As the chapters proceed, the horse becomes increasingly agitated, trying to get unhitched, and in one chapter moves forward, the narrator having to step sideways to stay in view. After another chapter, the horse is gone, reappearing in the final chapter with the reins held by Lew Kelly instead of being tied to the post. Watching the horse is the most entertaining part of these introductions.

VCI's edition, # 8522 is on a single disc. The image is remarkably clean and sharp, with good gray scale. The sound has some "noise reduction" in places where the background racket is blanked between words, but it isn't too bad. No problems were seen with splices; the quality is especially good for a film of this age. The "extras" include three trailers, for Universal serials "The Oregon Trail" (1939) and "Riders of Death Valley" (1941), and the 1940 Republic serial "Adventures of Red Ryder."

A welcome release, though mostly of interest to those curious about what early sound serials were like from Universal. The more-imaginative, if rather poorly-made serial "The Phantom of the West" from Mascot, also released in 1931 is an interesting contrast, having both Tom Tyler and William Desmond in the cast. But given VCI's clean transfer, this is a very desirable item for serial movie fans, and for those interested in early sound films generally.

Battling With Buffalo Bill is a rare film. Tom Tyler starred as the legendary buffalo hunter/showman with Rex Bell, Lucille Brown, William Desmond, Francis Ford, Edmond Cobb, Jim Thorpe, and Chief Thundercloud in this 12 chapter serial that epitomizes why vieweres loved the format so much.

Plot wise, gold is discovered in a small western town and the local gambler, Jim Rodney plans to seize the strike by fear and force. Bill Cody and the US Cavalry appear just in time to be elected marshal, and find out who is behind the trouble. Fairly typical serial fare, but for 1931 it was thrilling for anyone who saw it.

VCI is to be applauded for their resurrection of these films for B Film fans. High quality is their hallmark, and strength.

The performances of Tyler and cast are excellent, and make this a must watch film.

Tim Lasiuta