Battling with Buffalo Bill | |
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Directed by | Ray Taylor |
Written by | Henry MacRae, Ella O'Neill, Basil Dickey, George H. Plympton [1] |
Based on | The Great West That Was by William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody |
Produced by | Henry MacRae |
Starring | |
Cinematography | John Hickson |
Edited by | Alvin Todd |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 217 minutes, 12 chapters |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Battling with Buffalo Bill is a 1931 American pre-Code Western serial film directed by Ray Taylor and starring Tom Tyler, Lucile Browne, William Desmond, Rex Bell, and Francis Ford.
Based on the book The Great West That Was by William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, the film is about a cowboy named Buffalo Bill who goes up against a shady gambler who is attempting to scare off the townspeople so he can gain possession of a gold strike. When a nearby Indian tribe is provoked into attacking the town, the cavalry rides in to the rescue. Cody's book was also used as the inspiration for the studio's highly successful 1930 serial The Indians Are Coming . [2] Battling with Buffalo Bill was Universal Pictures's 78th serial, the 10th with sound and 4th with full sound, of the studio's total of 137 serials.
The plot is a variation on the standard B-Western "Land Grab" plot: Gold has been discovered in the area and gambler Jim Rodney intends to make sole claim to it by pushing the rightful owners off the land and taking it for himself. To do so he has his henchmen kill an Indian woman, provoking attacks from her tribe. This brings Buffalo Bill and the United States Cavalry into the town. Buffalo Bill proceeds to defeat Rodney and his schemes.
Along with the more successful The Indians Are Coming (1930) this serial was based on the book "The Great West That Was" by Buffalo Bill Cody. [4]
Source: [5]
Darkest Africa (1936) is a Republic movie serial. This was the first serial produced by Republic Pictures and was a loose sequel to a Mascot Pictures serial called The Lost Jungle, also starring Clyde Beatty. Mascot, and other companies, had been taken over in 1935 by Consolidated Film Laboratories and merged to become Republic. Producer Nat Levine was formerly the owner of Mascot Pictures.
The Painted Stallion is a 1937 American Western film serial from Republic Pictures. It was the sixth Republic serial of the sixty-six made by that company. Western serials such as this made up a third of the serials from Republic, a studio that was also heavily involved in making B-Western feature films at the time.
The Phantom of the West is a 1931 American pre-Code Western film serial and was the second all-talking serial produced by Mascot Pictures. Tom Tyler stars as Jim Lester, trying to prove that Francisco Cortez is innocent of killing Lester's father years before. The real villain is the mysterious Phantom and his League of the Lawless.
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The Indians Are Coming is a 1930 American Pre-Code Universal movie serial based on The Great West That Was by William "Buffalo Bill" Cody. The serial was the first "all-talking" film of its kind. It played at The Roxy Theatre and was responsible for saving the film serial format into the sound era.
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The Mysterious Pilot is a 15-episode 1937 Columbia movie serial based on the book by William Byron Mowery and starring the record-breaking aviator Frank Hawks. This was the second serial produced by Columbia. In the serial, Hawks plays a flying "mountie".
Custer's Last Stand is a 1936 American film serial based on the historical Custer's Last Stand at the Little Bighorn River. It was directed by Elmer Clifton, and starred Rex Lease, William Farnum and Jack Mulhall. It was produced by the Poverty Row studio Stage & Screen Productions, which went bust shortly afterwards as a victim of the Great Depression. This serial stars many famous and popular B-Western actors as well as silent serial star Helen Gibson playing Calamity Jane, Frank McGlynn Jr. as General Custer, and Allen Greer as Wild Bill Hickok.
The Last Frontier is an American Pre-Code 12-chapter serial, distributed by RKO Radio Pictures in 1932. The story was based on the novel of the same name by Courtney Ryley Cooper.
The Monster and the Ape was the 26th serial released by Columbia Pictures and was released in 1945.
Cody of the Pony Express is a 1950 American Western serial film directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet. It starred Jock Mahoney, Dickie Moore, Peggy Stewart and William Fawcett.
Riding with Buffalo Bill is a 1954 American Western Serial film directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and starring Marshall Reed.