Rocky Mountain Mystery (1935)

INFORMATION FROM IMDb

Plot Summary
A mining engineer teams up with a crusty deputy sheriff to solve the mystery killings at an old mine where the owner's family waits for him to die, and where a valuable radium strike may have been made.
Written by Rick Johnson

Cast
Randolph Scott ... Larry Sutton
Charles 'Chic' Sale ... Deputy Tex Murdock
Mrs. Leslie Carter ... Mrs. Borg
George F. Marion ... James Ballard / Adolph Borg (as George Marion Sr.)
Kathleen Burke ... Flora Ballard
Ann Sheridan ... Rita Ballard
James Eagles ... John Borg (as James C. Eagles)
Howard Wilson ... Fritz Ballard
Willie Fung ... Ling Yat
Florence Roberts ... Mrs. Ballard
and many more...

Directed
Charles Barton

Writing Credits
Edward E. Paramore Jr. ... (screenplay)
Ethel Doherty ... (adaptation)
Zane Grey ... (novel)

Produced
Harold Hurley ... producer
Emanuel Cohen ... executive producer (uncredited)

Cinematography
Archie Stout

Trivia
This is one of 20 Zane Grey stories, filmed by Paramount in the 1930s, which they sold to Favorite Films for re-release, circa 1950-1952. The failure of Paramount, the original copyright holder, to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.

When it was re-released nationally in 1950 by Favorite Films, this film, now re-titled 'Fighting Westerner', was often shown in tandem with the re-release of Fighting Caravans (1931).

As 'Fighting Westerner' this film was first telecast Friday 23 October 1953 on WXYZ (Channel 7) (Detroit), in New York City 5 February 1954 on WCBS (Channel 2), and in Los Angeles Sunday 13 June 1954 on KNBH (Channel 4). In San Francisco it first hit the airwaves Thursday 15 September 1955 on KPIX (Channel 5).

The 20 Zane Grey stories sold by Paramount to Favorite Films for theatrical re-release, and then to Unity Television Corporation for television broadcast are as follows: The Light of Western Stars/Winning the West (1930), Fighting Caravans/Blazing Arrows (1931), Heritage of the Desert/When the West Was Young (1932), The Mysterious Rider/The Fighting Phantom (1933), The Thundering Herd/Buffalo Stampede (1933), Man of the Forest/Challenge of the Frontier (1933), To the Last Man/Law of Vengeance (1933), Wagon Wheels/Caravans West (1934), Rocky Mountain Mystery/The Fighting Westerner (1935), Drift Fence/Texas Desperadoes (1936), Desert Gold/Desert Storm (1936), The Arizona Raiders/Bad Men of Arizona (1936), Arizona Mahoney/Arizona Thunderbolt (1936), Forlorn River/River of Destiny (1937), Thunder Trail/Thunder Pass (1937), Born to the West/Hell Town (1937), The Mysterious Rider/Mark of the Avenger (1938), Heritage of the Desert/Heritage of the Plains (1939), Knights of the Range/Bad Men of Nevada (1940), and The Light of Western Stars/Border Renegade (1940)

Memorable Quotes

Filming Locations
Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA
Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA

Watch the Movie

[extendedmedia]

Rocky Mountain Mystery is a 1935 American Western mystery film directed by
Charles Barton and starring Randolph Scott, Mrs. Leslie Carter, and Ann Sheridan.
Based on an unpublished novel Golden Dreams by Zane Grey

The film is about a mining engineer who teams up with a crusty deputy sheriff
to solve a series of mystery killings at an old radium mine where the owner's family
waits for his death for their inheritance.

The film was re-released under the title The Fighting Westerner.

User Review

Fair
14 November 2008 | by Michael_Elliott (Louisville, KY)

Quote

Randolph Scott stars in this "B" picture, which is based on a story by Zane Grey. In the film Scott has to go to a small mining town where murders are taking place for what appears to be a possible future inheritance. Scott must battle the bad guys, find out who the killer is and romance Ann Sheridan. This is a rather strange film that mixed with Western and Mystery genres together but the end result isn't as good as one would hope. The biggest problem are the incredibly low production values, which usually leaves all the action to one small place. There's never any scope to the film and the low budget doesn't leave much that the cast can do. In fact it seems like the budget is so low that they can't really do much of anything except talk. The mystery itself isn't too interesting but Scott does make the film worth watching. He's certainly not his classic self here but he is good enough for the film. Sheridan is decent in her role but still a little rough around the edges. This was director Barton's third film and of course he's go on to do several Abbott and Costello films. He handles the material here pretty well even though he doesn't have too much to work with.