Bletcher's Lone Ranger is a much more dark character than we're used to seeing. I have to admit that the full length mask was a bit creepy. (Being a native Oklahoman, I also couldn't help but think about how hot that dang thing would be)
Bletcher's character kills a lot of the bad guys in this one, too- there's hardly any shooting of guns from the villians' hands.
I kept waiting for him to lynch the bad guys. It's interesting that in one of the Lone Ranger novels published by Grosset and Dunlap, there's a scene in which the good guys discuss how to deal with the bad guys. Tonto says something like, "White men talk too much," and suggests he just amubush the chief bad guy and kill him. Another guy wants to star a lynching bee. The Lone Ranger (who on Tv would be aghast at such solutions) objects not on moral grounds but strategic ones. He objects to Tonto's plan because Tonto's an Indian, there might be a racial backlash; and while the lynching bee might not be a bad idea, either, vigilantes have a way of getting out of hand. The Lone Ranger of this serial is much more like that Lone Ranger.
share
kenwal73This is really not a reply.Just an update. The SERIAL SQUADRON now offers a completely restored version of this great serial.No subtitles,and most complete version.Reviews have been very positive.
Being so very old (born 1937) I was lucky enough to see the serial over a few weeks in a Paris theater in 1946 or 47,in the French version. I remember very clearly Tonto, the ranger with the a mask on, his horse, the cavern which was the refuge and even part of the plot, the slaughter of the Texas rangers but above all the cry, the frightening and completely impossible to understan (I could not speak or understand one word of English at the time) and there was no translation for That! As my memory is only average, The picture must have had a lot of striking features.
shareBletcher's Lone Ranger is a much more dark character than we're used to seeing. I have to admit that the full length mask was a bit creepy. (Being a native Oklahoman, I also couldn't help but think about how hot that dang thing would be)
Let's assume for a moment that the Lone Ranger stories have their origin in a real-life historical figure; i.e., that there really was a Lone Ranger. If the stories have any truth to them at all, then the historical Ranger was an honorable man, dedicated to protecting peaceable, honest folks against violent and/or dishonest ones. He became the Ranger when he and a group of other people were betrayed. He was the only survivor, and at least one of the dead had been very dear to him. He was rescued by someone considerably different from himself, who helped him conceal the fact of his survival. The rest is just details, so the real Ranger and the Ranger we're used to may have differed greatly in other ways (such as the type of mask they wore).
Bletcher's character kills a lot of the bad guys in this one, too- there's hardly any shooting of guns from the villians' hands.