Mystery Ranch may well have the best teaming of bad guy and henchman ever. It is hard to find such unrepentant evil with such joy in accomplishment than Charles Middleton and Noble Johnson. The James Bond films had such pairings but they were done tongue in cheek. Here the evil is deadly serious but not outrageous in the tie-her-to-the-railroad-tracks vein. The fact that the heroine is taking matters into her own hands helps a lot. The cinematography shows major studio quality. All of this raises the film well above standard B westerns.
Don't get me wrong: Mystery Ranch is no magnum opus. But put in perspective with B westerns it's head and shoulders above the pack. I give it an 8 because of Middleton and Johnson.
Don't get me wrong: Mystery Ranch is no magnum opus. But put in perspective with B westerns it's head and shoulders above the pack. I give it an 8 because of Middleton and Johnson.