Riders Of Black Mountain

Filmed in late 1940, the PRC western Riders of Black Mountain didn't secure a New York City playdate until December of 1941. Tim McCoy heads the cast as a US marshal who poses as a slick gambler. It's all part of his scheme to investigate a series of stagecoach robberies without alerting the criminals. Eventually, McCoy and his partner Tombstone (Ralph Peters) join the outlaws, the better to get the drop on them-assuming, of course, that it isn't the other way around. One of the reviewers of Riders of Black Mountain complained that there was such preponderance of male characters that the nominal female lead (Pauline Hadden) ended up being seen only from the back.