Empty Saddles (1936)

Director:

Lesley Selander

Writers:

Frances Guihan (screenplay)
Cherry Wilson (story)

Release Date:

20 December 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

GHOSTS, GUN-TOTERS, GORILLAS...He Took Them All In His Stride!

Plot:

Finding a deserted cattle ranch, Buck buys it and turns it into a dude ranch. But Buck is quickly in trouble with sheep men who want the ranch and then with outlaws who kidnap the daughter of the wealthy Mr. Grant.

Plot Keywords:

Ranch | Sheep | Cattle | Kidnapping

Cast

Buck Jones	...	Buck Devlin
Louise Brooks	...	'Boots' Boone
Harvey Clark	...	'Swaps' Boone
Charles Middleton	...	Cimarron (Cim) White
Frank Campeau	...	Kit Kress
Lloyd Ingraham	...	Lem Jessup, alias Jim Grant
Earl Askam	...	Henchman Red Madden
Ben Corbett	...	Vegas, head drover
Niles Welch	...	Jasper Kade
Gertrude Astor	...	Eloise Hayes
Claire Rochelle	...	Madge Grant
Charles Le Moyne	...	Mace
W.E. Lawrence	...	Cull Cole (as Wm. Lawrence)
Silver	...	Silver, Buck's Horse
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Adair	...	Ezra Biggers - a dude (uncredited)
Ruth Cherrington	...	Mrs. Hilton (uncredited)
Jim Corey	...	Henchman (uncredited)
Oliver Eckhardt	...	Mr. Hilton (uncredited)
Oscar Gahan	...	Fiddler (uncredited)
Robert Hoag	...	Musician (uncredited)
Mary Mersch	...	Mrs. Mills (uncredited)
Nick Moro	...	Musician (uncredited)
Buck Moulton	...	Sam (uncredited)
Dick Rush	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Allan Sears	...	Madden Henchman (uncredited)
Rudy Sooter	...	Bass player (uncredited)
Blackjack Ward	...	Cole henchman (uncredited)
Frank Yaconelli	...	Band leader (uncredited)

Directed by
Lesley Selander

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Frances Guihan		screenplay
Cherry Wilson		story

Produced by
Buck Jones	....	producer
Irving Starr	....	supervising producer

Original Music by
Felix Mills

Cinematography by
Herbert Kirkpatrick
Allen Q. Thompson

Film Editing by
Bernard Loftus

Art Direction by
Ralph Berger

Sound Department
Buddy Myers	....	sound supervisor

Stunts
Cliff Lyons	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
David Klatzkin	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Charles Previn	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Charles Previn	....	musical director (uncredited)
Oliver Wallace	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Buck Jones Productions (for)
• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1936) (USA) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures (1936) (UK) (theatrical)
• Grapevine Video (2004) (USA) (VHS) (VCD)
• Comet Video (????) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

67 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Buck Jones Productions

Topnotch B Western

This enormously entertaining B western, combines sentimentality, mysticism, humor and interesting casting and acting as Buck buys a haunted ranch and turns it into a Dude ranch.

The strong story is supported by a liable cast, including silent comedian Gertrude Astor in a funny turn as a society lady who thinks the entire scene too too romantic, and a surprisingly strong Louise Brooks in a near-the-end role and some excellent musical backing.

Although her appearance in two late French silent movies made Miss Brooks an interesting star and her memoirs of the Hollywood scene made her important, in truth she rarely gave strong, animated performances. Although the camera loved her, she sleep-walked through most of her roles and was miscast in others. Her blank affect in most silent movies made it impossible for the audience to gain anything from her performances. Indeed, it was this blankness that the Europeans used to produce characters ruled by chaotic circumstances in a crazed world. However, in most of her movies, when called upon to act, she did not. This movie, surprisingly, is different. However, it was too late to save her career.

But here, everyone works. This what a Saturday afternoon oater should be and all too rarely was.