The Dawn Rider *** (1935, John Wayne, Marion Burns, Dennis Moore) – Classic Movie Review 7130

Writer-director Robert N Bradbury’s 1935 The Dawn Rider is another early John Wayne low-budget B-movie Western with a then lanky young John playing John Mason out for revenge when the bad guys kill his loving father Dad Mason during a bank robbery. John Mason is wounded and is nursed back to health by his best friend Ben McClure (Reed Howes)’s girlfriend Alice Gordon (Marion Burns), who he fancies and intends to marry, upsetting his buddy.

Based on Lloyd Nosler’s story, The Dawn Rider is acceptable Thirties B-movie Western formula fare, with plenty of action and the Duke’s confident presence the two main attractions.

Made for $10,000, it is one of the last Wayne filmed for Monogram Pictures before swapping to Republic Studios that year.

It also stars Yakima Canutt as the Saloon Owner, Dennis Moore (billed as Denny Meadows) as Rudd Gordon, Joseph De Grasse (billed as Joe DeGrasse) as Dad Mason, Earl Dwire as Expressman Pete and Nelson McDowell as undertaker Bates.

The Dawn Rider is directed by Robert N Bradbury, runs 53 minutes, is made by Lone Star Productions and Paul Malvern Productions, is distributed by Monogram Pictures, is written by Robert N Bradbury, based on Lloyd Nosler’s story, is shot in black and white by Archie J Stout and produced by Paul Malvern.

Failure to renew the film’s copyright resulted in it falling into public domain. The Dawn Rider is available for free download at the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/TheDawnRider

Christian Slater stars as John Mason in a 2012 remake of this film, Dawn Rider.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7130

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