Lightning Bill Carson and sidekick Magpie are after Burrows, the man that killed a friend of theirs. Burrows is after the Arden ranch and his gang are rustling their cattle. Bill is robbing Burrows while posing as the mysterious Phantom and it's not long before the two collide.
Bringing Bart Calhoun (Marshall Reed) to justice for his complicity in a robbery/murder, Johnny assumes that his job is over. Not by a long shot! Calhoun's arrest leads to the uncovering of a wide-ranging conspiracy to smuggle silver from Mexico to the United States.
Summarily accused of murder, drifters Duke (Foran), Pancho (Carrillo) and Andy (Devine) are tossed into the hoosegow, only to be released when their alibi checks out. Far from offended by his ill treatment, Duke agrees to take the job of sheriff, retaining Pancho and Andy as his deputies. The gruesome threesome then sets about to solve a series of mysterious Wells Fargo robberies
To win possession of the ranches he holds mortgages on, crooked banker Jim Kelton has his henchmen raid the ranches and stampede the cattle herds thereby ensuring the ranchers can't meet their notes. U. S. Marshal Wild Bill Hickok arrives...
Johnny Mack Brown was nearing the end of his starring career when he appeared in the Monogram oater Dead Man's Trail. Brown and his youthful sidekick Jimmy Ellison come to the aid of imperiled Barbara Allen. At this point, Johnny was too long in tooth and thick around the middle to qualify as a romantic lead, hence the presence of Ellison.
In perhaps the most tranquil B-Western of the 1930s, Buck Jones, who also produced, plays the tough but goodhearted proprietor of the Bonanza, the only gambling establishment in otherwise God-fearing Silver Creek. Noel Francis, who used to play blonde schemers in Warner Bros. gangster films, earns second billing as the casino's equally goodhearted chanteuse.
'Tuck' Martin, a crooked rancher, plots to acquire possession of the neighboring ranch belonging to 'Pop' Melody, whose daughter, Molly, is in love with 'Big Boy.' Bill Lang, the Melody ranchman, is in league with Martin and succeeds in rendering Melody helpless, although he had originally intended to have him killed. An attack on the cottage discloses the double dealing of the foreman, who is finally brought to justice, with nothing but happiness left for 'Big Boy' and Molly.
THE BALLAD OF IMMORTAL JOE is the third "chapter" of Beastly Bards, written with a nod to traditional cowboy songs and to the northern ballads of Robert W. Service. "Immortal Joe" puts a haunted twist on a tragically romantic Western. Voiced by the wonderful Canadian actor Kenneth Welsh (Twin Peaks, The Aviator, The Day After Tomorrow). Produced in partnership with our awesome friends at Varipix, The Ballad Of Immortal Joe is the third "chapter" in the silly rhyme collection "Beastly Bards".
"Hadley, owner of a nearby ranch, had fenced off a water hole belonging to Miss Dunlap, thus depriving her stock of water. Undaunted, the young Eastern woman and her two-fisted fighting foreman fought back...
Larry Connell arrives in a border town run by Sheriff Bull Weyman and Branch Doughty. Connell wins the sheriff's ranch at draw poker, but Weyman uses his influence with Judge Hyland to have Larry declared bankrupt. Larry attempts to fight foul with fair, but the sale of his cattle pushes him over the edge. Larry holds up Doughty and subsequently gets arrested, but escapes, intending to blow up the sheriff's office.
Andy Fowler is made a member of a gang of rustlers after rescuing one of their number from a fire, but he finds his freedom threatened by the local sheriff, who is actually the gang's leader and wants Andy's girlfriend for his own.
Blacksmith Pinto Peters calls on his old friend, Sam "Hurricane" Benton, to help him clear his son, Jimmy, of a murder charge. Hot-headed Jimmy, believes that the best way to cure a man of cheating at cards is to shoot him. He didn't shoot him enough, as the gambler only feigns death as part of a plot to gain possession of land owned by Pinto, as they know there is gold on the land buried there by an outlaw gang years ago.
Rigging a horse race, Don Carlos wins a lot of money. When he loses his winnings at the gambling table, he shoots the dealer with Horton's gun. Horton is arrested but cannot prove his innocence.