A THUNDERBOLT DRAMA OF FEDERAL MEN IN THE WAR ON CRIME!
I'm sorry but I enjoyed the hell out of this one. I've seen tons of these 30's B-movies which are horror adjacent and have some crazy device or death ray or killing machine that needs to be taken care of by a square-jawed hero. . . . but many of them are rather dull. This one, however, can really be described as "rip roaring", that's for sure!
Ive just managed to watch this -- even though I first heard about it decades ago in the classic book FORGOTTEN HORRORS by George E. Turner & Michael H. Price et. al. The action starts almost immediately with G-Man Ted Riley (Lloyd Hughes) wrapping up a case. His boss then assigns him to investigate the mysterious happenings on Diamond Island. Turns out there are 'enemies of this country' who are trying to perfect a gas which is deadly to all animal and vegetable life. This gas is being invented by naive Prof. Baker (John Cowell); who happens to be an old science professor of Riley's. The enemy agents are led by the bogus Major Gray (Grant Withers). No sooner does Riley take on the case than he's involved in a (sorta) high speed chase (this is 1935 so it's kinda leisurely). The villains kept up to Riley and force him to drive somewhere which probably won't be too good for his future health. In a spectacular move, Riley pulls up behind a lumber truck and grabs onto protruding 2x4's; lifting himself out of the driver seat of the car and making his escape while the car careens driverless to a crash. Leaving behind the naughties, Riley approaches Diamond Island in a motorboat which he sets on fire and blows up near the shore. He jumps in the water right before the explosion.
On shore, Prof. Baker's daughter Ann (Marion Burns) sees the commotion and runs get help from the unknown-to-her villains. They are supremely uninterested in helping so Ann runs for a speedboat and heads out to rescue Riley. Feeling the should make a show of attempting to help, the villains hop in their own boat and attempt to run down Riley. Ann helps Riley into her boat and brings him to the island where Prof. Baker recognizes Riley and the enemy agents aren't really able to touch him. At first. Of course, the bad guys make several attempts to kill Riley which he manages to avoid with some really nice stuntwork by all concerned. Of particular note is the fistfight Riley gets into at the top of some wooden stairs. Riley is clocked by the bad guy and goes flying down a couple flights of stairs and clearly lands on the wooden bannister ON HIS STOMACH. OUCH! Seriously, this stunt has to be seen to be believed!
These low-budget B-movies did the stunts for real and this one looks wicked painful. It might be a stuntman or it might be Hughes himself -- it's hard to tell - but actors in these movies often did their own stunts and, whoever it is, it's a wonder he didn't bust a rib or two on that stunt alone. In the last reel, the poison gas is accidentally released and covers the island endangering good guys and bad guys equally. What will they do?!?!? RIP ROARING RILEY is just under an hour long and it fills every minute with action and adventure. I think it does a better job than most other movies of its ilk I've previously seen and I had a whale of a time watching it. Unlike many others, this movie I will watch again and again!
Lloyd Hughes makes an engaging hero as Riley (at no point did I notice anyone refer to him as "Rip Roaring" so that's probably just for the film title. Also, I was extremely heartened to see Marion Burns character of Ann Baker not only beautiful but also a woman of action; she doesn't play the simpering heroine needing rescue but instead seems very capable of taking care of herself -- starting from the first moment we see her running down to the dock to rescue a drowning man. Director Elmer Clifton, as mentioned, keeps things going at a rapid pace; giving the film the feel of those 30's and 40's movie serials (of which he directed his share including CAPTAIN AMERICA) and there is scarcely a pause to catch your breath. I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did!
