Don Daredevil Rides Again

"DARING SAGA OF DANGEROUS DAYS!"

Apr 11 1951 Approved 2h 47m
Action, Adventure, Western

Stock-footage from Republic Pictures' earlier Zorro serials was served up once again in this 12 chapter cliffhanger, this time without the financially strapped studio having to credit Zorro creator Johnston McCulley or pay any royalties. Zorro simply became "Don Daredevil" (Ken Curtis), a foppish Easterner by day turned masked avenger by night. Like his not too distant relative, Don wore his disguise in order to battle nasty Roy Barcroft who, under a forged Spanish land grant, attempts to take over the surrounding ranch land.

Plot

An old Spanish land grant has been proved a forgery and all of the homesteaders on the land are now forced to move. The real grant is in the possession of Stratton, a lawyer, who plans to use this land grab scheme to accumulate wealth and power. Lee Hadley, another lawyer, plans to challenge the forgery, but where words fail, he wears the disguise of his ancestor, and fights the crooks as the masked hero, Don Daredevil, and goes against Stratton, henchmen Webber and Hagen, and whatever treachery they can throw against Hadley and the rest of the ranchers. Obviously originality wasn't stressed in this serial, as this probably was a good example of how Republic was losing its touch as the 50's and TV era rolled in. The story and script could have been tweaked somewhat to allow some interesting escapades and plot devices while still maintaining the ability to delve into the Republic stock footage vault (which they did a lot in this serial). Curtis is very boring as the lead, and the usually reliable Towne and Barcroft really come off seeming like this was another routine production under contract. There is the regular amount of Republic action, but it could have been improved. Rating, based on serials, 3.5

Written by

Ronald Davidson

Directed by

Fred C. Brannon

Production Countries

United States of America

Production Companies

Republic Pictures

Languages

English

Awards

N/A

Scores
# of Votes
83
Average Rating
6.4 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA