The Lone Ranger Rides Again is a 1939 American Republicserial. It was a sequel to Republic's 1938 serial The Lone Ranger, which had been highly successful, and the thirteenth of the sixty-six serials produced by Republic.
The serial was considered lost for a long time but copies, with Spanish subtitles, have since been found and re-issued.[2][3]
Homesteaders moving into a valley in New Mexico are being attacked by the Black Raiders. The valley had been settled by rancher Craig Dolan, who does not want the new homesteaders to be there. His son, Bart, has taken matters into his own hands and formed the Black Raiders. The Lone Ranger attempts to aid the homesteaders but he is hampered by his having been framed for being part of the Raiders. In particular, Juan Vasquez believes that he killed his brother, although when this is disproven he becomes another of the Lone Ranger's partners. However, the Ranger is forced to remove the mask and operate under the name of "Bill Andrews" at times in order to successfully protect the homesteaders.
Cast
Main cast
Robert Livingston as The Lone Ranger and undercover as homesteader Bill Andrews. Avoiding the deliberate mystery of the radio show and the gradual revelation of the first serial, the Lone Ranger is clearly revealed as Bill Andrews from the start. Livingston replaced Lee Powell from the first serial.[4]
Billy Bletcher as the (uncredited) voice of The Lone Ranger. Bletcher also voiced the Ranger in the previous serial.
Production
The Lone Ranger Rides Again was budgeted at $193,878 although the final negative cost was $213,997 (a $20,119, or 10.4%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1939 and the second most expensive of all Republic serials after Captain America (1944, $222,906), just beating Secret Service in Darkest Africa (1943, $210,033).[1]
The studio was willing to spend so much on this serial because the previous Lone Ranger serial had been a major success and was making a profit after only a few months on release.[6]
It was filmed between 9 December 1938 and 20 January 1939 under the working titleThe Lone Ranger Returns.[1] The serial's production number was 895.[1]
Director William Witney did not believe the script was as good as the original The Lone Ranger but for the first time the directors insisted on being part of the casting process for this serial.[6]
The Lone Ranger Rides Again's official release date is 25 February 1939, although this is actually the date the seventh chapter was made available to film exchanges.[1]
