Main Cast: Ray "Crash" Corrigan, Max "Alibi" Terhune, Mary Russell, Roger Williams
Release Year: 1937
Country: US
Run Time: 58 minutes
Plot
In perhaps their most unusual Western adventure, the Three Mesqueteers -- Stony (Bob Livingston), Tucson (Ray Corrigan), and Lullaby (Max Terhune) -- go in search of Professor Marsh (John Van Pelt), an archeologist who vanished while searching for the lost city of Lukachukai. Along for the ride are Marsh's daughter, Betty (Mary Russell); Rutledge (Roger Williams); and an Indian guide, Otah (Yakima Canutt). The expedition heads straight for the Whistling Skull, a huge rock formation in the "nostril" of which the Mesqueteers discover the missing scientist, gaunt but alive among several mummies. Both Rutledge and Otah prove to be less than helpful, however, and at one point Betty and Stony go missing and are feared lost. As Tucson learns, the natives are under the influence of a fanatical white man, but who is he? Oliver Drake and John Rathmell's screenplay was later reworked into a latter-day Charlie Chan thriller The Feathered Serpent (1949), which featured Bob Livingston as the villain. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Review
Although not remembered as a particularly inventive director, former actor Mack V. Wright manages to wring every drop of excitement from Oliver Drake and Bernard McConville's colorful story, which was not so much based on William Colt McDonald, the creator of The Three Mesqueteers, as on Republic Pictures' flair for making fast-paced action serials. But unlike the chapterplays, the studio spent quite a bit of money on this Western thriller, including expensive location work at St. George, UT, and effective use of glass shots to depict the non-existing "Whistling Skull." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Sol C. Siegel - Associate Producer, Mack Wright - Director, Tony Martinelli - Editor, Murray Seldeen - Editor, Karl Hajos - Composer (Music Score), Arthur Kay - Composer (Music Score), Hugo Riesenfeld - Composer (Music Score), Sidney B. Cutner - Composer (Music Score), J.S. Zamecnik - Composer (Music Score), Leon Rosebrook - Composer (Music Score), Jacques Aubran - Composer (Music Score), Harry Grey - Musical Direction/Supervision, Arthur Kay - Songwriter, Sidney B. Cutner - Songwriter, J.S. Zamecnik - Songwriter, Leon Rosebrook - Songwriter, Jacques Aubran - Songwriter, Jack A. Marta - Cinematographer, Nat Levine - Producer, Harry Jones - Sound/Sound Designer, Bernard McConville - Screen Story, Oliver Drake - Screenwriter, John Rathmell - Screenwriter, William Colt MacDonald - Book Author
