Gold Raiders

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Gold Raiders
Directed by Edward Bernds
Produced by Bernard Glasser
Written by William Lively
Elwood Ullman
Starring Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Shemp Howard
George O'Brien
Sheila Ryan
Jerome Cowan
Clem Bevans
Monte Blue
Lyle Talbot
Music by Alex Alexander
June Starr
Cinematography Paul Ivano
Editing by Fred Allen
Distributed by United Artists (1951) Warner Bros. (2006)
Release date(s) Flag of the United States September 9, 1951
Running time 55' 42"
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Preceded by Swing Parade of 1946
Followed by Have Rocket, Will Travel
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Gold Raiders (1951) is a comedy western film, directed by Edward Bernds with a script by B-movie writer William Lively and veteran comedy writer Elwood Ullman. The film was an attempt by independent producer Bernard Glasser to inaugurate a new western series starring old favorite George O'Brien. Adding novelty value to the proceedings are The Three Stooges -- Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard.

[edit] Synopsis

The movie's plot is fairly divided between O'Brien, playing a frontier insurance investigator, and the Stooges, cast as itinerant peddlers. The star and his comic cohorts thwart a gang of thieves hijacking gold-mine shipments. The villain is local bigwig Sawyer (Lyle Talbot), but the plot sneaks in a few interesting twists, including a red-herring character who initially seems to be a spy for the baddies, but who turns out to be an agent for the good guys. The Stooges, despite their buffoonery, perform heroically during the climactic shootout.

Sheila Ryan co-stars as the granddaughter of tipster doctor Clem Bevans, while Monte Blue enjoys a larger part than usual as the local mine owner. Some of the stunts were performed by Hugh Hooker, who also plays a juvenile role.

[edit] Notes

The 56-minute Gold Raiders was economically filmed in a record five days by director Edward Bernds.

Gold Raiders was originally released by independent producer Jack Schwarz through United Artists in 1951-52, and although the principals worked well together, plans to pursue an O'Brien-Stooges series were abandoned. The film was reissued to theaters in 1958, and television distributor AAP issued two home-movie abridgements on 8mm film in the 1960s. It is one of the few full-length films featuring Shemp Howard as one of the Stooges. Moe, Larry and Shemp appeared together in the 1930 film Soup to Nuts, which also features Ted Healy.

Extremely obscure for five decades, Gold Raiders was finally released to DVD in 2006 by Warner Bros..

v • d • e
Feature films starring the Three Stooges

Soup to Nuts (1930) • Turn Back the Clock (1933) • Meet the Baron (1933) • Dancing Lady (1933) • Myrt and Marge (1933) • Fugitive Lovers (1934) • Hollywood Party (1934) • The Captain Hates the Sea (1934) • Start Cheering (1938) • Time Out for Rhythm (1941) • My Sister Eileen (1942) (Cameo) • Good Luck, Mr. Yates (1943) (scenes deleted) • Rockin' in the Rockies (1945) • Swing Parade of 1946 (1946) • Gold Raiders (1951) • Columbia Laff Hour (1956) • Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959) • Stop! Look! and Laugh! (1960) • Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961) • The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962) • The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962) • The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963) • It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) (Cameo) • 4 for Texas (1963) (Cameo) • The Outlaws Is Coming (1965) • Kook's Tour (1970)


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