| Gold Raiders | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Edward Bernds |
| Produced by | Bernard Glasser Jack Schwarz (producer) |
| Written by | William Lively Elwood Ullman |
| Starring | George O'Brien Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard 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) | September 14, 1951 |
| Running time | 55' 42" |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Gold Raiders 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 George O'Brien, the lead in F. W. Murnau's masterpiece Sunrise (1927). Adding novelty value to the proceedings are the Three Stooges, who consisted at that time of Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Moe's brother Shemp Howard. O'Brien and the Stooges receive roughly equal screen time, so this could also be considered the first "Three Stooges movie," although the Stooges had appeared in earlier films as supporting players. It was also the second feature films with Shemp Howard as part of the Stooges since the act's first screen appearance, the 1930 film Soup to Nuts, which also featured the Stooges' original leader Ted Healy.
The 56-minute film was economically filmed in five days by director Edward Bernds, who also directed several of the Stooges' shorts. It was originally released by independent producer Jack Schwarz through United Artists in 1951. 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.
Out of circulation for many years, Gold Raiders was released to DVD in 2006 by Warner Bros.
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.