The Vigilantes Are Coming

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The Vigilantes Are Coming
Directed by	Ray Taylor Mack V. Wright
Produced by	Nat Levine
Written by	Maurice Geraghty Winston Miller John Rathmell Leslie Swabacker
Starring	Robert Livingston Kay Hughes Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams Raymond Hatton Fred Kohler Robert Warwick William Farnum Bob Kortman
Music by	Arthur Kay
Cinematography	Edgar Lyons William Nobles
Editing by	Dick Fantl Helene Turner
Distributed by	Republic Pictures
Release date(s)	22 August 1936
Running time	12 chapters (229 min)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$82,616 (Negative cost: $87,655)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Vigilantes Are Coming (1936) is a Republic Movie serial. It was the third of the sixty six serials made by Republic Pictures (and the third released in 1936).

This serial was filmed between 28 May and 17 June 1936 under the working title of The Vigilantes. It was released two months later, on 22 August 1936, under the final title. In the early 1950s the serial was re-edited into six 26½ minute episodes for television.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 2.1 Supporting Cast 3 Chapter titles 4 Cliffhangers 5 Stunts & Effects 6 Trivia 7 References 8 External Links

[edit] Plot

Following the discovery of gold in Mexican California in 1844, Russian Cossacks led by Count Ivan Raspinoff, in collusion with General Jason Burr, attempt to invade California and turn it into a Russian Colony with Burr as its dictator. In doing so they round up slaves to work the mines and General Burr has Don Loring's brother and father murdered to acquire their ore-rich land.

When Don returns, having been away at the time with Salvation, Whipsaw and Captain John Fremont, he assumes the masked identity of The Eagle to stop them and get his revenge.

He is aided by a group of vigilantes assembled from the Californian ranchers, fighting both General Burr's henchmen and Raspinoff's Cossacks, while awaiting the arrival of Captain Fremont's American troops before the colony becomes official.

[edit] Cast

Robert Livingston as Don Loring, Mild mannered church organist/Masked vigilante The Eagle
Kay Hughes as Doris Colton, John Colton's daughter
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams as Salvation, leader of the vigilantes
Raymond Hatton as Whipsaw, another Californian vigilante
Fred Kohler as General Jason Burr, conspirator with Count Raspinoff aiming to become supreme dictator of Russian California
Robert Warwick as Count Ivan Raspinoff, emissary of the Russian Tsar aiming to conquer Mexican California and claim its gold
William Farnum as Father Jose, the local priest

[edit] Supporting Cast

Bob Kortman as Boris Petroff, a Cossack
John Merton as Rance Talbot, one of General Burr's henchman
Lloyd Ingraham as John Colton, Mining engineer held by General Burr
William Desmond as Anderson, Rancher/Vigilante
Yakima Canutt as Barsam, one of General Burr's henchman
Tracy Layne as Clem Peters, Rancher/Vigilante
Bud Pope as Ivan, a Cossack
Steve Clemente as Pedro, one of General Burr's henchman
Bud Osborne as Harris, one of General Burr's henchman
Ray "Crash" Corrigan as Captain John Charles Fremont, US Army Captain

[edit] Chapter titles

1. The Eagle Strikes (31 min 24s)
2. Birth of the Vigilantes (20 min 51s)
3. Condemned by Cossacks (18 min 45s)
4. Unholy Gold (16 min 50s)
5. Treachery Unmasked (19 min 4s)
6. A Tyrant's Trickery (17 min 54s)
7. Wings of Doom (17 min 23s)
8. A Treaty with Treason (17 min 18s)
9. Arrow's Flight (17 min 59s)
10. Prison of Flame (18 min 26s)
11. A Race With Death (15 min 37s)
12. Fremont Takes Charge (17 min 45s)

[edit] Cliffhangers

1. The Eagle is shot and falls from a church bell tower.
2. The Eagle is locked inside the Powder Magazine when it explodes.
3. The Eagle is caught by a firing squad meant for Salvation.
4. The Eagle is caught under a hydraulic ore crusher.
5. The Eagle fall over a cliff under a hail of bullets.
6. The Eagle is knocked unconscious on a cart carrying powder when it explodes.
7. The Eagle trips and falls beneath the blades of four Cossacks.
8. A stagecoach carrying The Eagle and Count Raspinoff goes over a cliff.
9. The Eagle is shot off his horse and falls under the hooves of his pursuers.
10. The Eagle is locked in a burning building.
11. The Eagle is caught in several explosions and the resultant landslide.

[edit] Stunts & Effects

Stunts by:
Yakima Canutt as Don Loring (doubling Robert Livingston)
Tommy Coats
Ken Cooper
Sam Garrett (roping double)
Ted Mapes
Wally West

[edit] Trivia

• This was William Witney's first time working on a serial, although not as director (that would be The Painted Stallion in 1937). In The Vigilantes Are Coming he worked as a second unit director and as an extra (a Cossack).
• It was the ony serial Republic produced in this year, 1936 (the first year of serial production for Republic), where the lead character did not share the name of the lead actor (although "Crash" Corrigan in the previous Republic serial, Undersea Kingdom, had his stagename created specifically for that serial).
• Although a little more than $5,000 over budget, this was the cheapest serial Republic ever made. (The second cheapest was The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938) at $92,569 while third was the preceding Undersea Kingdom at $99,222.)

[edit] References

• Valley of the Cliffhangers Supplement; Mathis, Jack, 1995, ISBN 0-9632878-1-8
• The Vigilantes Are Coming at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] External Links

• The Vigilantes Are Coming at the Internet Movie Database
• The Serial Squadron

Preceded by Undersea Kingdom (1936)

Republic Serial The Vigilantes Are Coming (1936)

Succeeded by Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island (1936)