Tom Tyler (1903-1954) was a popular star of low-budget westerns, appearing in at least fifty films as the star and dozens more as a supporting player. At one time, the Poverty Row film company Victory Pictures tried to pitch him as a singing cowboy, a la Gene Autry or Tex Ritter, by having him lip-synch several songs -- it did not work. Tyler was also noted for supporting roles in major pictures,, such as Stagecoach, Drums Along the Mohawk, Gone with the Wind, The Westerner, and The Grapes of Wrath. He also played the mummy Kharis in The Mummy's Hand, and starred in several serials based on comic book characters in The Adventures of Captain Marvel and The Phantom. After 1943 leading roles for Tyler dried up, although he he still continued working as a supporting players, eventually transitioning to television, mainly in westerns, until shortly before his death from heart failure. One of his last roles was as the co-star on an unsold television pilot written and directed by Ed Wood, Jr.
In Cheyenne Rides Again, Tyler plays Tom "Cheyenne Tommy" Wade, a lawman posing as a gang member to expose cattle Thief Girard (Lon Chaney, Jr.). Wade uses leverage to blackmail Girard into letting undercover lawmen join the gang. Eventually, the lawmen out number the crooks, and arrest the entire gang -- a plan that could only work in a B western.
Directed by Robert F. Hill (Blake of Scotland Yard, Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, Tarzan the Fearless). Hill took a page from Alfred Hitchcock, appearing in cameos in many of his films; in Cheyenne Rides Again he appear as "Bartender Ed." The script was written by Basil Dickey (The Masked Marvel, Captain America, Son of Zorro). Also featuring Lucile Brown (The Moonshiner's Daughter, Secrets of Chinatown, The Story of Elias Howe) and Carmen Laroux (Two-Gun Caballero, Starlight Over Texas, Saved by the Belle).
A true Poverty Row oater.
Enjoy,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM8qbip16hc
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