review for Adventures of Red Ryder: Murder on the Santa Fe Trail on AllMovie

To the rousing strains of "Oh, Susanna!," Red Ryder quite literally rides from the cartoon pages onto the screen in the opening of Adventures of Red Ryder, the 12-chapter Republic Pictures serial starring bantam-weight Donald Barry, who to his dismay would forever after be saddled with the nickname of "Red." According to Barry himself, it was director George Sherman who brought Fred Harmon's popular comic strip to the attention of Republic's owner Herbert J. Yates. Barry, however, wasn't right for playing the strapping six-foot comic strip hero and flatly declined the part until Yates equally vociferously refused to pay him. In the end, Adventures of Red Ryder made Barry a major action star and it is easy to see why even in the opening chapter, which is unusually violent for a serial created mainly for the small fry. Not only is farmer Edward Cassidy cowardly shot by nasty Bob Kortman, but his young son (William Benedict) suffers the same fate in quick order. Two more bodies hit the dust -- including the hero's father (William Farnum) -- and a steely-eyed, vengeful Red Ryder strides to the saloon where the murderers are holed up. It is already obvious that Donald Barry is not your average lightweight serial hero, but a fine actor who plays the scene for all it is worth. When all is said and done, no less than eight people have lost their lives, and not all of them deservedly so. The body count is quite a tally for any B-Western, much less the opening episode of a chapterplay. In contrast, the conclusion of chapter one is typical of Republic Pictures. Ace stuntman Yakima Canutt, doubling for Barry, performs his legendary stagecoach "gag" and heroine Vivian Austin is rescued in the nick of time -- at least for the moment.