Buffalo Bill Jr. Double Feature: Pueblo Terror (1931) / The Whirlwind Rider (1933) (DVD)

Pueblo Terror (1931, B&W): Bill Sommers (Buffalo Bill Jr.) returns from the Army to find that his Paradise Valley Ranch is being forced out-of-business. Greedy John Weston is cutting off the ranchers' water supplies, then buying up the bankrupt properties for a song. When Bill's investigation get's close to the truth, Weston has him arrested on trumped-up murder charges. Bill must find a a way to escape and put an end to the insidious land grab.

The popularity of westerns movies during the 1920s and 1930s allowed a legion of production companies to survive by cranking out micro-budgeted films in virtually unlimited numbers. Pueblo Terror, a crude but compelling early talkie, was one of the first sound horse operas to star Missouri-born Jay Wilsey, a lanky cowboy who entered films in 1924 as Buffalo Bill Jr.

Starring Buffalo Bill Jr., Art Mix, Yakima Canutt, Jack Harvey; Directed by Alvin J. Neitz.

The Whirlwind Rider (1933, B&W): Rodeo champion Bill Reed offers to donate his next prize to help prevent beautiful Alice Baldwin from losing her ranch. But her backstabbing "friend" Frank Kellogg is determined to take possession the valuable property himself. Kellogg decides to fix the competition by having his henchman prevent Bill from riding - by any means necessary.

There's evidence to suggest that this incredibly rare western never received a wide theatrical release. It was one of hundreds of such pictures that survive today only because they were made available to rental libraries and early TV stations desperate for programming before the major studios licensed their films. Buffalo Bill Jr. is his usual stolid self and George Chesebro suitably despicable as the lecherous villain.

Starring Buffalo Bill Jr., Genee Boutell, George Chesebro, Jack Long; Directed by R. J. Renroh (Robert J. Horner).

• western