Lawless Border (DVD)

Federal agent Bill Roberts poses as an outlaw to infiltrate a gang smuggling arms to Mexican revolutionaries across the border. He discovers they are being provided with the guns by Jack Warren, a seemingly reformed ex-crook living on a ranch in the middle of nowhere with his sister Mary. Bill tries to make friends with Jack while cozying up to Mary, with neither realizing the G-man's true identity. When his cover is blown, he quickly finds himself on the wrong end of a firing squad. Fortunately, Bill sends word to headquarters in the nick of time, leading to a shootout between border patrolmen and the revolutionaries.

Never before on DVD, this long-lost "B" Western stars popular cowboy actor Bill Cody. When not performing heroics on screen, Cody worked in Wild West shows, circuses and rodeos. He was no relation to the infamous "Buffalo Bill'' Cody, but sharing his name certainly didn't harm his career. Playing Cody's Mexican sidekick is Martin Garralaga, best known as Pancho in some of the early Cisco Kid films with Duncan Renaldo. Love interest Molly O'Day was at one point poised to become the next big Hollywood glamour girl, starring opposite Richard Barthelmess in The Patent Leather Kid (1927), but botched weight loss surgery ruined her health and eventually cut short her career.

BONUS: Rodeo Day (1935): This Western-themed short subject from Educational Pictures' musical series stars country singer Frank Luther (from the NBC radio series Hillbilly Heart-Throbs.)

• western