Overland with Kit Carson (1939) was the eighth serial

Serial (film)

Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials, Film serials or Chapter plays, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. They were related to pulp magazine serialized fiction...

 released by Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

.

Plot

Overland with Kit Carson is constructed upon a seemingly simple premise. Old Western settlers are being driven off their homesteads and ranches by a combination of Indian assaults and harassing attacks by bands of mysterious outlaws. Then, the US government sends out famed Indian scout Kit Carson

Kit Carson

Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. Carson left home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 and became a Mountain man and trapper in the West. Carson explored the west to California, and north through the Rocky Mountains. He lived among and married...

 and army officer David Brent to investigate the facts, and Carson discovers that a mysterious villain known only as Pegleg, who enjoys planning his misdeeds as much as carrying them out, controls an outlaw gang called the Black Raiders and is using them and the Indians to drive out the settlers so he can establish his own empire. By 1939, film-goers knew exactly what to expect from a western serial: a clean-cut, self-assured hero facing down a good-for-nothing villain in a tireless pursuit, the menacing Indians and gun-toting bad guys, the moral soldier and the pretty girl, a reckless boy, lots of action, the climactic final gunfight, and not much in the way of thematic depth.

Cast

Bill Elliott Wild Bill Elliott Wild Bill Elliott was an American film actor. He specialized in playing the rugged heroes of B-Westerns, particularly in the Red Ryder series of films.-Early life:...	Kit Carson
Iris Meredith Iris Meredith Iris Meredith was a B-movie actress of the 1930s and 1940s film era. She starred mostly in heroine roles, in westerns....	Carmelita González
Richard Fiske Richard Fiske Richard Fiske was an American film actor. He appeared in over 80 films between 1938 and 1942.-Career:Born Thomas Richard Potts, Fiske was born to Frank and Bernice Potts...	Lt. David Brent
Bobby Clack Bobby Clack (actor) Bobby Clack was an American film actor during the Western B-movies era. Sometimes he is credited as Bobby Clark or Dusty Dixon...	Andy Gardner
Trevor Bardette Trevor Bardette Trevor Bardette was an American film actor.He made over 172 movies and seventy-two TV appearances in his career. Bardette appeared in several memorable episodes in Adventures of Superman. In the 1951 show, The Human Bomb, he played the sinister title character...	Trapper Mitchell
LeRoy Mason LeRoy Mason LeRoy Mason was an American film actor. He died on the set of California Firebrand after suffering a heart attack.-Selected filmography:The following were with John Wayne:* Maker of Men...	Baxter
Olin Francis	Pierre
James Craig James Craig (actor) James Craig was an American actor.After graduating from the Rice Institute, Craig began appearing in films in 1937, most often in B-movies and serials...	Tennessee
Francis Sayles	Dr. Parker
Kenneth MacDonald Kenneth MacDonald (American actor) Kenneth MacDonald was an American film actor. Born in Portland, Indiana, MacDonald made more than 220 film and television appearances between 1931 and 1970.-Career:...	Winchester
Dick Curtis Dick Curtis Dick Curtis was an American actor who made over 230 film and television appearances during his career.-Career:Curtis was born Richard Dye in Newport, Kentucky. A tall, hulking actor, standing at 6' 3", Curtis appeared in films stretching from Charles Starrett to The Three Stooges. In most of his...	Drake
Richard Botiller	Natchez
Hal Taliaferro Wally Wales Wally Wales was an American film actor who also appeared in many films under the name Hal Taliaferro. He appeared in over 220 films between 1921 and 1964.-Biography:...	Jim Stewart
John Tyrrell John Tyrrell (actor) John Tyrrell was an American film actor. He appeared in over 250 films between 1935 and 1947.-Career:Tyrrell is best known for his prolific work with Columbia Pictures in the Three Stooges short subjects. Like many actors in the Stooge comedies, Tyrrell was a salaried contract player...	Capt. Gilbert
Kenne Duncan Kenne Duncan Kenne Duncan , born Kenneth Duncan MacLachlan, was a well-known B-movie character actor. Hyped professionally as "The Meanest Man in the Movies," the vast majority of his over 250 appearances on camera were Westerns, but he also did occasional forays into horror, crime drama, and science fiction...	Trapper

Production

Scenes from Overland with Kit Carson were used as stock footage for Blazing the Overland Trail

Blazing the Overland Trail

Blazing the Overland Trail is a Columbia film serial. It was the last serial produced by Columbia and the last serial ever produced by any major studio...

.

Chapter titles

1. Doomed Men
2. Condemned to Die
3. The Fight for Life
4. The Ride of Terror
5. The Path of Doom
6. Rendezvous with Death
7. The Killer-Stallion
8. The Devil's Nest
9. Blazing Peril
10. The Black Raiders
11. Foiled
12. The Warning
13. Terror in the Night
14. Crumbling Walls
15. Unmasked

_Source:

External links

• Cinefania.com