Gold Raiders

Gold Raiders is a 1951 comedy Western film starring George O'Brien and The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). The picture was O'Brien's last starring role and the only feature film released during Shemp Howard's second tenure with the trio.[1]

Gold Raiders
Directed byEdward Bernds
Written byWilliam Lively
Elwood Ullman
Produced byBernard Glasser
Jack Schwarz
StarringGeorge O'Brien
Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Shemp Howard
Sheila Ryan
Lyle Talbot
Clem Bevans
Monte Blue
John Merton
Hugh Hooker
CinematographyPaul Ivano
Edited byFred Allen
Music byAlex Alexander
June Starr
Production
company
Jack Schwarz Productions
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • September 9, 1951 (1951-09-09) (U.S.)
Running time
56 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50,000[1]

Plot

As peddlers, the Three Stooges help insurance agent George O'Brien outwit a gang of desperados who are after a valuable gold-mine shipment, led by local bigwig Sawyer (Lyle Talbot).

Production notes

Gold Raiders was an attempt by independent producer Bernard Glasser to inaugurate a new western series starring George O'Brien, the lead in F. W. Murnau's 1927 masterpiece Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and later a top star in Western and outdoor-adventure features. The Three Stooges (who consisted at that time of Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard) appear with O'Brien.

O'Brien and the Stooges receive roughly equal screen time.

Sheila Ryan co-stars as the granddaughter of tipster doctor Clem Bevans, while silent-film star Monte Blue enjoys a larger part than usual as a local mine owner. Some of the stunts were performed by Hugh Hooker, who also plays a juvenile role.

Gold Raiders marked the second and last feature film with Shemp Howard as part of the Stooges since the act's first screen appearance, the 1930 film Soup to Nuts, which also featured the Stooges' original leader Ted Healy.

Shot in Five Days

The 56-minute Gold Raiders was economically filmed. Director Edward Bernds, who also directed several of the Stooges' shorts, signed on for a 12-day filming schedule, brisk but feasible for a low-budget western. Bernds planned each day's work on paper, only to find that producer Bernard Glasser couldn't afford to keep the crew on salary for the full term. Glasser cut back the schedule twice before finally settling on a five-day schedule to begin immediately after Christmas Day, 1950. Bernds, now faced with less than half the agreed-upon schedule, almost quit the project, but relented when Glasser pleaded with him to continue.[2] Gold Raiders was ultimately filmed in five days: December 26–30, 1950. Bernds later commented, "I should have never made that picture. It was an ultra-quickie shot in five days at a cost of $50,000 ($563,140 today), which, even then, was ridiculously low. I'm afraid the picture shows it!"[1]

Gold Raiders was originally released by independent producer Jack Schwarz through United Artists in 1951. Although the principals worked well together, plans to pursue an O'Brien-Stooges series were abandoned when George O'Brien and Bernard Glasser joined forces to pursue independent production in Europe.

Gold Raiders was reissued to theaters in 1958, and television distributor AAP issued two home-movie abridgments on 8mm film in the 1960s.[3]

Out of circulation for years, Gold Raiders was released on DVD in 2006 by Warner Bros.

Cast

See also

References
  1. Maurer, Joan Howard; Jeff Lenburg; Greg Lenburg (2012) [1982]. The Three Stooges Scrapbook. Citadel Press. pp. 318–319. ISBN 978-1-61374-074-3.
  2. Ted Okuda with Edward Watz, The Columbia Comedy Shorts, McFarland, 1986. ISBN 978-0786405770
  3. Solomon, Jon. (2002) The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion; Comedy III Productions, Inc., ISBN 0-9711868-0-4
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