CUSTER'S LAST STAND - SERIAL (1936) Rex Lease, Lona Andrea & William Farnum | Western, War | B&W

Custer's Last Stand is a 1936 American film serial based on the historical Custer's Last Stand at the Little Bighorn River. It was directed by Elmer Clifton, and starred Rex Lease, William Farnum and Jack Mulhall. It was produced by the Poverty Row studio Stage & Screen Productions, which went bust shortly afterwards as a victim of the Great Depression. This serial stars many famous and popular B-Western actors as well as silent serial star Helen Gibson playing Calamity Jane, Frank McGlynn Jr. as General Custer, and Allen Greer as Wild Bill Hickok.

SYNOPSIS
The serial follows multiple plot threads, centering on a Medicine Arrow taken in battle and a secret gold mine, in the lead up to the Battle of Little Big Horn.

When some men are attacked by Indians, a survivor obtains an Indian medicine arrow. An Indian tells Blade he has found gold but will not tell him where until he has that arrow. So Blade starts killing the survivors of the attack but fails to get the arrow. One of the men he kills is John Cardigan and Kit Cardigan, a Scout for Custer, now starts looking for the killer of his father.

CAST & CREW
Rex Lease as Kit Cardigan and his father John C. Cardigan
Lona Andre as Belle Meade
William Farnum as James Fitzpatrick
Ruth Mix as Elizabeth Custer
Jack Mulhall as Lieutenant Cook
Nancy Caswell as Barbara Trent
George Chesebro as Lieutenant Frank Roberts
Dorothy Gulliver as Red Fawn
Frank McGlynn Jr. as General George A. Custer
Helen Gibson as Calamity Jane
Josef Swickard as Major Henry Trent, MD
Chief Thundercloud as Young Wolf
Allen Greer as Wild Bill Hickok
High Eagle as Crazy Horse
Howling Wolf as Sitting Bull

Directed by Elmer Clifton
Screenplay by George Arthur Durlam, Eddie Granemann, William Lively
Story by George Arthur Durlam, Eddie Granemann, William Lively
Produced by Louis Weiss
Cinematography Bert Longenecker
Edited by George M. Merrick, Holbrook N. Todd
Music by Hal Chasnoff
Distributed by Stage & Screen Productions
Release dates January 2, 1936
Running time 15 chapters (328 min)
Country United States
Language English

NOTES
Commenting on the plot, Cline notes that this serial contains several historical characters in a purely fictitious setting. "The story rambled through a series of loosely connected plots and sub plots" leading to Little Big Horn.

In April of the same year, the serial was edited into an 84-minute feature film, which was released under the same name.

Chapter Titles
Perils of the Plains
Thundering Hoofs [sic]
Fires of Vengeance
The Ghost Dancers
Trapped
Human Wolves
Demons of Disaster
White Treachery
Circle of Death
Flaming Arrow
Warpath
Firing Squad
Red Panthers
Custer's Last Ride
The Last Stand