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6.6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Gordon of Ghost City remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly? Probably not, unless you’re deep into the history of cliffhangers or just love the sound of horses clopping on wooden floorboards. If you like your pacing snappy and your dialogue sharp, skip it. If you’re the kind of person who enjoys watching 1930s sets that look like they might fall over if someone sneezes too hard, you’ll find a weird comfort here. It’s for the completionists. Everyone else will be bored by the third chapter.
The whole thing feels like it was filmed in a backyard on a Saturday afternoon. Buck Jones is in there, doing the heavy lifting, but the plot is thinner than the coffee they probably served on set.
There’s this one sequence in a mine that goes on for an eternity. The lighting is mostly just 'shadows and hope.' You can tell they were trying to save money on the electric bill.
The bad guys are the classic sort—they hang around in saloons wearing hats pulled low. They don't do much besides glare and get into scuffles. It reminds me a bit of Don Quickshot of the Rio Grande, but with way less ambition. Not that there was much to begin with.
There’s a moment where Gordon just walks into a room and the music swells like he’s saved the world, but he just sat down to talk about a map. It’s hilarious. The movie tries so hard to make everything feel like a life-or-death situation. It’s not. It’s just people standing around in vests.
I found myself zoning out during the chase scenes. They all look the same. Man rides horse, bad guy rides horse, they both ride in circles until the camera runs out of film or the budget runs out of gas. It makes Huckleberry Finn look like a sprawling epic by comparison.
Maybe it’s the lack of sound mixing, or maybe it’s just the age, but the dialogue often sounds like it’s being shouted from inside a tin can. If you turn the volume up, you just get more hiss. If you keep it low, you miss the plot—though you aren't really missing much anyway. The plot is basically just 'get the gold, keep the girl, hit the bad guy with a chair.' Done.
It’s not good, but it’s definitely something. A dusty, flickering, old-school something. Don't expect to remember it by tomorrow morning. 🤠
IMDb —
1915
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