bkoganbing One of the most interesting of the Three Mesquiteer films has the guys getting involved in an archaeological expedition to find a hidden treasure guarded by a legendary Indian cult, presumably descendants of the Aztecs because they believe in human sacrifice. At least Robert Livingston almost ends up being barbecued at the stake.Mary Russell's father and his partner went off in search of the cult and the partner came back, but he's murdered in one of those locked room puzzles. Despite or maybe because of the fact the Three Mesquiteers were in the room they go along to find a treasure and capture a killer.These modern Aztec type cultists have kept up with modern weaponry because of their leader and when you find out who it is that will be self explanatory. I'm agreeing that the film does resemble some of those cult Kharis mummy films some of which were not all that good. The end is a rather spectacular climax where the cultists are wiped out. Mother nature has more to do with it than the Mesquiteers.Mesquiteer fans should enjoy this.

JohnHowardReid By the humble standards of the Three Mesquiteers, this is definitely one of the more exciting entries in the series with plenty of fast-moving action – especially in the 53-minutes TV cutdown version which seems to be the only one now available on DVD. There is a bit of a jump in the storyline where the excision has been made, but it's easy enough to paste together what's happening even if the events are dime-novel absurd. It's amazing to think that director Mack Wright managed to shoot this one in only eight days. Diminutive heroine, Mary Russell, played mostly bits in her Hollywood career (1934 through 1938) – and no wonder. She's an attractive little lass and she knows her lines, but that's about all that can be said for her. Also on the plus side, we see and hear very little of Max Terhune's Elmer in this TV version, although there was probably not much more in the full 59 minutes theatrical offering – especially when we remember that 59 minutes would translate to under 57 minutes on TV and DVD. (My DVD is Volume 32 in Platinum's Great American Western series).

classicsoncall It looks like this film might have been trying to capitalize on the success of the Frank Buck and Clyde Beatty jungle films of the 1930's, as part of the cast is outfitted in safari suits, but that's about as far as the jungle connection goes. "Riders of the Whistling Skull" is one of the cooler sounding titles coming out of the early Western era, and it's somewhat off the beaten path for the Three Mesquiteers. The trio must lead a small party past a cult of fanatic Indians on the way to an enormous treasure of lost gold, while knowing that there's probably a traitor in their midst. The story line is a bit of a relief from the classic Western programmer in which a villainous town boss attempts to hoodwink local ranchers out of their property rights, and you know the 3M's had a fair share of those stories as well.The coolest thing about this flick is that rugged mountain cliff that actually resembles an Indian face. With the wind whipping through the canyon, it wasn't too tough to come up with the whistling skull connection. The other scene to keep on the lookout for is that wild horse spill that Miss Betty Marsh (Mary Russell) and Lullaby Joslin (Max Terhune) take when their horses are tripped up by a rope across the trail. It's the first and only time I've actually been able to see a trip wire used to make the horses go down, and it always amazes me to see the broncs get back up. You can chalk up the stunt work to veteran Yakima Canutt who also pulls double duty in the picture as Indian guide Otah, even though he's virtually unrecognizable.There were a couple of things that didn't make sense to me as some of the action scenes played out, but that's not unusual. Keep an eye on the scene when Tucson (Ray Corrigan) makes his way down a rock face and an Indian cuts his rope. Stony (Robert Livingston) is standing on the ledge where he knocked the Indian off, and when the rope breaks, the end of it is at Stony's waist level. Couldn't Stony have just held on to the rope below the cut to prevent the rope from breaking? I also had to wonder why Tucson's shirt sleeve was missing after he tumbled down the cliff, how exactly does that work? If you're keeping score, this is the fourth in Republic's series of Three Mesquiteers films, and the third featuring Livingston, Corrigan and Terhune as the title characters, (Syd Saylor appeared in the first flick as Lullaby). Some fans find it to be one of their best, but I'll have to reserve judgment. I think Lullaby's dummy Elmer should have had a larger role.

FightingWesterner The Riders Of The Whistling Skull is The Three Mesquiteers best and most famous adventure and the best B-western of the nineteen-thirties, with more action, thrills, and suspense in it's fifty-three minutes than in all twelve chapters of some of Republic Pictures' serials!The story involves the Three Mesquiteers and their search for the missing father of a pretty archaeologist, kidnapped by a sinister Indian cult after discovering the lost city of Lukachukai and it's treasure, all surrounding the creepy rock formation known as The Whistling skull.This is first rate all the way with great locations and lots of weird touches like the cult's ritual dance (with a young Iron Eyes Cody in attendance) and the "mummy" who stands up and brandishes a knife!I recommend this heartily to fans of B-westerns and to people who want to witness the best that the genre has to offer.