Rip Roaring Riley (1935) On DVD

Ted 'Rip Roaring' Riley is a champion boxer, star football player and America's toughest G-Man. The Defense Department has just assigned him his most dangerous mission: Rescuing brilliant scientist Wilfred Baker and his daughter Anne from the clutches of an international spy ring. Riley must race against time to thwart the villains' plan to unleash Baker's latest discovery, a poison gas that can destroy the United States!

Also known as The Mystery of Diamond Island, Rip Roaring Riley features many elements that would be familiar to readers of pulp magazines of the era: an exotic locale, an eccentric scientist and his beautiful daughter, and a genius hero who has also mastered every form of athletic endeavor. Leading man Lloyd Hughes began his career in prestigious silents like The Sea Hawk (1924) and The Lost World (1925), but by the talkie era had become a fixture in "B" pictures with titles such as The Drums of Jeopardy (1931) and Midnight Phantom (1935). Head villain Grant Withers made his film debut opposite James Cagney in Sinners' Holiday (1930) and afterwards segued into playing "tough guy" roles in countless Westerns. He is perhaps best remembered for his friendship with John Wayne (which led to roles in nine Wayne features, including Fort Apache and Rio Grande) and his short-lived marriage to a then-17-year-old Loretta Young in 1930.