The Rangers Ride

With the Government Remount Service unable to meet it's quota of horses, Marshal Fred Martin arrives to try and find the rustlers. Apparently just a singing cowhand dressed in white, he becomes the masked Two Gun Troubador dressed in black when he goes after the outlaws. He quickly learns Tex Walters is the leader of the gang but he must find out who is the big boss that gives Walters his orders.

The fourth of 12 singing Westerns starring the "Silvery-Voiced Baritone," Fred Scott, Melody of the Plains begins peacefully enough with Scott, as cowboy Steve Condon, warbling Don Swander and June Hershey's "Albuquerque." The story quickly takes a rather grim turn when one of Steve's colleagues is shot and killed after selling out to a gang of rustlers. Mistakenly believing he fired the deadly shot, a dejected Steve, along with sidekick Fuzzy, goes to work for Bud's father, a rancher nearly forced into bankruptcy by a crooked land developer.

Gene Autry hunts bank robbers Al Bartlett and Trot Lucas with his old friend Mike. Bartlett, to throw off his pursuers, kills Trot and his own brother. When Kitty Bartlett comes to town claiming to be the slain Bartlett's widow, Gene has to save her from the irate townspeople who are not aware that her name isn't Bartlett but she really is the daughter of a law officer slain by Al Bartlett. Ben Luder, a local hood, tricks Bartlett back into town by saying he has to fixed to have Doc Larry Taylor do plastic surgery on him. En route they meet Doc and his assistant Helen Ellis and Ben's ruse is exposed. Bartlett kills Ben and forces Doc to drive him to the railroad. Gene, in a fight atop a runaway train, captures Bartlett.

Roy returns home to fine a range feud between the cattlemen and the sheepmen. When his friend is killed he finds the rifle had a defective pin. He learns the rifle belongs to a ranch hand named Barker and that a third party has caused the feud. When he captures outlaws trying to blow up a dam, he claims Barker was the killer. But Barker has switched rifles and the outlaws now accuse Roy and Roy finds himself in trouble.

President Lincoln personally sends Bill Gibson west to see if he can stop the holdups of the needed shipments of gold. There he meets his boyhood friend Foster. When all others refuse to take out the next gold shipment due to the killings, Bill volunteers. Jeannie, afraid for his safety, tells Foster of Bill's secret route not knowing Foster is the leader of the outlaw gang.

The Sheriff and his deputies are after Scar Adams. Scar is the brother of Alice Denton, the girl Deputy Tom plans to marry, and when the Sheriff is wounded she makes Tom refuse the job of Sheriff. But when Scar kills his father, Tom puts on the badge and takes out after him.

Ranger Eddie Dean is looking for the outlaw the Tioga Kid, a man he closely resembles. He runs into Joe Morino and his gang of rustlers at the same time Tioga arrives to cut himself into Morino's game. But Morino doesn't give in and in the showdown, Eddie and the Kid find themselves on the same side.

As war looms in the Pacific, even cowboys are called on to fight the enemy. Horses are desperately needed by U.S forces stationed in the Philippines, and the Range Busters - Crash Corrigan, Alibi Terhune, and their newest partner, Davy Sharpe - are hired to accompany a herd to the islands. But first they must battle Axis spies right in Texas, as they foil a plot to steal the very horses destined for shipment.

Eddie Dean (Eddie Dean) and his partner Soapy Jones (Roscoe Ates), under government orders, proceed to the ranch of J.C. Morgan (Shirley Patterson to buy cavalry remounts for the Army. At the ranch, they find out that J.C. is a girl. The nearby town of Dow City is under the control of a lawless trio headed by Trigger (Lee Roberts, Clem Kensington (Foxy Callahan) and Joe Morino (Dennis Moore). A member of the gang is Tucson Brown (Lee Bennett), one of J.C.'s trusted hands. When Eddie decides to buy the horses, Tucson steals the herd to prevent the sale. Soldiers, sent to investigate, are brutally murdered. The aroused townspeople elect Tennessee (William Fawcett, J.C.'s foreman, as sheriff. When the outlaws murder Tennessee, Eddie and Soapy, along with the reformed Tucson, swing into action.

A Hollywood singing-cowboy star with a big heart and an even bigger secret (he uses a double in most scenes because he can't ride, fight or sing) comes to the aid of a rancher about to lose his home on a rodeo bet.

Eddie Dean's assignment is to thwart the efforts of a crooked gambler, Brad Barton, to take over the property of his half-brother Bill Ryan. In order to secure the ranch, which is believed to hold large silver deposits, the scheming relative contracts to have Ryan killed. He then presents a forged will to the court naming himself as the sole heir. Shocked by the tide of events, Ryan's two rightful heirs, his grown daughter Robin and young son "Freckles" are determined to remain on their father's property. Eddie and his sidekick, Soapy Jones, arrive on the scene in time to enter the fight on the side of Robin and "Freckles."