{{short description|1932 film}} {{Use American English|date=October 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox film |name=Vanishing Men |image=Vanishing Men insert.jpg |caption=Insert-format film poster |director=Harry L. Fraser |writer=Wellyn Totman |starring=Tom Tyler<br>Adele Lacy<br>Raymond Keane |released={{Film date|1932|04|15}} | studio = Trem Carr Productions | distributor = Monogram Pictures |country=United States |language=English |runtime=62 minutes}} '''''Vanishing Men''''' is a 1932 American Western film directed by Harry L. Fraser and starring Tom Tyler, Adele Lacy, and Raymond Keane. The film depicts the story of Russ Whitely (Keane), a young man who has become involved with cattle rustling, his complicated relationship with Sheriff Doug Barrett (Tyler), and his eventual redemption. Critical reception to the film was mixed, and it is now believed to be a lost film.
== Plot == Russ Whitely has become involved in Heck Claiborne's cattle rustling. Facing arrest by Sheriff Doug Barrett, Claiborne's associate Luke Grimes shoots and kills O'Hara, the sheriff's deputy. Barrett asks Diane Melville to help influence Whitely to abandon his criminal connections, and hires gunslinger Bat Morrison as his new deputy. Morrison kills Grimes when he resists arrest. Claiborne informs Whitely of a plan to ambush and kill Barrett, but Whitely warns the sheriff. Unable to arrest the man who saved his life, Barrett resigns, and the new sheriff, Baker, tells Morrison to stop the rustlers. Morrison arrests Whitely, but Claiborne's gang meets them at the jail. Morrison shoots Whitely, and is killed in turn by Barrett. Baker arrests Claiborne and his gang, except the injured Whitely, who is allowed to return to his ranch and begin a new life.<ref name=AFI/>
== Cast == {{div col start}} *Tom Tyler as Sheriff Doug Barrett *Adele Lacy as Diane Melville *Raymond Keane as Russ Whitely *William L. Thorne as Bat Morrison *John Elliott as Heck Claiborne *Robert Seiter as O'Hara *Charles King as Butch Grimes *James A. Marcus as Baker *Dick Dickinson as Luke Grimes {{div col end}}
''Hollywood Filmograph'' remarked on Raymond Keane's return to film acting after an absence of over a year.{{efn|His previous film was ''Loose Ankles'' (1930).<ref name=AFI-RK/>}}<ref name=HF/>
thumb|Film poster from the 1937 Astor Pictures re-release
== Production == In 1931, the newly formed Monogram Pictures announced the titles of its first 28 films, to be produced and released over the following year, including eight Westerns starring Tom Tyler.{{efn|The others were ''Partners of the Trail'', ''Galloping Thru'', ''The Man from Death Valley'', ''Two-Fisted Justice'', ''Honor of the Mounted'', ''Single-Handed Sanders'', and ''The Man from New Mexico''.<ref name=MPD/>}}<ref name=MPD/>{{sfn|Lifton|1939|pp=156–157}} ''Vanishing Men'' was released in the United States on April 15, 1932,<ref name=AFI/> and in the UK on June 3.<ref name=KYB/> In 1937, the film was re-released by Astor Pictures.<ref name=AFI/>
== Reception and legacy == Critical reception of the film was mixed. Writing for the ''Motion Picture Herald'', Rita McGoldrick did not regard the film positively,{{efn|The film's "Good" rating was the lowest assigned; better pictures were considered "Very Good" or "Excellent".}} and considered it most suited for an adult audience.<ref name=MPH/> The Los Angeles branch of the American Association of University Women wrote that the film offered "stilted" dialogue and "average entertainment value", but that its moral theme made it suitable for children as young as eight years old.<ref name=MPR/> Despite this initially mixed reception, ''The Film Daily'''s 1939 examination of the industry listed ''Vanishing Men'' as one of the Monogram films that "excited the admiration of followers" of the Western genre.{{sfn|Lifton|1939|p=157}}
As with many of Monogram's films, ''Vanishing Men'' is believed to be lost.
== Notes == {{notelist}}
== References == {{reflist|30em|refs= <ref name=AFI>{{cite web |title=Vanishing Men |work=AFI Catalogue of Feature Films: The First 100 Years 1893–1993 |publisher=American Film Institute |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/6376 |access-date=May 21, 2018}}</ref> <ref name=AFI-RK>{{cite web |title=Raymond Keane |work=AFI Catalogue of Feature Films: The First 100 Years 1893–1993 |publisher=American Film Institute |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/128187 |access-date=May 21, 2018}}</ref> <ref name=HF>{{cite journal |title=Harry Fraser directs Western favorite for Monogram Pictures |journal=Hollywood Filmograph |page=3 |date=March 12, 1932 |volume=12 |issue=8 |url=https://archive.org/stream/hollywoodfilmogr12holl#page/n65/mode/2up}}</ref> <ref name=KYB>{{cite journal |title=Trade Shown Films of 1932 |journal=Kinematograph Year Book |year=1933 |volume=20 |page=73 |url=https://archive.org/stream/kinematographyea00kine#page/n77/mode/2up}}</ref> <ref name=MPD>{{cite journal |title=5 of Monogram's 28 are finished |journal=Motion Picture Daily |date=July 24, 1931 |page=4 |volume=30 |issue=45 |url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturedai30newy#page/338/mode/2up}}</ref> <ref name=MPH>{{cite journal |last=McGoldrick |first=Rita C. |title=Selections |journal=Motion Picture Herald |volume=107 |issue=10 |pages=26–27 |date=June 4, 1920}}</ref> <ref name=MPR>{{cite journal |title=Vanishing Men |journal=Motion Picture Reviews |volume=3 |issue=4 |date=Apr 1932 |page=10 |url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturerev00wome_1#page/n47/mode/2up}}</ref> }}
== Bibliography == * {{cite book |last=Lifton |first=Louis S. |chapter=Monogram Pictures |editor-last=Alicoate |editor-first=Jack |title=The Film Daily Presents Cavalcade: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow of the Motion Picture Industry |pages=156–164 |publisher=The Film Daily |year=1939 |oclc=9579962 }}
== External links == *{{IMDb title|0023651}}
Category:American black-and-white films Category:English-language Western (genre) films Category:1932 Western (genre) films Category:1932 films Category:Lost American Western (genre) films Category:Monogram Pictures films Category:1932 lost films Category:1932 English-language films Category:1932 American films