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Western

Riders of the Purple Sage

Year
1931
Length
58 minWikidata 58-minute listing Version sources ↓

A mysterious gunman enters a frontier conflict shaped by persecution, concealed identity, loyalty, and the pressure placed on an independent woman.

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TenseRomantic Approachable · Moderate Western
A woman pushes through dense purple sage in a coarse cream and violet print.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

What to expect

The third screen version of Zane Grey’s novel was its first sound adaptation, placing George O’Brien’s physical Western presence inside a new world of spoken threats and promises.

How to ease in

Follow the alliances before the pursuit. The compact running time assumes the genre’s moral signals are familiar, so identity and protection matter more than geographical detail.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes gun violence, religious persecution, death, frontier mythology, and period racial and gender stereotypes.
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A stranger can arrive as a silhouette, but sound gives him a promise to keep. I like watching the Western test whether a reputation is stronger when spoken aloud.

— Momo

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Credits & versions

Version map

Wikidata 58-minute listing 58 min 58 minutes reproduces the single duration stated by the source. The listing does not identify a cut, score, territory, frame rate, source element, or restoration. Source: Wikidata — Riders of the Purple Sage Runtime reference · Checked 2026-08-22

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