Allan LaneFilmography

Posse from Hell

Actors: Audie Murphy, John Saxon, Zohra Lampert, Vic Morrow, Robert Keith

Synopsis: Audie Murphy plays a gunslinger put in charge of a posse. His quarry is a four-man bandit gang that has robbed the local bank, killed several citizens and abducted leading lady Zohra Lampert. Though Lampert is obviously a New York-based actress, it is John Saxon who plays the tenderfoot Read More

Hell Bent for Leather

Actors: Audie Murphy, Felicia Farr, Stephen McNally, Robert Middleton, Rad Fulton

Synopsis: Hell Bent for Leather is a standard western that features Audie Murphy in the role of Clay, a cowboy hunted by a posse out for blood. Clay deals and trade in horses in an honest way, and he does not suspect that a crooked U.S. Marshal (Stephen McNally) interested in furthering his career, is Read More

Disneyland: Tales of Texas John Slaughter: Kentucky Gunslick

Synopsis: In the 12th episode of Walt Disney's 17-part miniseries Tales of Texas John Slaughter, widower John (Tom Tryon) has finally wed the lovely Viola Howell (Betty Lynn), thus providing a mother for his children Willie (Brian Corcoran) and Addy (Patricia Gorman). En route to register his land claim Read More

Disneyland: Tales of Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge

Synopsis: In the 13th episode of Walt Disney's 17-part miniseries Tales of Texas John Slaughter, John (Tom Tryon) finds himself in the uncomfortable position of mediating an argument between his son Willie (Brian Corcoran) and his new bride Viola (Betty Lynn). This domestic disturbance is temporarily Read More

The Saga of Hemp Brown

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Beverly Garland, John Larch, Russell Johnson, Fortunio Bonanova

Synopsis: Saga of Hemp Brown gets under way when the title character (Rory Calhoun) is court-martialed and booted from the Cavalry. Brown is accused of permitting his men to walk into a deadly ambush; he knows he's innocent, and he spends the rest of the picture tracking down the real culprit. Joining a Read More

Bronco [TV Series]

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Lamb to the Slaughter

Synopsis: This classic Emmy-nominated episode stars Barbara Bel Geddes as Mary Maloney, the wife of philandering police chief Patrick Maloney (played by former cowboy star Allan Lane, best known to TV fans as the voice of Mister Ed). When Patrick comes home to tell his wife that he is leaving her for Read More

Bandits of the West

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Cathy Downs, Roy Barcroft, Trevor Bardette

Synopsis: In this Republic western, Allan "Rocky" Lane plays a Texas Ranger endeavoring to bring progress to the prairies. A natural gas system is slated to be installed in the Lone Star State. Local ranchers oppose this, believing it will have injurious effect on cattle. This misinformation is being spread Read More

The Marshall of Cedar Rock

Savage Frontier

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Bob Steele, Dorothy Patrick

Synopsis: Savage Frontier stars Allan "Rocky" Lane in his familiar movie guise as a U.S. marshal. A criminal gang, run by a mysterious "Mister Big," has been knocking off lawmen left and right. Once the audience is introduced to Roy Barcroft as leading citizen William Oakes, the mystery surrounding the Read More

El Paso Stampede

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Phyllis Coates, Stephen Chase

Synopsis: El Paso Stampede was the last of Republic Pictures' 38 Allan "Rocky" Lane westerns. Happily, the
series maintained a fairly high batting average right to the end. This time, the action takes place in 1898, during the Spanish-American war. Someone has been stealing cattle that was intended for Read More

Leadville Gunslinger

Actors: Allan Lane, Elaine Riley, Eddy Waller, Grant Withers, Roy Barcroft

Synopsis: In this western, a U.S. marshal rides into Leadville to get a prisoner and ends up staying to help a needy friend who is in trouble with the outlaws attempting to oust him from his ranch. To stop them, the lawman poses as a bandit. He then discovers that the town banker is behind it all as he has Read More

Black Hills Ambush

Actors: Allan Lane, Leslye Banning, Eddy Waller, Roy Barcroft, Michael Hall

Synopsis: Allan "Rocky" Lane and his trusty stallion Black Jack star in Republic's Black Hills Ambush. Lane plays a U.S. marshal who answers a call for help from his old pal Nugget Clark (Eddy Waller). It seems that someone is staging ruinous raids on Nugget's newly established freight line. Realizing that Read More

Captive of Billy the Kid

Actors: Allan Lane, Penny Edwards, Grant Withers, Clem Bevans

Synopsis: Billy the Kid doesn't really appear in Captive of Billy the Kid, but his memory lingers throughout this Republic "B"-western. According to screenwriters M. Coates Webster and Richard Wormser, Billy salted away a fortune in stolen gold somewhere in the hills. Before he died, he tore his treasure Read More

Desperadoes Outpost

Actors: Allan Lane, Lyle Talbot, Eddy Waller, Roy Barcroft, Myron Healey

Synopsis: At the time of its release, Republic's Desperadoes Outpost was regarded as one of the studio's better Allan "Rocky" Lane westerns. As was customary, Lane is cast as a federal operative, sent westward to offer aid and comfort to his old pal Nugget Clark (Eddy Waller). This time, Clark runs a Read More

Thundering Caravans

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Mona Knox, Roy Barcroft

Synopsis: In this western, a US marshal tries to stop a nefarious gang of thieves from harassing the local sheriff and from stealing shipments of gold ore by putting their leader into the jail. The ringleader turns out to be a female newspaper publisher who has been creating all the problems to make sure Read More

Fort Dodge Stampede

Actors: Allan Lane, Chubby Johnson, Mary Ellen Kay, Roy Barcroft

Synopsis: A fast-paced entry in Republic Pictures' fine Allan "Rocky" Lane series, Fort Dodge Stampede details the search for $30,000 worth of loot from a bank robbery which is ostensibly hidden in Fort Dodge, a Nevada ghost town owned by Skeeter Davis (Chubby Johnson). The latter, who knows nothing of the Read More

Rough Riders of Durango

Actors: Allan Lane, Walter S. Baldwin, Aline Towne, Steven Darrell

Synopsis: Allan "Rocky" Lane takes on a crooked landowner in Republic's Rough Riders of Durango. The villain intends to drive several ranchers into bankruptcy so he can snatch up their property at dirt-cheap prices. The ranchers fight back by scraping up $40,000 to clear all their debts. When the money is Read More

Wells Fargo Gunmaster

Actors: Allan Lane, Chubby Johnson, Mary Ellen Kay, Michael Chapin

Synopsis: Allan "Rocky" Lane plays the title role in the Republic oater Wells Fargo Gunmaster. Lane is sent westward by his employers to stem a series of stagecoach holdups. To bring the crooks out into the open, Lane pretends to turn bandit himself. One by one, the minor crooks are bumped off as they try Read More

Desert of Lost Men

Actors: Allan Lane, Mary Ellen Kay, Irving Bacon, Roy Barcroft, Ross Elliott

Synopsis: Allan "Rocky" Lane is cleverly cast as Allan "Rocky" Lane in the Republic western Desert of Lost Men. The story finds Lane going undercover to trap the leader of an outlaw gang. His scheme is complicated by the fact that heroine Nan Webster (Mary Ellen Kay) is the daughter of a doctor who is Read More

Night Riders of Montana

Actors: Allan Lane, Chubby Johnson, Roy Barcroft, Claudia Barrett

Synopsis: A state rangers rides out to find rustlers who have stolen from every ranch in the territory except a hot-headed loner, whom all the other ranchers think is the culprit. However, the ranger investigates, and finds that the blacksmith and his accomplice are guilty. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide Read More

Code of the Silver Sage

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Roy Barcroft, Kay Christopher

Synopsis: Code of the Silver Rage is more of the same from Republic western star Allan "Rocky" Lane. This time, Rocky plays U.S. cavalry intelligence officer Lt. Rocky Lane, assigned to protect the President of the United States from harm when the Chief Executive visits the treacherous Arizona Territory. Read More

Covered Wagon Raid

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Alex Gerry, Lyn Thomas

Synopsis: Covered Wagon Raid stars Allan "Rocky" Lane as a frontier insurance investigator named...Allan "Rocky" Lane. The story concerns a gang of hijackers who've been bushwhacking and murdering wagon train passengers. Someone has been tipping the gang off as to the locations and routes of the wagon Read More

Rustlers on Horseback

Actors: Allan Lane, Claudia Barrett, Eddy Waller, Roy Barcroft

Synopsis: Lawman Allan “Rocky” Lane is mistaken for a hired killer in this average western from Republic Pictures. Assuming the identity of his captive, Clune (Stuart Randall), when the latter is killed by mistake by fellow outlaw Murray (John Cason), Rocky learns that Murray’s cohort Leo Straykin (Roy Read More

Gunmen of Abilene

Actors: Allan Lane, Donna Hamilton, Eddy Waller, Roy Barcroft

Synopsis: Gunmen of Abilene top-bills Republic western hero Allan "Rocky" Lane and his horse Black Jack. Lane plays a U.S. marshal who is sent to investigate a reign of outlaw terror in Abilene. He arrives in town incognito, securing a job as deputy sheriff. Soon he discovers that the outlaws want to scare Read More

Vigilante Hideout

Actors: Allan Lane, Virginia Herrick, Eddy Waller, Roy Barcroft, Cliff Clark

Synopsis: Allan "Rocky" Lane and his faithful steed Black Jack star in Vigilante Hideout. The plot revolves around a bitter struggle over water rights. Eccentric inventor Nugget Clark (Eddy Waller) tries to help his drought-ridden neighbors by blasting for water, while a $25,000 nest egg rests in the bank Read More

Salt Lake Raiders

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Roy Barcroft, Martha Hyer, Byron Foulger

Synopsis: Allan "Rocky" Lane rides again in Salt Lake Raiders. This time, action takes a back seat to mystery and suspense. Lane arrives in a ghost town where his saddle pal Nugget Clark (Eddy Waller) is being held captive by outlaws. Also on hand is accused murderer Fred Mason (Myron Healey). With only 60 Read More

Trail of Robin Hood

Actors: Roy Rogers, Penny Edwards, Gordon Jones, Rex Allen

Synopsis: Filmed in eye-pleasing Trucolor, Republic's Trail of Robin Hood is one of the most entertaining and likable of Roy Rogers' starring films. Roy comes to the rescue of veteran cowboy star Jack Holt (playing himself) when the latter's Christmas-tree business is jeopardized by greedy rivals. With the Read More

Frisco Tornado

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Martha Hyer, Stephen Chase, Ross Ford

Synopsis: Frisco Tornado stars Allan "Rocky" Lane in his usual guise as a U.S. marshal. The lawman's target this time is a dishonest insurance company which offers protection against bandit raids. Thing of it is, the insurance folks are themselves orchestrating these raids. Eddy Waller once again supplies Read More

Powder River Rustlers

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Gerry Ganzer, Roy Barcroft, Francis McDonald

Synopsis: Plot number 6259A -- mistaken identity -- is trotted out for the Republic sagebrusher Powder River Rustlers. Allan "Rocky" Lane stars as a wandering cavalier who stumbles across a scheme to defraud an entire village. A stranger has arrived in town, claiming to be a railroad agent who has been Read More

Death Valley Gunfighter

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Jim Nolan, Gail Davis, William Henry

Synopsis: Republic's well-produced Allan "Rocky" Lane western series was a favorite of fans and critics alike. The series maintained its high batting average with its first 1949 entry, Death Valley Gunfighter. The storyline gets under way when thieves conspire to appropriate a silver mine owned by comedy Read More

Navajo Trail Raiders

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Robert Emmett Keane, Barbara Bestar

Synopsis: This Allan "Rocky" Lane western offers nothing new under the sun. Lane's fans expected nonstop action, and that's what they got. Our hero is called upon to halt a series of gold-shipment robberies. Someone is supplying the crooks with routing information, enabling them to await the arrival of the Read More

Frontier Investigator

Actors: Allan Lane, Roy Barcroft, Gail Davis

Synopsis: In Frontier Investigator, Allan "Rocky" Lane plays the title character, spending the bulk of the picture searching for the man who killed his brother. The fact that Lane was central to the plotline was an oddity, since in most of his Republic starrers he usually functioned as last-minute problem Read More

Bandit King of Texas

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Helene Stanley, Jim Nolan

Synopsis: The rubber-stamp quality of Allan "Rocky" Lane's Republic westerns continued to manifest itself in Bandit King of Texas. Lane plays an honest cowboy who has seemingly fallen in with an outlaw gang. It comes as no surprise when Lane turns out to be working undercover to bring the gang to justice. Read More

The Wyoming Bandit

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Trevor Bardette, Victor Kilian, Rand Brooks

Synopsis: Allan "Rocky" Lane finds himself linked up with an unexpected ally in Wyoming Bandit. That ally is none other than the title character, a hard-bitten outlaw named Wyoming Dan (Trevor Bardette). The bad guy has briefly turned "good" in hopes that Lane will help him find his son's murderer. To do Read More

Sheriff of Wichita

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Roy Barcroft, Lynn Wilde

Synopsis: In the western Sheriff of Wichita, an unjustly imprisoned Army Lieutenant searches for the actual perpetrators of a robbery he was unfairly accused of five years earlier. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

The Denver Kid

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller

Synopsis: Allan Lane goes in search of his dead friend's brother in this fast-paced Western from Republic Pictures. Instead of finding his brother Tim as he had been promised, Fletcher Roberts (Bruce Edwards) is confronted by Jason Fox (Rory Mallinson), a criminal who needs Fletcher's horses to equip a gang Read More

Sundown in Santa Fe

Synopsis: This western deals with an actual historical event. The story follows the endeavors of a heroic fellow who captures the mastermind behind a plot to assassinate President Lincoln. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Marshal of Amarillo

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Clayton Moore, Roy Barcroft

Synopsis: In a season that also saw him as The Denver Kid (1948) and The Sheriff of Wichita, Republic's Allan Lane, still carrying the nickname of "Rocky," became marshal of the title's rough-and-tumble Texas location. Marshal Lane comes to the aid of a group of stagecoach passengers stranded at the spooky Read More

Desperadoes of Dodge City

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Mildred Coles, Roy Barcroft, Tristram Coffin

Synopsis: Desperadoes of Dodge City is set guess where, and stars the muscular Allan "Rocky" Lane. When a group of homesteaders are plagued by a series of bloody outlaw raids, Lane tries to help out with the assistance of the U.S. Cavalry. Unfortunately, Lane's military orders are stolen by the villain Read More

The Bold Frontiersman

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Roy Barcroft, John Alvin

Synopsis: Republic cowboy star Allan "Rocky" Lane shares above-the-title billing with his stallion Black Jack in The Bold Frontiersman. Lane and his faithful mount come to the aid of a group of farmers who are attempting to raise enough cash to build a dam. Evil Roy Barcroft steals the money, but the law Read More

Renegades of Sonora

Synopsis: In this western, a cowpoke is trotting towards Wyoming in hopes of buying a ranch when he is arrested for a murder he did not commit, forcing him to prove his innocence before continuing on his journey. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Carson City Raiders

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Frank Reicher, Beverly Jons

Synopsis: Whenever veteran stuntman Yakima Canutt held the directorial reins of a Republic western, it was a sure bet that there'd be plenty of breakneck action. The star of Canutt's Carson City Raiders is Allan "Rocky" Lane, a former college football player who was no slouch in the stunting department Read More

Oklahoma Badlands

Actors: Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, Mildred Coles, Roy Barcroft

Synopsis: Legendary stunt coordinator and second-unit director Yakima Canutt was the man in the director's chair for Republic's Oklahoma Badlands. Canutt makes certain that his star, former Notre Dame football player Allan "Rocky" Lane, is given a real workout in the course of the film's 59 minutes. The Read More

The Marshal of Cripple Creek

Actors: Martha Wentworth, Trevor Bardette, Tom London

Synopsis: Marshal of Cripple Creek was the last of seven Republic "Red Ryder" westerns starring Allan "Rocky" Lane. This time, Red Ryder (Lane) rides into a gold-mining town, where an outlaw gang is operating unmolested. It's not that the local sheriff is corrupt; it's simply that the villains are too Read More

Rustlers of Devil's Canyon

Actors: Allan Lane, Martha Wentworth, Peggy Stewart, Arthur Space

Synopsis: Rustlers of Devil's Canyon was one of seven "Red Ryder" westerns with Allan Lane in the lead. Returning from the Spanish-American war, Red Ryder (Lane) discovers that his home turf has been overtaken by rustlers. To make matters worse, a range war erupts between homesteaders and ranchers. It turns Read More

The Wild Frontier

Actors: Allan Lane, Jack Holt, Eddy Waller, Pierre Watkin

Synopsis: Cowboy star Allan "Rocky" Lane teams with a sagebrush favorite of yore, Jack Holt, in Republic's The Wild Frontier. In an unusual move, Holt is cast as the villain, the man responsible for the murder of Lane's sheriff father. Taking over from his day, Lane vows to locate the killer-who Read More

Oregon Trail Scouts

Actors: Bobby Blake, Forrest Burns, Ted Elliott, Martha Wentworth, Roy Barcroft, Emmett Lynn

Synopsis: The fifth of seven "Red Ryder" westerns starring Allan Lane, Oregon Trail Scouts recounts how Red met his young sidekick, Little Beaver. Failing to acquire hunting rights on the Willamette Indian Reservation, evil Bill Hunter (Roy Barcroft) decides to kidnap Little Beaver (Robert Blake) and use Read More

Bandits of Dark Canyon

Actors: Allan Lane, Bob Steele, Eddy Waller, John Hamilton

Synopsis: Back to his standard Rocky Lane characterization after a brief series of "Red Ryder" westerns, Allan Lane stars in Republic's Bandits of Dark Canyon. In this outing, Lane takes it upon himself to clear ex-convict Ed Archer (Bob Steele) of a trumped-up murder charge. Making things easier is the Read More

Homesteaders of Paradise Valley

Synopsis: Regular "Red Ryder" series villain Roy Barcroft took a well-earned breather in Homesteaders of Paradise Canyon. The equally disagreeable Gene Stutenroth (aka Gene Roth proved a fair enough substitute, however, as Bill Hume, a homesteader so disgusted over the fact that the government land he was Read More

Tournament Tempo

Synopsis: In this comedy, a Hollywood talent scout talks a moody hockey player into becoming an actor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

A Guy Could Change

Actors: Jane Frazee, Twinkle Watts, Wallace Ford

Synopsis: In this drama, a husband becomes a single parent after his wife dies in childbirth. He is so engrossed in his newspaper career that he pays little attention to his daughter. He then meets and falls for a woman who chastises him for ignoring the child. He has just begun reestablishing his Read More

Gay Blades

Actors: Allan Lane, Jean Rogers, Edward Ashley, Frank Albertson, Ann Gillis

Synopsis: The biggest surprise in Republic's Gay Blades is that the studio's resident skating star Vera Hruba Ralston doesn't appear. Allan Lane plays hockey star Andy Buell, whose prowess on the rink brings him to the attention of Hollywood leading lady Nancy Davis (played not by the real Nancy Davis Read More

Night Train to Memphis

Actors: Allan Lane, Roy Acuff, Adele Mara, Irving Bacon, Joseph Crehan

Synopsis: Country-western star Roy Acuff heads the cast of the modest Republic musical Night Train to Memphis. Taking time off from his musical duties, Acuff tries to patch up a feud between a family of hillbillies and a railroad company. Complicating matters is the fact that Roy's brother Don (Allan Lane) Read More

Vigilantes of Boom Town

Actors: Ted Adams, Bobby Barber, Roy Barcroft, Harlan Briggs

Synopsis: A much celebrated bout between legendary prize-fighters Jim Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons becomes a hot issue in the Nevada community of Carson City in this above-average entry in Republic Pictures popular "Red Ryder" series. Leading citizen Molly McVey (Peggy Stewart) considers boxing to be a Read More

Stagecoach to Denver

Actors: Allan Lane, Martha Wentworth, Roy Barcroft, Peggy Stewart

Synopsis: An exemplary "Red Ryder" Western, Stagecoach to Denver features Red (Allan Lane), his aunt, the Duchess (Martha Wentworth), and Little Beaver (Bobby Blake) caring for Dickie Ray (Bobby Hyatt), a young child who has broken his back in a stagecoach collision that also took the life of Land Read More

Santa Fe Uprising

Synopsis: This fast-paced western, geared entirely to the small-fry, was the first in Republic Pictures' long-running "Red Ryder" series to star Allan Lane. Lane had taken over from William Elliot, who had been promised A-westerns only by company president Herbert I. Yates. Ryder and his young Indian pal Read More

Out California Way

Actors: Monte Hale, Adrian Booth, John Dehner, Nolan Leary

Synopsis: Republic Pictures trotted out some of their popular Western stars -- including Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Trigger, Allan Lane and Don "Red" Barry -- for this backstage musical starring the company's newest singing cowboy, Monte Hale. To top it all off, the studio "inaugurated" Trucolor, which, in Read More

Corpus Christi Bandits

Actors: Allan Lane, Helen Talbot

Synopsis: An interesting idea falls somewhat flat in this average Allan Lane Western, in which the young sister (Twinkle Watts) of a returning World War II veteran learns about the experiences of their grandfather just after the Civil War. Having served with Texas Cavalry, Jim Christie (Allan Lane) returns Read More

Trail of Kit Carson

Synopsis: Kit Carson appears in Trail of Kit Carson in the form of Allan "Rocky" Lane. The tall, dark and taciturn western hero spends most of his time searching for the murderer of the trailblazer partner. According to the official reports, Lane's pal died in an accident, but neither he nor we believe Read More

Bells of Rosarita

Actors: Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, Dale Evans, Adele Mara, Grant Withers

Synopsis: The standard Roy Rogers musical western Bells of Rosarita is enlivened by a cute last-reel gimmick. Rogers is appropriately cast as a cowboy star who invariably rescues the heroine from the villain in his movie vehicles. But when Sue Farnum (Dale Evans) is cheated out of her inheritance by the Read More

Silver City Kid

Synopsis: The first of Republic Pictures' Allan Lane Westerns, Silver City Kid was assembled for Don "Red" Barry, whom the studio had decided to groom for "A" pictures. Unfortunately, Lane did not only inherit Barry's plot but also his sidekicks Wally Vernon and Twinkle Watts, the latter Republic's rather Read More

The Topeka Terror

Synopsis: Republic Pictures' reigning Bad Guy, Roy Barcroft, was at it again in this standard Allan Lane Western, this time playing Ben Jode, a nasty character conspiring with saloon owner Clyde Flint (Maine Geary) and crooked land agent Trent Parker (Tom London) to cheat the settlers from staking their Read More

Call of the South Seas

Actors: Allan Lane, Janet Martin, William Henry, Wally Vernon

Synopsis: At 50 minutes, Call of the South Seas must qualify as the shortest of Republic's non-western B films. Janet Martin plays Tahia, princess of a faraway tropical island. Tahia's people are being victimized by extradition-free crooks led by an unsavory type named Landrau (Roy Barcroft). Disguised as a Read More

The Tiger Woman [Serial]

Actors: Allan Lane

Synopsis: The most obvious discrepancies concerning this otherwise well-remembered cliffhanger from genre specialist Republic Pictures are the quite demure-looking leopard outfit worn by the serial's heroine, Linda Stirling, and that Darkest Africa looks suspiciously like the hills of suburban Chatsworth. Read More

Sheriff of Sundown

Synopsis: In his third western for Republic Pictures, Allan Lane plays Tex Jordan, a cattle rancher en route to sell his stock to cattle baron Jack Hatfield (Roy Barcroft). But in the town of Sundown, our hero finds that the omnipotent Hatfield has been squeezing the small ranchers in general and Tex's Read More

Stagecoach to Monterey

Synopsis: In his second starring Western, Republic's newest cowboy hero Allan Lane went up against Roy Barcroft, the studio's master villain. Lane plays Chick Weaver, a Treasury Department agent whose stagecoach is stopped at gunpoint by Dan (Bud Geary), a hired gun searching for a man named Redmond. As Read More

The Dancing Masters

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Trudy Marshall, Matt Briggs

Synopsis: This lesser Laurel and Hardy vehicle casts Stan and Ollie as the proprietors of the "Arthur Hurry" dance studio. Despite a rather sizeable student body (consisting mainly of 20th Century-Fox contract starlets), the boys would starve to death were it not for their only paying customer, socialite Read More

King of the Mounties

All-American Coed

Actors: Frances Langford, Johnny Downs, Marjorie Woodworth, Noah Beery, Jr., Esther Dale

Synopsis: This 48-minute Hal Roach "streamliner" represents a rare directorial assignment for veteran Hollywood choreographer LeRoy Prinz, who also produced the film. Johnny Downs stars as Bob Sheppard of Quinceton University, who is appointed by his frat brothers to get even with the snotty sorority gals Read More

King of the Royal Mounted

Synopsis: The twelve-chapter serial King of the Royal Mounted stars Allan Lane as Zane Grey's fictional Canadian Mountie Sergeant King. The story involves King hunting down some foreign spies who have entered Canada in order to take back materials that will help wage war against Great Britain. ~ Perry Read More

Grand Ole Opry

Actors: Leon Weaver, Frank Weaver, June Weaver, Lois Ranson

Synopsis: Though they may seem as corny as Kansas in August when seen today, the Weaver Brothers and Elviry was one of the most popular music-and-comedy aggregations on the Country-Western circuit in the early 1940s. The group consisted of Leon Weaver as Abner, Frank Weaver as Cicero (who never spoke, a la Read More

The Spellbinder

Actors: Lee Tracy, Barbara Read, Patric Knowles, Linda Hayes

Synopsis: In this crime drama, a shyster lawyer makes his living earning acquittals for his guilty clients. Most recently he freed a powerful crime lord. He comes to regret this when his daughter falls in love with the gangster. Despite his efforts to dissuade the criminal from pursuing the relationship Read More

Panama Lady

Actors: Allan Lane, Lucille Ball, Steffi Duna, Evelyn Brent, Donald Briggs

Synopsis: Panama Lady is a cleaned-up remake of the 1932 Helen Twelvetrees vehicle Panama Flo. Lucille Ball essays the old Twelvetrees role as Lucy, a nightclub "hostess" stranded in Panama by her ex-lover Roy (Donald Briggs). Victimized by a shakedown orchestrated by Roy, oil rigger McTeague (Allan Lane) Read More

Daredevils of the Red Circle [Serial]

Actors: Charles Quigley, David Sharpe, Carole Landis, Miles Mander

Synopsis: Veteran character star Charles B. Middleton ("Ming the Merciless") escapes from a penitentiary after 15 years of imprisonment swearing vengeance on his former partner (Miles Mander) in this action adventure serial efficiently directed by the team of William Witney and John English. Kidnapping his Read More

They Made Her a Spy

Actors: Sally Eilers, Fritz Leiber, Frank M. Thomas, Theodore Von Eltz

Synopsis: In this espionage drama, a young woman enrolls in the US Army Intelligence Corps so she can avenge her brother's death. She is assisted by a rookie reporter who helps her investigate a spy ring. They think they know the leader, but things are not as they seem. The film's climax involves an Read More

Twelve Crowded Hours

Actors: Richard Dix, Lucille Ball, Donald MacBride, Cy Kendall

Synopsis: Another worthwhile entry from the RKO Radio B-picture division, 12 Crowded Hours stars stalwart Richard Dix as crime-busting reporter Nick Green, who within the course of a single night (hence the title) topples a gangland empire. Hoping to gather enough evidence to send numbers racketeer Costain Read More

Conspiracy

Actors: Allan Lane, Linda Hayes, Robert H. Barrat, Charley Foy, Lionel Royce

Synopsis: RKO's Conspiracy attempts to be an up-to-date (for 1939) espionage drama without using such problematic words as "Nazi" or "Fascist". The film solves this problem by taking place in a mythical Central American country, though the key figure of a despotic dictator is clearly meant to be an Hispanic Read More

Pacific Liner

Actors: Victor McLaglen, Chester Morris, Wendy Barrie, Alan Hale, Barry Fitzgerald

Synopsis: An outbreak of cholera threatens a luxury liner in this surprisingly low-budget melodrama from RKO. En route from Shanghai to San Francisco, chief engineer Crusher McKay (Victor McLaglen) and shipboard doctor Tony Craig (Chester Morris) become rivals for the attention of nurse Ann Grayson (Wendy Read More

The Maid's Night Out

Actors: Allan Lane, Joan Fontaine, Hedda Hopper, George Irving, William Brisbane

Synopsis: Joan Fontaine was still two years away from full stardom when she appeared in the B-plus comedy Maid's Night Out. Future cowboy star Allan Lane plays Bill, a millionaire's son who, to win a bet with his father (George Irving), sets out to prove that he can succeed without his family's money. While Read More

This Marriage Business

Actors: Victor Moore, Vicki Lester, Cecil Kellaway, Jack Carson

Synopsis: In this comedy, a marriage-license clerk is proud of the fact that during his 20-year career not one of the couples he has licensed have gotten divorced. A reporter learns of his record and writes an article resulting in the small town office being flooded with engaged couples. The reporter then Read More

Having Wonderful Time

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Peggy Conklin, Lucille Ball, Lee Bowman

Synopsis: Based upon Arthur Kober’s play (which was subsequently musicalized onstage as Wish You Were Here, Having Wonderful Time stars Ginger Rogers as Teddy Shaw, a typist who goes to a summer camp for a little rest and relaxation. She’s also getting away from Emil (Jack Carson), whose interest in Teddy Read More

Crime Ring

Actors: Allan Lane, Frances Mercer, Clara Blandick, Inez Courtney, Bradley Page

Synopsis: RKO Radio's ace short-subjects director Leslie Goodwins graduated to features with the economically produced Crime Ring. Allan Lane plays a hotshot newspaperman who takes on a phony spiritualist ring. The crooked soothsayers are in league with a band of stock swindlers, coercing the gullible into Read More

Fugitives for a Night

Actors: Frank Albertson, Eleanor Lynn, Allan Lane, Bradley Page, Adrienne Ames

Synopsis: The RKO Radio backlot gets quite a workout in the peppy "B" comedy-mystery Fugitives for a Night. When movie executive Maurice Tenwright (Russell Hicks) is murdered, the prime suspect is would-be actor Matt Ryan (Frank Albertson). As stooge and "gopher" for arrogant rising star Poole (Bradley Read More

The Law West of Tombstone

Actors: Harry Carey, Tim Holt, Evelyn Brent, Jean Rouverol, Clarence Kolb

Synopsis: Despite its title and its potent lineup of cowboy talent, RKO Radio's The Law West of Tombstone is more comedy than western. The characters are all based on famous frontier characters, with names changed to protect the producers. Harry Carey is cast against type as a blowhard Judge Roy Bean clone Read More

Night Spot

Actors: Parkyakarkus [Harry Einstein], Gordon Jones, Joan Woodbury, Lee Patrick

Synopsis: Better known today as the father of actors Bob Einstein and Albert Brooks, comedian Harry Einstein achieved radio fame in the 1930s as a tongue-tied Greek named Parkyakarkus. In Night Spot, Einstein/Parkyakarkus is given top billing as a gourmet gangster named Gasshouse, but the plotline is Read More

The Duke Comes Back

Actors: Heather Angel, Genevieve Tobin, Joseph Crehan

Synopsis: In this melodrama a championship boxer retires and marries a rich, aristocratic woman. The woman's father is furious, but comes to accept the situation. When the father gets in trouble for making a major business mistake, the dutiful boxer returns to the ring and wins the money his father-in-law Read More

Sing and Be Happy

Actors: Tony Martin, Leah Ray, Joan Davis, Helen Westley

Synopsis: A strong-willed young man creates a rift with his father when turns down a safe position in the family business and becomes a traveling musician. Eventually he returns to his father's ad agency to settle down, but he proves to be a trouble maker. When he falls in love with the daughter of his Read More

Big Business

Actors: Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane, Spring Byington, Russell Gleason, Ken Howell

Synopsis: Not a remake of the classic Laurel and Hardy 2-reel silent of the same name, Big Business was an early entry in 20th Century-Fox's Jones Family series. Mr. Jones (Jed Prouty) invests his life savings in an oil business, at the behest of football star Allan Lane. Neither Jones nor Lane are aware Read More

Charlie Chan at the Olympics

Actors: Allan Lane, Warner Oland, Katherine de Mille, Pauline Moore, Keye Luke, C. Henry Gordon

Synopsis: Actual footage of the 1936 Berlin Olympics is rabbeted into the action of this superior Charlie Chan entry. Assigned by the U.S. Navy to track down a gang of international spies, Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) heads to Berlin, where as luck would have it his son Lee (Keye Luke) is representing the Read More

Laughing at Trouble

Actors: Allan Lane, Jane Darwell, Sara Haden, Lois Wilson, Margaret Hamilton, Delma Byron

Synopsis: The film is called Laughing at Trouble, but feisty female newspaper publisher Glory Bradford (Jane Darwell) doesn't waste much of her time laughing. Using her paper as a forum, Glory does her best to clear innocent John Campbell (Allan Lane) of a trumped-up murder charge. When John escapes from Read More

Fifty Roads to Town

Actors: Don Ameche, Ann Sothern, George "Slim" Summerville, Jane Darwell, John Qualen

Synopsis: Don Ameche is called upon to testify in his married friends' divorce case. Unwilling to take sides, he skips town and hides out at a country inn. A young girl (Ann Sothern) stumbles into Ameche's rural hideaway; she thinks he's an escaped gangster, while he thinks she's a process server. The local Read More

Stowaway

Actors: Shirley Temple, Robert Young, Alice Faye, Eugene Pallette, Helen Westley

Synopsis: Stranded in Shanghai, orphaned Ching-Ching (Shirley Temple), the ward of Chinese missionaries, is rescued from harm by playboy Tommy Randall (Robert Young). Through a series of unbelievable but entertaining circumstances, Ching-Ching inadvertently stows away on a boat bound for San Francisco Read More

The Tenderfoot

Actors: Joe E. Brown, Ginger Rogers, Lew Cody, Vivien Oakland, Robert Greig

Synopsis: George S. Kaufman's sturdy stage comedy The Butter and Egg Man was the inspiration for no fewer than four Warner Bros. talkie versions. The first of these was The Tenderfoot, starring Joe E. Brown as a wealthy but naive cowboy alone in the Big Apple. The producers of a down-and-out musical revue Read More

Miss Pinkerton

Actors: Joan Blondell, George Brent, Mae Madison, John Wray, Ruth Hall

Synopsis: In this murder mystery, a nurse with an unusual eye for detail solves a puzzling case. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

One Way Passage

Actors: William Powell, Kay Francis, Frank McHugh, Aline MacMahon, Warren Hymer

Synopsis: William Powell plays a condemned murderer who is being transported from Hong Kong to San Quentin by way of a luxury liner. Also on board is the lovely Kay Francis, who is suffering from a fatal heart condition. The sympathetic detective (Warren Hymer) escorting Powell allows the prisoner to roam Read More

Winner Take All

Actors: James Cagney, Marian Nixon, Guy Kibbee, Clarence Muse, Virginia Bruce

Synopsis: James Cagney stars as a popular prizefighter who loses his winnings through too much partying and too many women. Cagney's fans finance the boxer's regenerative stay at a New Mexico health resort. For the sake of pretty, poverty-stricken Marian Nixon, Cagney enters into a return bout. He splits Read More

Expensive Women

Actors: Dolores Costello, Anthony Bushell, Joe Donahue, H.B. Warner

Synopsis: Dolores Costello spent the twilight months of her Warner Bros. contract in such trifles as Expensive Women. The star is cast as wealthy society girl Constance Newton, a "girl of whims" who flits from one man to the next like a butterfly. After a couple of desultory affairs with Bobby Brandon (Joe Donahue Read More

Star Witness

Actors: Walter Huston, Charles "Chic" Sale, Frances Starr, Grant Mitchell, Sally Blane

Synopsis: Star Witness starts out as a homey family comedy and develops into a rather gutsy thriller. Chic Sale plays a cantankerous Civil War veteran who, while visiting his family, witnesses a gangland shooting. The rest of the family also gets a good look at the gang boss (Ralph Ince) and everyone agrees Read More

Honor of the Family

Actors: Bebe Daniels, Warren William, Alan Mowbray, Frederick Kerr

Synopsis: In this swashbuckling melodrama, set in Budapest, a seductive gold-digger becomes the mistress of a wealthy old man. She, with the assistance of her lover, a swordsman, soon comes to rule his house and keeps her elderly husband's family in line by intimidating them. Her ploys work well until the Read More

Night Nurse

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell, Charlotte Merriam, Charles Winninger, Clark Gable

Synopsis: William Wellman's Night Nurse survives as a potentially interesting but ultimately unsatisfying melodrama about a nurse discovering evildoings in the household where she is caring for a couple of sick children. Based on a 1930 novel by Dora Macy, Wellman's probe into medical corruption is one of Read More

Smart Money

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Evelyn Knapp, James Cagney, Ralf Harolde, Boris Karloff

Synopsis: Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney were teamed for the only time in their careers in Smart Money. Robinson has the larger part as a small-town barber who fancies himself a big-time gambler. He travels to the Big City in the company of his younger brother Cagney, who wants to make sure that Robinson Read More

Love in the Rough

Actors: Robert Montgomery, Dorothy Jordan, Benny Rubin, J.C. Nugent

Synopsis: A remake of the 1927 William Haines comedy Spring Fever, Love in the Rough was designed as a musical, though virtually all the songs were cut from the final release print (we see a chorus of secretaries typing rhythmically in the opening scene, yet this obvious song cue is cut short with nary a Read More

Madame Satan

Synopsis: The second of Cecil B. DeMille's talkies (as well as his second for MGM), Madam Satan is an exercise in incoherence, but this doesn't detract one iota from its entertainment value. Kay Johnson plays the sedate wife of philandering Reginald Denny, who is currently carrying on with "jazz baby" Lillian Roth Read More

The Forward Pass

Actors: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Loretta Young, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Bert Rome

Synopsis: This college musical chronicles the travails of a college football star who wants to quit playing. To stop him, the conniving coach enlists the aid of a flirtatious co-ed who tries to use her many charms to coerce the lad into staying on the team. She succeeds and the boy falls deeply in love with Read More

Not Quite Decent

Actors: June Collyer, Louise Dresser, Oscar Apfel, Paul Nicholson

Synopsis: In this early, early talkie containing only 15 minutes of spoken word, an aging nightclub performer takes a young woman under her wing and rescues her from the suspicious fellow she hangs around with. The two women get very close; soon they discover they are long-lost mother and daughter who were Read More

Matinee Double Feature, Part 3

Synopsis: These two features from the '40s feature bluegrass soundtracks and include country star Roy Acuff, as well as other contemporary performers. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More