Douglas FowleyFilmography

The White Buffalo

Actors: Charles Bronson, Jack Warden, Will Sampson, Kim Novak, Clint Walker

Synopsis: J. Lee Thompson directs Charles Bronson in this strange western variation on Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Bronson plays a man named James Otis, who is disturbed by dreams of a giant white buffalo. He returns to the west under his new name --Wild Bill Hickok. Amongst his travels, he meets Chief Read More

Black Oak Conspiracy

Actors: Jesse Vint, Karen Carlson, Albert Salmi, Seymour Cassel, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: In this Roger Corman production, co-producer Jesse Vint stars as Jingo Johnson, a stuntman who goes to work for a backwater mining company. Jingo unearths a hotbed of corruption, partially orchestrated by redneck sheriff, Grimes (Albert Salmi). The hero and heroine (Karen Carlson) are forced into Read More

From Noon Till Three

Actors: Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Douglas Fowley, Stan Haze, Damon Douglas

Synopsis: Written and directed by Frank D. Gilroy, this Western casts Charles Bronson as Graham Dorsey, a two-bit Western outlaw who has a three-hour affair with lonely Amanda Starbuck (Jill Ireland). When Dorsey is reported killed, Starbuck capitalizes on her liaison by building up the "legend" of the Read More

The Oregon Trail

Synopsis: This western chronicles the travails of a pioneer family as they travel west in search of a new life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Rockford Files: Claire

Synopsis: Jim (James Garner) is hired by his former lover Claire Prescott (Linda Evans) to help pry her loose from a loan shark. But as often happens on The Rockford Files, Claire isn't telling Jim the whole truth. As the plot thickens, Claire continues to withhold vital information from the detective Read More

Homebodies

Actors: Joe DeMeo, Irene Webster

Synopsis: This classy and creative low-budget thriller depicts an all-out war of attrition between a group of neglected, disgruntled senior citizens and the heartless city officials who evicted them from their Cincinnati low-rent apartment building, which has been tagged for destruction. Their campaign goes Read More

Walking Tall

Actors: Joe Don Baker, Elizabeth Hartman

Synopsis: A runaway box-office hit to the tune of 17 million dollars, Walking Tall is the unabashedly manipulative story of real-life Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser. As played by Joe Don Baker, Pusser can either be regarded as a tireless champion of justice or a baseball-bat-wielding hooligan. But with Read More

The Streets of San Francisco: The Albatross

Synopsis: Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) must prevent grieving father Robert Hobbs (Ed Nelson) from taking the law in his own hands. Hobbs' son was murdered by Artis Pierce (Kaz Garas), who unfortunately was released on a technicality. Now nothing can stop Hobbs from exacting his own brand Read More

Run, Cougar, Run

Synopsis: In this nature adventure, a courageous cougar must struggle to survive after a cruel human hunter kills her mate. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Good Guys and the Bad Guys

Actors: Robert Mitchum, George Kennedy, David Carradine, Martin Balsam, Tina Louise

Synopsis: In this comic western, Flagg (Robert Mitchum) is a veteran marshal forced to retire by the pompous Mayor Wilker (Martin Balsam). McKay (George Kennedy) is a wily gunslinger. The two combine forces to stop a young band of outlaws from robbing the train when it pulls into the station. Flagg warns Read More

The Far Out West

Synopsis: Universal's The Far Out West is a feature-length pastiche, comprised of four episodes of the 1966 TV series Pistols and Petticoats. In her last acting assignment, Ann Sheridan starred in this ill-fated western parody as Henrietta Hanks, a gun-wielding widow who takes up residence in the aptly Read More

The Lucy Show: Lucy, the Rain Goddess

Actors: Willard Waterman, Douglas Fowley, Larry Blake, Jamie Farr, Alan Reed, Sr.

Synopsis: This time out, Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon) is vacationing at a dude ranch. On a mission from the bank, Lucy (Lucille Ball) shows up at the ranch searching for Mooney. She gets lost and wanders into a drought-ridden Indian reservation, where she is mistaken for a long-awaited rain goddess. And she'd Read More

Pistols and Petticoats [TV Series]

Actors: Ann Sheridan, Ruth McDevitt, Douglas Fowley

Branded: That the Brave Endure

Synopsis: Pop singer Tommy Sands guest stars as Richard Bain, a young West Point cadet. Facing expulsion for defending Jason McCord's behavior at the Battle of Bitter Creek, Bain is given 30 days to recant his words--or face a dishonor and disgrace comparable to that suffered by McCord (Chuck Connors). As Read More

Bonanza: The Ballerina

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Barrie Chase

Synopsis: Dancer Barrie Chase, best known for her appearances on the TV specials of Fred Astaire, guest-stars in this Bonanza episode, written by her brother Frank Chase. Hoss Cartwright takes it upon himself to rescue racuous Kellie Conrad (Barrie) from dancing in saloons as her father Ned (Douglas Fowley) Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Bountiful Beauty

Synopsis: Stephanie Carew (Sandra Warner) hires Perry (Raymond Burr) to sue first-time novelist Deborah Dearborn (Zeme North) for libel, claiming that her own life was the basis for Deborah's lurid best-seller. Not long afterward, Stephanie is found drowned in her fresh-water swimming pool--and lest the Read More

Nightmare in the Sun

Actors: John Derek, Aldo Ray, Arthur O'Connell, Ursula Andress, Sammy Davis, Jr.

Synopsis: In this crime drama, a bored, but seductive wife of a wealthy old ranch goes cruising for trouble and finds it when she picks up a hapless hitchhiker who soon falls under her sexy spell. Like a fly to a spider's web, he is drawn to her bedroom. Unfortunately, the old rancher sees him leaving and Read More

Guns of Diablo

Actors: Charles Bronson, Susan Oliver

Synopsis: Guns of Diablo was cobbled together from two episodes of the TV series The Travels of Jamie McPheeters. 14-year-old Kurt Russell plays Jamie, an orphaned boy heading westward with a wagon train. Charles Bronson tops the cast as wagon scout Linc Murdock, who runs into difficulties when he meets old Read More

Seven Faces of Dr. Lao

Actors: Tony Randall, Barbara Eden, Arthur O'Connell, John Ericson, Kevin Tate

Synopsis: Tony Randall has the showcase of a lifetime in the marvelous George Pal production The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao. We first see Randall as Dr. Lao, an enigmatic Chinese medicine-show impresario. The doctor brings his travelling show into the frontier town of Abalone, which is chafing under the Read More

Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?

Actors: Dean Martin, Elizabeth Montgomery, Martin Balsam, Jill St. John, Richard Conte, Carol Burnett

Synopsis: This romantic adult comedy finds psychiatrist Jason Steel (Dean Martin) the leader of a women's group therapy session. Jill St. John, Elizabeth Frazier, Macha Meril, Yoko Tani and Diane Foster all seek the advice of the handsome doctor, while husbands Louis Nye, Jack Soo, Richard Conte, and Martin Read More

The Andy Griffith Show: Opie and His Merry Men

Actors: Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Encouraged by an enterprising hobo (Douglas Fowley), Opie and his friends begin playing "Robin Hood." Before long, the boys are blithely stealing from the rich and giving to the poor-namely, their pal the hobo. Richard Keith, formerly "Little Ricky" on I Love Lucy, is here seen as Johnny. First Read More

Miracle of the White Stallions

Actors: Robert Taylor, Lilli Palmer, Curd Jürgens, Eddie Albert, James Franciscus

Synopsis: In a rather confusing and slow-paced manner, this wartime drama about a real-life dilemma is meant to highlight the dedication of Colonel Alois Podhajsky (Robert Taylor), the instructor at a prestigious Vienna equestrian school. The colonel is in charge of the safety and health of the royal Read More

A Gift for Heidi

Synopsis: Based on the book Heidi, by Johanna Spyri, this children's film follows the beloved Heidi as her birthday gifts teach her some important lessons. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Barabbas

Actors: Anthony Quinn, Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Jack Palance, Vittorio Gassman, Harry Andrews, Ernest Borgnine

Synopsis: This 1962 Biblical epic was adapted by Christopher Fry from the novel by Pär Lagerkvist. Anthony Quinn stars as Barabbas, the thief who was pardoned in place of Jesus. For the rest of his life, the guilt-ridden criminal tries to justify his existence and to determine his place in the scheme of Read More

Macumba Love

Crew: Director

Actors: Walter Reed, Ziva Rodann, William Wellman, Jr., June Wilkinson, Ruth de Souza

Synopsis: A low-budget, low-standard drama about voodoo and death in Brazil, Macumba Love is directed by Douglas Fowley (Doc Holliday in the Wyatt Earp TV series). A writer travels to the land of the samba in order to investigate its voodoo practitioners and several suspicious-looking murders that could be Read More

Desire in the Dust

Actors: Raymond Burr, Martha Hyer, Joan Bennett, Ken Scott, Brett Halsey

Synopsis: Raymond Burr was already three years into Perry Mason when he decided to return to his movie-villain roots with Desire in the Dust. Burr, playing the patriarch of a Southern family, befriends the ex-convict (Ken Scott) who'd supposedly killed Burr's son in an auto accident. Actually the accident Read More

These Thousand Hills

Actors: Don Murray, Richard Egan, Lee Remick, Stuart Whitman, Albert Dekker

Synopsis: Don Murray stars as a humble cowboy with aspirations for bigger things. He borrows money from his dance-hall girlfriend Lee Remick to buy a ranch, then dumps Remick in favor of banker's daughter Patricia Owens. Murray runs for political office, and in so doing is compelled to join a posse in Read More

Buffalo Gun

Synopsis: In this western, the Indians claim that their government rations are being stolen and they threaten to fight back. A pair of agents look into it and bring the culprits to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Poor White Trash

Actors: Peter Graves, Lita Milan, Douglas Fowley, Timothy Carey, Jonathan Haze

Synopsis: The calculatedly sleazy Bayou stars Lita Milan as Marie, the daughter of slovenly Cajun fisherman Herbert (Douglas Fowley). Marie falls in love with Northern architect Martin (Peter Graves), which rests not at all well with her ardent--and psychotic--local suitor Ulysses (Tim Carey at his most Read More

Raiders of Old California

Synopsis: In this western set in the Mexican controlled part of California, a villainous cavalry officer is trying to force the owner of a hacienda to give him his land when a courageous settler comes to the rescue. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Kelly and Me

Actors: Van Johnson, Piper Laurie, Martha Hyer, Onslow Stevens, Herbert Anderson

Synopsis: Kelly is a big, lovable, immensely talented German Shepherd. "Me" is Len Carmody (Van Johnson), a third-rate vaudevillian. Carmody's fortunes take an upswing when he teams with the personable Kelly for professional reasons. When talking pictures come in, Carmody is signed to appear in short Read More

The Badge of Marshal Brennan

Actors: Jim Davis, Arleen Whelan, Carl Smith, Lee Van Cleef, Louis Jean Heydt

Synopsis: Marshal Brennan (Douglas Fowley) lies dying at the outset of this compact western. Fleeing from a posse, an unnamed gunslinger (Jim Davis) stumbles across Brennan's body. Lifting the marshal's badge, he poses as Brennan in a small cattle town. Before long, the impostor is taking his job seriously Read More

Man from Del Rio

Actors: Anthony Quinn, Katy Jurado, Peter Whitney, Douglas Fowley, John Larch

Synopsis: The dramatic weight of Man From Del Rio rests securely on the broad shoulders of star Anthony Quinn. Cast as an indigent Mexican gunslinger, Quinn is asked by an old pal to clean up an outlaw-ridden western town. Knowing that his reputation is exaggerated, Quinn relies on braggadocio and bluff to Read More

Rock, Pretty Baby

Actors: Sal Mineo, John Saxon, Luana Patten, Edward Platt, Fay Wray

Synopsis: A must-see for students of 1950s pop culture, Rock, Pretty Baby was Universal-International's earliest acknowledgement of the rock 'n' roll craze. John Saxon plays 18-year-old high schooler Jimmy Daley, who intends to pursue a musical career despite the objections of his physician father (Edward Read More

Texas Lady

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Barry Sullivan, Ray Collins, John Litel, James Bell, Horace McMahon

Synopsis: Claudette Colbert makes a long-overdue entree into the Western genre in Texas Lady. Looking at least a decade younger than her 50 years, Ms. Colbert plays Prudence Webb, who arrives in the wide-open town of Fort Ralston, Texas, to assume control of her late father's newspaper. Her first major Read More

Bandido

Actors: Robert Mitchum, Ursula Thiess, Gilbert Roland, Zachary Scott, Rodopho (Rudy) Acosta

Synopsis: Bandido is set during the Mexican civil war of 1916. Robert Mitchum stars as a sleepy-eyed soldier of fortune who finds himself in the middle of the fracas. At first refusing to take sides, Mitchum eventually casts his lot with insurrectionist Gilbert Roland. On the opposite side of the fence is Read More

The Broken Star

Actors: Howard Duff, Lita Baron, Henry Calvin, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Director Lesley Selander, a western specialist with humble ambitions whose work has fostered a minor cult, was the man behind the megaphone in Broken Star. Bill Williams stars as a deputy sheriff who encounters stiff resistance when he investigates the murder of a Mexican. Only dance hall girl Lita Baron Read More

The Lonesome Trail

Synopsis: In this western, the goodguys use bow and arrows instead of guns to foil the schemes of evil landgrabbers attempting to take their ranch. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Girl Rush

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Fernando Lamas, Eddie Albert, Gloria de Haven, Marion Lorne

Synopsis: In this comedy sequel to Wonderful Town (a popular Broadway musical), Kim, a museum worker from Providence, Rhode Island, inherits half ownership of a Las Vegas hotel when her father dies. She and her Aunt Clara go there to learn more about it. Unfortunately, just before they arrive, the other Read More

Three Ring Circus

Actors: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Joanne Dru, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Elsa Lanchester, Wallace Ford

Synopsis: According to some eyewitness reports, the feud between Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis was at its peak during the filming of Three Ring Circus. Other observers have noted that the boys behaved with thorough professionalism throughout the shoot. Whatever the case, the film offers a comparatively Read More

Untamed Heiress

Actors: Judy Canova, Don "Red" Barry, George Cleveland, Taylor Holmes, Chick Chandler

Synopsis: Judy Canova is right in her element in the rowdy Republic musical Untamed Heiress. Canova plays Judy, the daughter of a famous opera singer who once bankrolled prospector Andrew "Cactus" Clayton (George Cleveland). Now Clayton hopes to repay the favor, but first he must reclaim his stash of gold Read More

Deep in My Heart

Actors: José Ferrer, Helen Traubel, Merle Oberon, Walter Pidgeon, Doe Avedon

Synopsis: Deep in My Heart is the MGM-ified biography of composer Sigmund Romberg, here played by José Ferrer. Evidently the scripters didn't feel that the life of Romberg (as set down by author Elliott Arnold, whose book was used as the film's basis) had enough drama to fill out two hours and ten minutes. Read More

The Naked Jungle

Actors: Eleanor Parker, Charlton Heston, Abraham Sofaer, William Conrad, Romo Vincent

Synopsis: It doesn't take long for old-time-radio fans to figure out that The Naked Jungle is a film version of the classic Carl Stephenson nailbiter Leiningen Versus the Ants. Charlton Heston plays South American plantation owner Christopher Leiningen, who spends most of the film preparing for the Read More

The Lone Gun

Actors: George Montgomery, Dorothy Malone, Frank Faylen, Neville Brand, Skip Homeier

Synopsis: There are few surprises in The Lone Gun--and few lulls, either. Things get under way when ex-marshal George Montgomery rides into a wide-open Texas town. Montgomery intends to bring three cattle-rustling brothers to justice. Since those siblings are played by Neville Brand, Douglas Kennedy and Read More

The High and the Mighty

Actors: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Laraine Day, Robert Stack, Jan Sterling

Synopsis: For The High and the Mighty, director William Wellman made a point of using Cinemascope to heighten the dramatic content of a confined screen space -- in this instance, the cockpit of a plane in flight. Copilot Dan Roman (John Wayne) seems a lot more in control of things than Captain John Sullivan Read More

Casanova's Big Night

Actors: Bob Hope, Joan Fontaine, Audrey Dalton, Basil Rathbone, Hugh Marlowe

Synopsis: Bob Hope tries to capture the comic magic of his 1946 costume farce Monsieur Beaucaire with the splashy Technicolor romp Casanova's Big Night (filmed in 1952, released in 1954). Set in 18th century Venice, the film casts Hope as Pippo, the humble tailor of notorious ladies' man Casanova (an Read More

Cruisin' Down the River

Actors: Dick Haymes, Audrey Totter, Billy Daniels, Cecil Kellaway, Connie Russell

Synopsis: A Big Apple nightclub singer inherits a riverboat from his late grandfather and learns, via flashback, the interesting story of how his granddaddy acquired the craft. When he won a bet during a fight over possession of the boat, the crafty old gambler not only acquired the riverboat but also the Read More

Red River Shore

Actors: Rex Allen, Slim Pickens, Lyn Thomas, William Phipps

Synopsis: Rex Allen, the last of Republic's singing cowboys, stars in Red River Shore. This time, it's up to Allen to prevent a major oil scam. The potential suckers have been enticed into the deal on the reputation of a recently deceased local hero. The problem here is to rout the crooks without dragging Read More

Cat Women of the Moon

Actors: Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory, Marie Windsor, Carol Brewster, Susan Morrow, Douglas Fowley, William Phipps

Synopsis: Cat Women of the Moon tells the tale of a group of American space travellers who confront a hostile tribe of females on the border between the light and dark side of the moon. The expedition is led by Laird Grainger (Sonny Tufts), whose polyglot crew--including co-pilot Kip Reissner (Victor Jory) Read More

Kansas Pacific

Actors: Sterling Hayden, Eve Miller, Barton MacLane, Harry Shannon, Tom Fadden

Synopsis: Walter Wanger's first production for Allied Artists, Kansas Pacific is more slick and polished than the usual budget western. Set just before the Civil War, the film concerts Kansas Pacific railroad's westward expansion, a project stymied by the sabotage activities of Southern sympathizers. Read More

A Slight Case of Larceny

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Eddie Bracken, Elaine Stewart, Marilyn Erskine, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: "Slight" is right: this harmless comedy programmer is as inconsequential as it is enjoyable. It's the tale of two Army buddies: go-getter Geechy Cheevers (Mickey Rooney) and sedate family man Freddie Clopp (Eddie Bracken). Inveigling his way into Freddie's household, Geechy drives everyone bonkers Read More

Just This Once

Actors: Janet Leigh, Peter Lawford, Lewis Stone, Marilyn Erskine, Richard Anderson

Synopsis: Peter Lawford goes through his standard "rich, spoiled young playboy" paces in the MGM comedy Just This Once. In danger of squandering his entire fortune, the wastrelly Mark MacLene (Peter Lawford) is put on a strict allowance by an old family friend, Judge Samuel Coulter (Lewis Stone). To make Read More

This Woman Is Dangerous

Actors: Joan Crawford, Dennis Morgan, David Brian, Richard Webb, Mari Aldon

Synopsis: Joan Crawford is appropriately cast as the title character in This Woman is Dangerous. Crawford plays master criminal Beth Austin, the lady friend of dangerous gangster Matt Jackson (David Brian). After being caught in the crossfire of a robbery engineered by Jackson, Beth recuperates in a Read More

Singin' in the Rain

Actors: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell

Synopsis: Hollywood, 1927: the silent-film romantic team of Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) is the toast of Tinseltown. While Lockwood and Lamont personify smoldering passions onscreen, in real life the down-to-earth Lockwood can't stand the egotistical, brainless Lina. He prefers the Read More

Horizons West

Actors: Robert Ryan, Julie Adams, Rock Hudson, John McIntire, Judith Braun, Raymond Burr

Synopsis: Set in the years following the Civil War, Horizons West stars Robert Ryan as Dan Hammond, one of three Texans who decide to return home after the cessation of hostilities. While his brother Neal (Rock Hudson) and his friend Tiny (James Arness) decide to become ranchers, Dan opts for a more Read More

The Man Behind the Gun

Actors: Randolph Scott, Patrice Wymore, Dick Wesson, Philip Carey, Lina Romay

Synopsis: Man Behind the Gun is a standard-issue Randolph Scott western elevated by good performances and exciting action sequences. Scott plays Callicut, newly arrived in the bustling mid-19th century metropolis of Los Angeles. Outwardly just another soldier of fortune, Callicut is actually an undercover Read More

Room for One More

Actors: Cary Grant, Betsy Drake, George Winslow, Randy Stuart, Iris Mann, John Ridgely, Clifford Tatum, Jr., Lurene Tuttle

Synopsis: Based on the autobiography by George and Anna Rose, Room for One More is a warm-hearted vehicle for husband-and-wife actors Cary Grant and Betsy Drake. Though she already has three children of her own, New Jersey housewife Anna Rose (Drake) adopts several kids born into less fortunate Read More

Finders Keepers

Actors: Tom Ewell, Julie Adams, Evelyn Varden, Dusty Henley, Harold Vermilyea

Synopsis: A curious toddler creates trouble when he finds bank robbers' loot in this comedy. His recently paroled father, and his grandmother about have heart attacks when the tot brings home the cash in his wagon. Unfortunately, the babe is unable to tell then where he got the money. Now the family must Read More

Chain of Circumstance

Actors: Richard Grayson, Margaret Field, Marta Mitrovich, Harold J. Kennedy, Helen Wallace

Synopsis: Richard Grayson and Margaret Field (the mother of actress Sally Field) play a young married couple beset with woe. They lose their baby, have extreme difficulty adopting another, and end up accused of stealing. They are saved from prison at the finale, but no such reprieve is given the couple's Read More

South of Caliente

Actors: Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Pinky Lee, Douglas Fowley, Ric Roman

Synopsis: After a string of winners, Roy Rogers faltered a bit with South of Caliente. Rogers, playing himself, is the owner of a trailer-van service who is hired to transport a prize horse across the Mexican border. En route, Roy is bushwhacked and the horse stolen. The animal's owner Doris Stewart (Dale Evans Read More

Criminal Lawyer

Actors: Pat O'Brien, Jane Wyatt, Carl Benton Reid, Mary Castle, Robert Shayne

Synopsis: Though made in 1951, Criminal Lawyer has the feel of a 1930s film, right down to the casting of Pat O'Brien in the lead. The star plays attorney James Regan, whose unethical methods have earned him the disdain of the American Bar Association. Eventually, Regan is even disgusted with himself, and Read More

Callaway Went Thataway

Actors: Fred MacMurray, Dorothy McGuire, Howard Keel, Jesse White, Fay Roope

Synopsis: Callaway Went Thataway is an amiable spoof of early television's "Hopalong Cassidy" craze. Fred MacMurray and Dorothy McGuire star as Mike Frye and Deborah Patterson, advertising copywriters who have pulled off quite a coup by purchasing the old "Smokey Callaway" Westerns for TV. Trouble begins Read More

Tarzan's Peril

Actors: Lex Barker, Virginia Huston, George Macready, Douglas Fowley, Glenn Anders

Synopsis: Two escaped convicts (George Macready and Glenn Anders) invade the jungle dominion of Tarzan (Lex Barker) to set up a gunrunning operation. One of the criminals has sworn to "get" Tarzan, who was responsible for his arrest, and to that end stirs up unrest between two African tribes. After narrowly Read More

Across the Wide Missouri

Actors: Clark Gable, Ricardo Montalban, John Hodiak, Adolphe Menjou, Maria Elena Marques

Synopsis: Clark Gable is the largely nonheroic hero of the sprawling western Across the Wide Missouri. A cunning trapper who lives purely by his wits, Gable avoids being scalped by the Blackfoot Indians by marrying Maria Elena Marques, the chief's daughter. This marriage of convenience also allows Gable to Read More

Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone

Actors: Marjorie Main, James Whitmore, Dorothy Malone, Phyllis Kirk, Fred Clark

Synopsis: In their never-ending efforts to create a movie series to match the success of "The Thin Man," MGM came up with the fast-paced programmer Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone. Based on characters created by Craig Rice, the film stars James Whitmore as lawyer and part-time sleuth John J. Malone (this Read More

Edge of Doom

Actors: Dana Andrews, Farley Granger, Joan Evans, Robert Keith, Mala Powers, Paul Stewart

Synopsis: An unusually morbid film from producer Samuel Goldwyn, Edge of Doom stars Farley Granger as a sensitive young man trapped in an impoverished slum existence. Granger becomes unhinged when his beloved mother dies, and when an unfeeling elderly priest refuses to provide the woman with a lavish Read More

Bunco Squad

Actors: Robert Sterling, Joan Dixon, Ricardo Cortez, Douglas Fowley, Elizabeth Risdon

Synopsis: RKO's Bunco Squad stars Robert Sterling as Sgt. Steve Johnson, a big-city detective dedicated to tracking down con artists. His current target is a gang of slicksters who are running a successful seance racket. Wealthy Jessica Royce (Elizabeth Risdon) is on the verge of bequeathing her fortune to Read More

Stage to Tucson

Actors: Rod Cameron, Wayne Morris, Kay Buckley, Carl Benton Reid, Roy Roberts

Synopsis: Rod Cameron and Wayne Morris star as Civil War officers who become federal agents. The duo is sent west to investigate a series of stage hijackings. The criminals tend to bypass gold and valuables, and are seemingly interested only in the weapons carried on these coaches. It turns out that the Read More

He's a Cockeyed Wonder

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Terry Moore, William Demarest, Charles Arnt, Ross Ford

Synopsis: He's a Cockeyed Wonder stars Mickey Rooney as the title character. Try as he might, Freddy Frisby (Rooney) can't succeed at anything. Things take an upward turn when Freddy inherits the estate of his uncle, a famed magician. Armed with all sorts of legerdemain, Freddy begins giving shows at local Read More

Rio Grande Patrol

Actors: Tim Holt, Jane Nigh, Douglas Fowley, Cleo Moore, Rick Vallin

Synopsis: Westerner Tim Holt and his sidekick Richard Martin are hired to act as border guards on the Rio Grande. This being a modern western (more or less), Holt is obliged to keep insurrectionists from smuggling machine guns into Mexico. The villainy this time around is in the grubby but formidable hands Read More

Hoedown

Actors: Eddy Arnold, Jeff Donnell, Carolina Cotton

Synopsis: As an actor, Eddy Arnold was a good country-western singer. In Hoedown, Eddy plays himself, while the acting burden was carried by Miss Jeff Donnell, Jock O'Mahoney (aka Jock Mahoney), and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams. O'Mahoney plays Stoney Rhodes, a cowboy star who is fired from his studio because Read More

Rider from Tucson

Actors: Tim Holt, Elaine Riley, Douglas Fowley, Veda Ann Borg, Robert Shayne

Synopsis: Arizona rodeo champs Dave Saunders (Tim Holt) and Chito Rafferty (Richard Martin) head for Oro Grande, CO, to witness the marriage of their friend Tug Bailey (William Phipps) to Easterner Jane Whipple (Elaine Riley). But Bailey, a successful prospector, is in trouble with claim jumpers, notably Read More

Killer Shark

Actors: Roddy McDowall, Laurette Luez, Roland Winters, Edward Norris, Rick Vallin

Synopsis: Killer Shark was another of actor Roddy McDowall's self-produced film efforts for Monogram release. McDowall stars as Ted, the son of fisherman White (Roland Winters). Convinced that his college-bred son is too namby-pamby for the demands of his profession, White nonetheless allows Ted to Read More

Beware of Blondie

Actors: Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, Larry Simms, Marjorie Kent, Adele Jergens

Synopsis: After 12 years and 28 films, Columbia's Blondie series came to a close with 1950's Beware of Blondie. The plot is "business as usual," with Mr. Dithers leaving Dagwood (Arthur Lake) in charge of the office for a short period. Poor old Dag manages to gum things up when he falls for a confidence Read More

Armored Car Robbery

Actors: Charles McGraw, Adele Jergens, William Talman, Douglas Fowley, Steve Brodie

Synopsis: Some auteur critics feel that director Richard O. Fleischer did his best work while laboring in the "B" mills of RKO Radio. Fleischer's minimalist noir exercise Armored Car Robbery stars William Talman as the chief crook and Charles McGraw as the detective dogging his trail. A shade Read More

Search for Danger

Actors: John Calvert, Albert Dekker, Myrna Dell, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Search for Danger was the last entry in the "Falcon" film series, which began at RKO in 1941 and was sequestered at low-budget Film Classics by the end of the 1940s. Professional magician John Calvert stars as the debonair amateur sleuth known to friend and foe alike as The Falcon. This time our Read More

Bad Men of Tombstone

Actors: Barry Sullivan, Marjorie Reynolds, Broderick Crawford, Fortunio Bonanova, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams

Synopsis: Director Kurt Neumann, more closely associated with science fiction and mystery programmers, delivers a powerhouse of a pocket western in Bad Men of Tombstone. Barry Sullivan and Broderick Crawford head the cast as a pair of gunslingers who hold no regrets and evidently harbor no consciences. They Read More

Flaxy Martin

Actors: Virginia Mayo, Zachary Scott, Dorothy Malone, Tom D'Andrea, Helen Westcott

Synopsis: Virginia Mayo is Flaxy Martin in this complicated Warner Bros. melodrama. Flaxy is a bad girl but good company, especially when she's around criminal attorney Walter Colby (Zachary Scott). When Colby begins to have second thoughts about his gangster cohorts, Flaxy arranges a murder frame, forcing Read More

Battleground

Actors: Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Marshall Thompson, James Whitmore

Synopsis: Incoming MGM production head Dore Schary ramrodded Battleground into the studio's schedule over the virulent protests of MGM boss Louis Mayer. The result was an award-winning box-office hit, as well as the beginning of the end of Mayer's power. This dramatization of the battles of Bastogne and the Read More

Satan's Cradle

Actors: Duncan Renaldo, Leo Carrillo, Ann Savage, Douglas Fowley, Byron Foulger

Synopsis: Satan's Cradle was the fourth of producer Phil Krasne's "Cisco Kid" programmers for United Artists. Anyone who remembers the Cisco TV series will know without being told that Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo essayed the roles of wandering do-gooders Cisco and Pancho. Unlike previous entries Read More

Susanna Pass

Actors: Roy Rogers, Estelita Rodriguez, Martin Garralaga

Synopsis: Republic's Trucolor "special" Susanna Pass stars Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, King and Queen of the West. Rogers plays "himself," while Evans is cast as female doctor Kay Parker. The villains this time around are trying to force a fish hatchery owner out of business so they can drill for underwater Read More

Massacre River

Actors: Guy Madison, Rory Calhoun, Carole Mathews, Cathy Downs, Johnny Sands

Synopsis: Guy Madison and Rory Calhoun, both of whom went on to star in their own TV western series, head the cast of the Monogram sagebrusher Massacre River. Madison and Calhoun play Larry Knight and Phil Acton, fellow Army officers and rivals for the attentions of colonel's daughter Kitty Reid (Cathy Downs Read More

Joe Palooka in the Counterpunch

Actors: Leon Errol, Joe Kirkwood, Jr., Elyse Knox, Marcel Journet, Sheila Ryan

Synopsis: Joe Palooka, comic strip artist Ham Fisher's golden-hearted pugilist, heads South of the Border in The Counterpunch. Actually, Joe (Joe Kirkwood Jr.) goes no further than Monogram's cramped "ocean liner" standing set, but the audience doesn't really mind. The plot concerns a gang of Read More

Mighty Joe Young

Actors: Terry Moore, Ben Johnson, Robert Armstrong, Frank McHugh, Mr. Joseph Young, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Hoping to make the magic of King Kong happen again, the production team of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack came up with the 1949 special-effects smorgasbord Mighty Joe Young. Robert Armstrong reprises his Kong portrayal of Carl Denham as hot-shot showbiz entrepreneur Max O'Hara. While in Read More

Renegades of the Sage

Actors: Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, Leslie Banning, Trevor Bardette, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Two things are certain from the beginning of Renegades of the Sage. One is that star Charles Starrett will play a character named Steve Somebody-or-Other. The other certainty is that, when the need arises, Steve Somebody-or-Other will assume the identity of the masked righter-of-wrongs, The Read More

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Actors: Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly, Betty Garrett, Edward Arnold

Synopsis: So baseball pictures never make money, eh? Try telling that to MGM, which raked in a box office gross of $4 million on their 1949 baseball musical Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Set in 1906, the film concerns the adventures and misadventures of The Wolves, a champion ball club. The team's success Read More

Arson Inc.

Actors: Robert Lowery, Anne Gwynne, Marcia Mae Jones, Douglas Fowley, Edward S. Brophy

Synopsis: Robert Lowery stars in the 65-minute actioner Arson Inc. Lowery plays a fireman in search of a seemingly random arsonist--or arsonists. Putting two and two together, our hero figures out that culprits are a gang of thieves who've been torching businesses to cover up their robberies. Much of the 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

The Dude Goes West

Actors: Eddie Albert, Binnie Barnes, Catherine Doucet, Dick Elliott, Tom Fadden

Synopsis: In this western comedy, a milquetoast gunsmith from the East Coast goes to Arsenic City, Arizona because he has heard that everybody their carries guns. His trip West is an exercise in misfortune. Everything that could go wrong on the journey, does. At least he meets a pretty woman, also en route Read More

Gun Smugglers

Actors: Tim Holt, Richard Martin, Martha Hyer, Gary Gray

Synopsis: Tim Holt stars in Gun Smugglers, stretching his range by playing a character named Tim Holt. Our Hero, once again teamed with wisecracking Chico Rafferty (Richard Martin), is working on behalf of the government. His quarry: A gang of mercenary criminals who steal weapons from the US Army, then Read More

Docks of New Orleans

Actors: Stanley Andrews, Virginia Dale, Dian Fauntelle, Carol Forman

Synopsis: Docks of New Orleans was Roland Winters' second appearance as aphorism-spouting oriental sleuth Charlie Chan -- and like the first (The Chinese Ring) the film was based on an earlier "Mr. Wong" series entry. This time out, Chan attempts to solve a case involving a stolen shipment of chemicals. Read More

Waterfront at Midnight

Actors: William Gargan, Mary Beth Hughes, Richard Travis, Richard Crane, Cheryl Walker

Synopsis: The Pine-Thomas action/adventure assembly line put together another winner with Waterfront at Midnight. Hoping to put the cuffs on criminal mastermind Socks Barstow (Richard Travis), detective Mike Hanrohan (William Gargan) is stymied by the fact that his younger brother Denny (Richard Crane) has Read More

Coroner Creek

Actors: Randolph Scott, Marguerite Chapman, George Macready, Sally Eilers, Edgar Buchanan

Synopsis: Randolph Scott is a single-minded gunman bent on tracking down and killing the white man responsible for an Indian raid on a stagecoach. Scott's fiancee was killed in the raid and a large army payroll was stolen. The villain is George Macready, a "solid citizen" with fingers in several dirty pies. Read More

If You Knew Susie

Actors: Eddie Cantor, Joan Davis, Allyn Joslyn, Charles Dingle, Phil Brown

Synopsis: Hoping for a success commensurate with his previous Show Business (1945), comedian Eddie Cantor poured a lot of his own money into the RKO Radio musical If You Knew Susie. Cantor and his Show Business co-star Joan Davis are reteamed herein as ex-vaudevillians Sam and Susie Parker, who retire to a Read More

Joe Palooka in Winner Take All

Actors: Joe Kirkwood, Jr., Elyse Knox, William Frawley, Stanley Clements, John Shelton

Synopsis: Ham Fisher's comic-strip pugilist Joe Palooka is once more visualized on-screen in Monogram's Winner Take All. In this one, soft-hearted boxer Joe (Joe Kirkwood) is approached by a trio of gamblers, who want him to throw an upcoming bout. Naturally he refuses, but has cause to regret this decision 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

Behind Locked Doors

Actors: Lucille Bremer, Richard Carlson, Douglas Fowley, Herbert Heyes

Synopsis: Behind the locked doors of a mental institution resides crooked politico Judge Drake (Herbert Heyes), free from prosecution so long as he pretends to be crazy. To get the goods on Drake, private detective Ross Stewart (Richard Carlson) has himself committed to the asylum as a patient. Meanwhile Read More

Black Bart

Actors: Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea, Jeffrey Lynn, Percy Kilbride, Lloyd Gough

Synopsis: Worthless from a historical aspect, Black Bart is nonetheless an enjoyable fabrication about the fabled Western outlaw. Rescued from a "necktie party," outlaws Charles E. Boles (Dan Duryea) and Lance Hardeen (Jeffrey Lynn) decide that it would be best to part as friends and go their separate ways. Read More

Gas House Kids in Hollywood

Synopsis: The Gas House Kids, the very poor man's Bowery Boys, head for Hollywood. While en route to their destination, they accept the invitation of scientist Milton Parsons to spend the night at his home. Head "Gas Housers" Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and Tommy Bond investigate strange nocturnal noises and Read More

The Hucksters

Actors: Edward Arnold, Clark Gable, Lillian Bronson, Deborah Kerr, Sydney Greenstreet, Ralph Bunker, Kathryn Card, Adolphe Menjou, Jimmy Conlin, Ava Gardner

Synopsis: When he was first offered the film version of the best-selling Frederick Wakeman novel The Hucksters, Clark Gable turned it down, characterizing the book as "filthy and not entertainment." He finally agreed to star in the film after screenwriter Luther Davis' extensive laundering job. Gable plays Read More

Merton of the Movies

Actors: Red Skelton, Virginia O'Brien, Gloria Grahame, Leon Ames, Alan Mowbray

Synopsis: The George S. Kaufman-Marc Connelly play Merton of the Movies was previously filmed in 1923 with Glenn Hunter, and in 1932 (as Make Me a Star) with Stu Erwin. This time around, Red Skelton plays Merton, the small-town rube who aspires to become a dramatic actor in silent pictures. Bumbling his way Read More

Jungle Flight

Actors: Robert Lowery, Ann Savage, Barton MacLane, Douglas Blackley, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: On February 17, 1947, two efforts from Paramount's Pine-Thomas productions were tradeshown in tandem. The first was I Cover Big Town; the second was Jungle Flight.The latter film stars Robert Lowery and Douglas Blackley as Kelly Jordan and Andy Melton, troubleshooting freight pilots engaged in Read More

Desperate

Actors: Steve Brodie, Audrey Long, Raymond Burr, Douglas Fowley, William Challee, Jason Robards, Sr.

Synopsis: With 1947's Desperate, a disturbing, noirish twist on traditional moral values, responsibility, and guilt, director Anthony Mann entered the ranks of class-A directors, though he'd still have to spend a few more years in "B" pictures. In his first important role, Steve Brodie plays newlywed Read More

Rose of Santa Rosa

Wild Country

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Peggy Wynn, Douglas Fowley, I. Stanford Jolley

Synopsis: The country in this low-budget Eddie Dean Western from PRC isn't so much wild as it is familiar. Dean is assigned to bring in escaped convict Rif Caxton (I. Stanford Jolley), whose trademark is a polka dot hatband. The bandit is holed up in Silver Springs, where he frames Sheriff Bill Devery Read More

Roses Are Red

Actors: Don Castle, Peggy Knudsen, Patricia Knight, Joe Sawyer, Edward Keane

Synopsis: Second-echelon leading man Don Castle (later a TV producer) stars in yet another Sol M. Wurtzel production, Roses Are Red. Kidnapped by political boss Locke (Edward Keane), honest district attorney Throne (Castle) is replaced by his less-than-honest look-alike. Even the DA's intimates are fooled Read More

Yankee Fakir

Actors: Douglas Fowley, Joan Woodbury, Clem Bevans, Ransom Sherman, Frank Reicher

Synopsis: Character actor Douglas Fowley earns a rare starring role in this oddball western comedy produced and directed by W. Lee Wilder, the brother of star director Billy Wilder. Fowley plays Yankee Davis, a traveling salesman who takes it upon himself to solve the killing of a local marshal (Forrest Taylor Read More

Scared to Death

Actors: Bela Lugosi, Douglas Fowley, Joyce Compton, George Zucco, Nat Pendleton

Synopsis: Completed several years before its 1947 release, Scared to Death is historically important as Bela Lugosi's only color film (outside of his brief unbilled appearance in 1931's Fifty Million Frenchmen, which today exists only in black & white). Other than that, it's a dreary story of how a Read More

Undercover Maisie

Actors: Ann Sothern, Barry Nelson, Mark Daniels, Leon Ames, Clinton Sundberg

Synopsis: MGM's "Maisie" series came to an end with this undistinguished entry. Eschewing show business for the time being, perennially stranded showgirl Maisie Revere (Ann Sothern) decides to join the Los Angeles police force. This she does primarily to be near her latest beau, Lt. Paul Scott (Barry Read More

The Sea of Grass

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Walker, Melvyn Douglas, Phyllis Thaxter

Synopsis: Usually associated with erudite, urbane comedies, the legendary screen team of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy goes intensely dramatic in the expensive western Sea of Grass. Tracy plays cattle baron Colonel James Brewton, who staunchly opposes opening the western frontier to homesteaders. Read More

Fall Guy

Synopsis: Nice guys don't always finish last as can be seen in this crime drama. The story begins as a perfectly nice fellow finds himself arrested for murder. The trouble is, the man cannot remember a thing about the night of the murder. Though he insists he is innocent, all the evidence tells a different Read More

The Trespasser

Actors: Betty Alexander, William Bakewell, Joy Barlowe, Vince Barnett, Joseph Crehan

Synopsis: Though already established as Roy Rogers' favorite leading lady (offscreen and on), Dale Evans was permitted a rare non-western appearance minus Rogers in the 1947 Republic mystery thriller The Trespasser. Evans is cast as nightclub singer Linda Coleman, the sister of newspaper-book reviewer Bruce Read More

Three on a Ticket

Actors: Hugh Beaumont, Cheryl Walker, Paul Bryar, Ralph Dunn, Louise Currie

Synopsis: Three on a Ticket was the fourth entry in PRC's "Michael Shayne" series, and arguably the best of the batch. Hugh Beaumont, still ten years away from Leave It to Beaver, stars as Brett Halliday's red-headed private eye Michael Shayne, who this time out is assigned to locate a fortune in stolen Read More

Backlash

Actors: Jean Rogers, Larry Blake, John Eldredge, Leonard Strong

Synopsis: This minor 20th Century-Fox B picture received a great deal of TV play in the late 1950s. In a series of flashbacks, the audience learns that attorney John Morland (John Eldredge) has given a lift to a hitchhiker (Douglas Fowley) who turns out to be a murderer. As a result, Morland himself is Read More

Ridin' Down the Trail

Synopsis: In this western, a cowboy crooner finds himself entangled with ruthless rustlers posing as Rangers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Life with Blondie

Actors: Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, Larry Simms, Marjorie Kent, Jonathan Hale

Synopsis: Daisy, the Bumstead's mischievous mutt, makes the family a little extra cash when she wins a contest to become a model for the Navy. From there she becomes the favorite calendar gal. All the attention to the dog, makes Dagwood feel that his position as master of the house is jeopardized. Meanwhile Read More

Larceny in Her Heart

Actors: Hugh Beaumont, Cheryl Walker, Ralph Dunn, Charles Wilson, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Larceny in Her Heart was the second entry in PRC's revival of the "Michael Shayne" series, with Hugh Beaumont as Brett Halliday's two-fisted sleuth. It all starts when Shayne agrees to track down the stepdaughter (Marie Harmon) of a local bigwig. But when his client's corpse turns up at his Read More

In Fast Company

Actors: Luis Alberni, William Benedict, Charles D. Brown, Judy Clark, George Eldredge

Synopsis: This second entry in the Bowery Boys series plays more like an extended 2-reeler than a feature film, perhaps because its director was Three Stooges veteran Del Lord. In this one, Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and the rest of the Bowery Boys find themselves in the middle of a "taxi war". Read More

Chick Carter, Detective

Actors: Charles King

Synopsis: That dependable sleuth of pulp fiction fame, Nick Carter, apparently had an equally stalwart son. Chick Carter, Boy Detective did his sleuthing on radio before Columbia producer Sam Katzman brought him to the screen in Chick Carter, Detective. The juvenile hero of the radio waves had underwent Read More

Her Sister's Secret

Actors: Nancy Coleman, Margaret Lindsay, Phillip Reed, Felix Bressart, Regis Toomey

Synopsis: An unusually elaborate film from the bargain-basement PRC studios, Her Sister's Secret is set in New Orleans at Mardi Gras time. The "secret" involves an illegitimate child. Nancy Coleman is impregnated by a soldier on leave, and when she fears that he'll never return, she persuades her married Read More

Drifting Along

Actors: Johnny Mack Brown, Lynne Carver, Raymond Hatton, Smith Ballew

Synopsis: Monogram added several songs and a barn dance to this otherwise standard Johnny Mack Brown hay burner, in which the veteran cowboy star comes to the aid of a beleaguered female rancher. Just "drifting along," Steve Garner (Mack Brown) obtains the job of foreman on a spread belonging to pretty Pat Read More

The Glass Alibi

Actors: Paul Kelly, Douglas Fowley, Anne Gwynne, Maris Wrixon, Jack Conrad

Synopsis: In this drama, a reporter marries a socialite with a bad ticker. The gold-digging reporter is well aware of her delicate condition, and he and his girlfriend conspire to kill her. He shoots her, but does not realize that she was dead from a heart attack before the bullet entered her body. He is Read More

Rendezvous 24

Actors: William Gargan, Pat O'Moore, David Leonard, Maria Palmer, John Bleifer

Synopsis: Two secret agents must somehow prevent a group of post WW II Nazis hiding in the Hartz mountains from successfully making an atomic bomb as they plan to use the weapon on large Allied cities to help the Germans again rise to power. The two good agents find themselves entangled with beautiful Read More

Freddie Steps Out

Synopsis: The fun in this musical comedy begins when a popular swing singer mysteriously vanishes and a group of prank-loving college students try to pass off a schoolmate, the crooner's exact double, as the missing singer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

High School Hero

Actors: Frankie Darro, Curly Joe DeRita, Dick Elliott, Edythe Elliott

Synopsis: High School Hero is all about a high school hero (what else?), played by Monogram musical star Freddy Stewart. A student at Whitney High, Freddy agonizes when the Big Football Game approaches with the school's principal rival, who have emerged victorious in all previous gridiron clashes. Director Read More

North of the Border

Actors: Russell Hayden, Inez Cooper, Douglas Fowley, Lyle Talbot, Anthony Warde

Synopsis: Russell Hayden, formerly of the Hopalong Cassidy Westerns, stars in this mini-Western as "Utah" Nyes, a young rancher searching for his partner, Bill Lawton, in the Canadian Northwest. When Bill's body turns up, nasty "Nails" Nelson (Douglas Fowley), whom the murder victim had accused of stealing Read More

Along the Navajo Trail

Actors: Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, Dale Evans, Estelita Rodriguez, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: A tuneful Roy Rogers Western, Along the Navajo Trail finds Dale Evans' Lazy A Ranch under siege from nasty J. Richard Bentley (Douglas Fowley), who is in cahoots with a greedy oil company aiming to erect a pipeline through the property come what may. Drifter Rogers, who is really a U.S. Marshal in Read More

Don't Fence Me in

Actors: Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, George "Gabby" Hayes, Robert Livingston, Moroni Olsen

Synopsis: Having previously introduced Cole Porter's hit song "Don't Fence Me In" in Hollywood Canteen, Roy Rogers performs the song once again in this same-named Republic "special." When he's not singing, Rogers is dealing with nosy female journalist Toni Ames (Dale Evans), who hopes to learn the truth Read More

The Racket Man

Synopsis: An ex-racketeer becomes an undercover for the military in this drama. He keeps his work so secret that his friends become convinced that he is dabbling in illegal activities again. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

See Here, Private Hargrove

Actors: Robert Walker, Donna Reed, Keenan Wynn, Robert Benchley, Ray Collins

Synopsis: Newspaper reporter Marion Hargrove's best-selling novel was adapted to the screen by MGM as a vehicle for Robert Walker. The story is basically a series of humorous anecdotes about Hargrove's tenure at boot camp in the early days of World War II. Keenan Wynn is terrific as Hargrove's topkick, and Robert Benchley Read More

Rationing

Actors: Wallace Beery, Marjorie Main, Donald Meek, Dorothy Morris, Howard Freeman

Synopsis: MGM intended Rationing to be an object lesson as well as a comedy, to teach the moviegoers the importance of rationing products during World War II. Wallace Beery plays a small town butcher who comes under fire from the local citizens for attempting to honor the ration system. Beery finds himself Read More

The Story of Dr. Wassell

Actors: Gary Cooper, Laraine Day, Signe Hasso, Dennis O'Keefe, Carol Thurston

Synopsis: The genesis of The Story of Dr. Wassell is said to have been a story told by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to director Cecil B. DeMille. Gary Cooper stars as Corydon M. Wassell, a real-life country doctor from Arkansas who worked as a medical missionary in China in the years prior to WWII. Read More

Johnny Doesn't Live Here Any More

Actors: Simone Simon, James Ellison, William Terry, Minna Gombell, Chick Chandler

Synopsis: The sparkling screwball comedy And So They Were Married was originally released as Johnny Doesn't Live Here Any More. French-Canadian girl Simone Simon leases a Washington DC apartment from Marine William Terry. Since the Nation's Capital is overcrowded (wartime, don't you know), Simon must put up Read More

One Body Too Many

Actors: Jean Parker, Bela Lugosi, Bernard Nedell, Blanche Yurka

Synopsis: Another of Jack Haley's comedy vehicles for Pine-Thomas productions, One Body Too Many casts Haley as timid insurance salesman Albert Tuttle. Much against his better judgment, Tuttle makes a business call at a sinister old mansion, intending to sell life insurance to the owner. He proves a bit Read More

And the Angels Sing

Actors: Dorothy Lamour, Fred MacMurray, Betty Hutton, Diana Lynn, Mimi Chandler

Synopsis: An unofficial remake of the 1935 Alice Faye-George Raft vehicle Every Night at Eight, And the Angels Sing stars Dorothy Lamour as Nancy Angel, unofficial leader of a struggling, Andrews-like singing sister act. Nancy is in love with saxophone player Happy Morgan (Fred MacMurray), self-appointed Read More

Shake Hands with Murder

Actors: Iris Adrian, Frank Jenks, Douglas Fowley, Jack Raymond, Claire Rochelle

Synopsis: In this comic murder mystery, two bail bondsmen try to help out a man who is suspected of stealing bonds from his partner. More mayhem ensues when the other partner is found dead. Now the bail bondsmen must try to prove the fellow is innocent before it is too late. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Read More

Lady in the Death House

Actors: Jean Parker, Lionel Atwill, Douglas Fowley, Marcia Mae Jones, Robert Middlemass

Synopsis: Like many PRC films, Lady in the Death House was run incessantly in the early days of television, then disappeared into the void of Public Domain once better-quality films were made available to TV. Actually, this women-in-prison low-budget attempt at film noir is pretty good as far as PRC Read More

Detective Kitty O'Day

Actors: Jean Parker, Peter Cookson, Tim Ryan, Edward Gargan

Synopsis: The first of two Monogram comedy-mysteries built around the talents of perky Jean Parker, Detective Kitty O'Day casts Parker in (what else?) the title role. A switchboard operator who aspires to be a sleuth, Kitty insists upon being in on the investigation when her boss is murdered. This causes no Read More

The Devil Checks Up

Synopsis: The Devil Checks Up is the 1944 reissue title for the 1942 Hal Roach "screamliner" The Devil With Hitler. Alan Mobray plays The Devil Himself, who is in danger of losing his position because all the business in Hell has "Gone to Earth". Adolf Hitler (played as a pop-eyed buffoon by frequent Fuhrer Read More

Sleepy Lagoon

Synopsis: In this musical comedy, a plucky young woman launches a successful campaign and becomes mayor of her tiny hometown. Now she must also rid her town of rampant corruption and get it back on track. Songs include: "If You Are There," "You're the Fondest Thing I Am Of," "I'm Not Myself Anymore" (Ned Washington Read More

Colt Comrades

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, Andy Clyde, Jay Kirby, George Reeves, Gayle Lord, Victor Jory

Synopsis: The winning streak of superior Hopalong Cassidy westerns continued with 1943's Colt Comrades. In this one, Hoppy (William Boyd) and his saddle pals California (Andy Clyde) and Johnny (Jay Kirby) use a large amount of reward money to buy their own ranch. But despotic Jebb Hardin (Victor Jory), who Read More

Bar-20

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, Andy Clyde, George Reeves, Victor Jory, Robert Mitchum

Synopsis: At 54 minutes, Bar 20 is the shortest of the 1943 quota of Hopalong Cassidy pictures. William Boyd, Andy Clyde and George Reeves return to their series roles as Hopalong Cassidy, California Carson and Lin Bradley. Also on hand for villainous purposes is Victor Jory, who'd menaced Hoppy and his Read More

The Kansan

Actors: Richard Dix, Jane Wyatt, Albert Dekker, Eugene Pallette, Victor Jory

Synopsis: Like several other Harry Sherman Productions of the 1942-43 season, The Kansan was originally slated for a Paramount release, then redirected to United Artists. Richard Dix and Jane Wyatt, stars of the previous Sherman effort Buckskin Frontier, are reunited herein as western lawman John Bonniwell Read More

Gildersleeve's Bad Day

Actors: Harold Peary, Jane Darwell, Nancy Gates, Charles Arnt, Freddie Mercer

Synopsis: In this comedy, Gildersleeve is assigned to be a contentious jury foreman who refuses, despite the opinions of all the other jurors, to believe that the gangster being tried is really guilty. He seems oblivious to the wealth of evidence around him. His redemption comes when the gangsters catch him Read More

Riding High

Actors: Dorothy Lamour, Dick Powell, Victor Moore, Gil Lamb, Cass Daley

Synopsis: No relation to the 1950 Frank Capra film of the same name, the 1943 Technicolor musical Riding High is a by-the-numbers vehicle for Dorothy Lamour and Dick Powell. Lamour stars as Ann Castle, a former burlesque queen who heads westward to claim her father's silver mine. Powell plays mining Read More

The Chance of a Lifetime

Actors: Chester Morris, Erik Rolf, Jeanne Bates, Richard Lane, George E. Stone

Synopsis: This lively entry in the "Boston Blackie" series finds Blackie (Chester Morris) acting as spiritual leader of a group of ex-convicts. The plan is for the former inmates to redeem themselves by working in a defense plant. Only problem: some of the cons (Douglas Fowley, Arthur Hunnicutt et. al.) Read More

Minesweeper

Actors: Richard Arlen, Jean Parker, Russell Hayden, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Emma Dunn

Synopsis: Adhering to the formula of such previous Pine-Thomas productions as Forced Landing, Flying Blind and Torpedo Boat, Minesweeper is the action-packed story of military men under wartime pressure. Richard Arlen plays Jim Smith, a once-reliable Naval officer who has virtually destroyed his life with Read More

Lost Canyon

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, Jay Kirby, Andy Clyde, Lola Lane, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: A virtual remake of Rustlers' Valley (1937), this average "Hopalong Cassidy" Western features Jay Kirby as Johnny Travers, a Hoppy associate framed for a bank robbery and supposedly killed during the ensuing chase. Johnny, however, to Hoppy and California Carlson's (Andy Clyde) great relief Read More

Jitterbugs

Actors: Vivian Blaine, Bob Bailey, Douglas Fowley, Noel Madison

Synopsis: If Jitterbugs is, as has often been claimed, the best of Laurel & Hardy's 20th Century-Fox films (an otherwise fair-to-mediocre lot), it is because the studio was using the picture as a showcase for their newest singing discovery Vivian Blaine. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy play a couple of Read More

Campy Kids from Boot Camp

Synopsis: Campy Kids From Boot Camp was cobbled together from a brace of "streamliners" (second features running between 43 and 50 minutes) produced in the 1940s by Hal Roach Studios. The films are Tanks a Million (1941) and Hayfoot (1942); both star William Tracy as Doubleday, an Army draftee with a Read More

The Carter Case

Actors: James Ellison, Virginia Gilmore, Franklin Pangborn, Paul Harvey, Lynne Carver

Synopsis: The Carter Case was the second and last Republic film based on the popular radio series Mister District Attorney. Like the first entry, this one is played mostly for laughs, with Radio's Mister District Attorney. James Ellison replacing Dennis O'Keefe as feckless assistant DA P. Cadwallader Jones. Read More

Pittsburgh

Actors: John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, Frank Craven, Louise Allbritton

Synopsis: The three stars of Universal's The Spoilers -- Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne and Randolph Scott -- were reunited for the pageantlike adventure yarn Pittsburgh. As indicated by the title, this is a saga of the steel industry, with longtime buddies Pittsburgh Markham (Wayne) and Cash Evans (Scott) Read More

The Man in the Trunk

Actors: Lynne Roberts, George Holmes, Raymond Walburn, J. Carrol Naish, Dorothy Peterson

Synopsis: Man in the Trunk is a variation on the "Topper" theme, with Raymond Walburn carrying the weight of the film as a restless ghost. Ten years before the story proper gets under way, bookie Jim Cheevers (Walburn) is murdered and his body is stuffed in a trunk. When the trunk is opened, all that Read More

Stand by for Action

Actors: Robert Taylor, Brian Donlevy, Marilyn Maxwell

Synopsis: Rear Admiral Stephen Thomas' (Charles Laughton) spoken tribute to "the finest Naval officer I knew" provides the framework for the wartime flag-waver Stand By For Action. Robert Taylor stars as Gregg Masterman, a flippant socialite who comes to realize his obligation to his country when he is Read More

Meet the Mob

Actors: ZaSu Pitts, Roger Pryor, Warren Hymer, Gwen Kenyon, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Monogram's So's Your Aunt Emma owes whatever success it enjoys to its star, the incomparable ZaSu Pitts. The fluttery ZaSu plays a countrified maiden aunt who comes to the big city when her nephew Roger Pryor gets into trouble with the Law. Seems that Pryor is inextricably involved with gangsters Read More

Somewhere I'll Find You

Actors: Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Robert Sterling, Patricia Dane, Reginald Owen

Synopsis: Unable to convince their isolationist New York editor (Charles Dingle) that America must be alerted to the threat of encroaching Nazism, pugnacious war correspondents Johnny and Kirk Davis (Clark Gable and Robert Sterling) are relieved of their European assignments. Back in the USA, Johnny Read More

The Devil with Hitler

Actors: Alan Mowbray, Bobby Watson, George E. Stone, Joe Devlin, Marjorie Woodworth

Mr. Wise Guy

Actors: Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, Billy Gilbert, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams

Synopsis: In this "East Side Kids" escapade (the eighth in the series), the gang, led by Muggs McGinniss (Leo Gorcey), help a man load a barrel on a truck. Little do they know that the man is a crook; accused of trying to steal the truck, they are immediately and without due process sent to reform school. Read More

Mississippi Gambler

Actors: Kent Taylor, Frances Langford, John Litel, Shemp Howard, Claire Dodd

Synopsis: Universal's standing Show Boat sets get another workout in the 60-minute B-picture Mississippi Gambler. On the trail of mob hitman Mathews (Douglas Fowley), reporter Johnny Forbes (Kent Taylor) journeys from New York to Mississippi. Here he finds big-time gangster boss Carvel (John Litel), long Read More

Sunset on the Desert

Actors: Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, Lynne Carver, Frank M. Thomas, Beryl Wallace

Synopsis: In this western, Roy plays both the villain and the hero. As the bad-guy, he heads a ring of rustlers. The trouble begins when the gang runs across good-Roy and mistake him for their wicked leader. Good-Roy plays along so he can bring the gang to justice. Unfortunately, bad-Roy shows up and mayhem Read More

I Live on Danger

Actors: Chester Morris, Jean Parker, Elizabeth Risdon, Edward Norris, Dick Purcell

Synopsis: I Live on Danger is a fast-moving thriller with strong performances and top-notch direction -- by former screenwriter Sam White -- which overcomes some weaknesses in the plot. Jeff Morrell (Chester Morris) is a newscaster who gets involved in saving wrongly accused Eddie Nelson (Edward Norris) Read More

Hay Foot

Synopsis: Instant recall allows a man to become a very valuable Good Samaritan in this comedy. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Tanks a Million

Actors: William Tracy, James Gleason, Noah Beery, Jr., Joe Sawyer, Elyse Knox

Synopsis: In 1941, producer Hal Roach abandoned production of full-length features in favor of a new concept: The "Streamliner", a four-reel film-halfway between a short subject and a feature-designed for the double-bill market. The first Roach streamliner was the timely service comedy Tanks a Million Read More

Dangerous Lady

Actors: June Storey, Neil Hamilton, Douglas Fowley, John Holland, Emmett Vogan

Synopsis: Dangerous Lady is yet another variation on the "Thin Man" formula, courtesy this time from bargain-basement PRC Pictures. Neil Hamilton and June Storey star as private detective Duke Martindel and his lawyer wife Phyllis. Putting their heads together (which they seem to enjoy doing), Duke and Read More

The Great Swindle

Actors: Jack Holt, Jonathan Hale, Henry Kolker, Marjorie Reynolds, Donald Douglas

Synopsis: In this mystery, an insurance investigator must find the arsonists behind the burning of a warehouse. The detective does get some good photographs as evidence, but they are stolen from his apartment. He really isn't a great sleuth and winds up accusing everyone but the real culprit of the crime. Read More

Secrets of the Wastelands

Actors: Brad King, Andy Clyde, Barbara Britton, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Secrets of the Wasteland is a lesser "Hopalong Cassidy" western, with talk taking precedence over action. This time, Hoppy (William Boyd) and his pals Johnny (Brad King) and California (Andy Clyde) head out on an archeological expedition. While encamped in the San Fernando Valley, our heroes come Read More

The Parson of Panamint

Actors: Charlie Ruggles, Ellen Drew, Phillip Terry, Joseph Schildkraut, Porter Hall

Synopsis: First filmed in 1916, Peter B. Kyne's novel Parson of Panamint provided an excellent showcase for Charles Ruggles in this 1941 remake. As he looks over the dusty, deserted remains of the western "boom town" of Panamint, grizzled old prospector Chuckawalla Bill Redfield (Ruggles) recalls the town's Read More

Doctors Don't Tell

Synopsis: In this medical melodrama, a young MD finds himself in love with a woman who doesn't love him. She is interested in an older, more sophisticated doctor. After she discovers that the older medic has a sleazy side, she decides to go for the younger doctor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Slightly Honorable

Actors: Pat O'Brien, Edward Arnold, Broderick Crawford, Ruth Terry, Claire Dodd

Synopsis: The successful producer-director combination of Walter Wanger and Tay Garnett served up another winner with Slightly Honorable. Adapted from F. G. Presnell's novel Send Another Coffin, the story concerns the efforts made by corrupt politician Cushing (Edward Arnold) to frame honest attorney John Read More

20 Mule Team

Actors: Wallace Beery, Leo Carrillo, Marjorie Rambeau, Anne Baxter, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: As indicated by the title, 20 Mule Team is all about pioneering borax miners in territorial Arizona. Wallace Beery goes through his usual paces as Skinner Bill Bragg, a fugitive from justice who forms an uneasy alliance with slick outlaw Stag Roper (Douglas Fowley). The two scoundrels plot to jump Read More

Cherokee Strip

Actors: Richard Dix, Florence Rice, Victor Jory, Andy Clyde, George E. Stone

Synopsis: Though not based on a Zane Grey story, The Cherokee Strip fits in thematically with producer Harry Sherman's Grey series. Richard Dix stars as Dave Morrell, the new marshal of Goliath, Oklahoma. Immediately upon arrival, Morrell finds himself at odds with banker Coy Barrett (Victor Jory), who is Read More

Wagons Westward

Actors: Chester Morris, Anita Louise, Buck Jones, Ona Munson, George "Gabby" Hayes

Synopsis: In this western, two disparate twins ride the range. One is a real troublemaker while the other is a government agent. When the bad brother is sent to prison, the good one begins posing as him so he can capture two outlaws. He does so, but then finds himself accosted by an angry dance-hall girl Read More

Cafe Hostess

Actors: Preston S. Foster, Ann Dvorak, Douglas Fowley, Wynne Gibson, Arthur Loft

Pier 13

Actors: Lynn Bari, Lloyd Nolan, Joan Valerie, Douglas Fowley, Chick Chandler

Synopsis: Pier 13 is a remake of the delightful Spencer Tracy-Joan Bennett vehicle Me and My Gal, which itself was a reworking of a 1922 silent picture. Wisecracking cop Danny Dolan (Lloyd Nolan) takes a liking to self-reliant waterfront waitress Sally Kelly (Lynn Bari), and the feeling is definitely Read More

East of the River

Actors: John Garfield, Brenda Marshall, Marjorie Rambeau, George Tobias, William Lundigan

Synopsis: In this drama, set in New York City, two brothers fight it out over a girl. The boys were raised by their Italian mother. The younger brother is adopted and they grow up to pursue very different life directions. The adopted brother goes to college, but the older brother gets involved with crime Read More

Ellery Queen. Master Detective

Actors: Ralph Bellamy, Margaret Lindsay, Charles Grapewin, James Burke, Michael Whalen

Synopsis: Ralph Bellamy made the first of four appearances as fictional sleuth Ellery Queen in Columbia's Ellery Queen, Master Detective. For reasons that defy logic, the studio elected to transform the brilliant, analytical Queen into a hopeless bumbler, who seems incapable of tying his own shoes, much Read More

The Leather-Pushers

Actors: Richard Arlen, Andy Devine, Astrid Allwyn, Douglas Fowley, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: In this boxing drama, the trouble begins when a fight breaks out at a local gym. When a boxing promoter sees that Dick, who is training Andy Grogan to wrestle, really packs a wallop, he suggests that Dick try boxing. Slick, the promoter then fixes Dick's fights to ensure that he wins. When Pat, a Read More

Henry Goes Arizona

Actors: Frank Morgan, Virginia Weidler, Guy Kibbee, George "Slim" Summerville, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Frank Morgan stars as vaudevillian Henry Conroy, who puts show business behind him when he inherits a dilapidated Arizona ranch. For some reason, several interested parties, most of them wielding six-guns, are bent upon chasing Henry off his supposedly worthless land. Terrified of firearms (this Read More

Boy Friend

Actors: Jane Withers, Arleen Whelan, Richard Bond, Douglas Fowley, Warren Hymer

Synopsis: There was no getting around the fact that child star Jane Withers was growing up in a hurry by the time she made The Boy Friend. To its credit, Withers' home studio 20th Century-Fox took into consideration the star's blossoming womanhood by allowing her to have her first on-screen romance. The Read More

Street of Missing Men

Actors: Charles Bickford, Harry Carey, Tommy Ryan, Mabel Todd, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams

Synopsis: Sad-eyed Ann Dvorak plays Jo, the "café hostess" of the title. Poor put-upon Jo doesn't know it, but she's being used by her gangster boyfriend Eddie Morgan (Douglas Fowley), who relies upon her as an alibi to cover up his recent crimes. Likeable sailor Budge (Bruce Bennett) is in love with Jo Read More

Inside Story

Actors: Michael Whalen, Jean Rogers, Chick Chandler, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: In this heartwarming drama, a good-hearted reporter attempts to find the loneliest woman in New York so he can give her an old-fashioned Christmas on a farm. He meets a woman whom he thinks is a stenographer. In reality she is a hard-bitten nightclub owner with no Christmas spirit at all. By Read More

Dodge City

Actors: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan, Bruce Cabot, Frank McHugh

Synopsis: This landmark western -- which, along with Stagecoach, has often been credited with revitalizing what had become a stagnant genre -- stars Errol Flynn as Wade Hatton, a cattle man who arrives in the frontier community of Dodge City, which is overrun by footloose cowboys and outlaws. When Hatton Read More

It Could Happen to You

Actors: Stuart Erwin, Gloria Stuart, Raymond Walburn, Douglas Fowley, June Gale

Synopsis: In this comedy/mystery a milquetoast ad man finds his good ideas constantly copped by ambitious coworkers. His boss doesn't even seem to see him. The ad man's wife pushes her husband into confronting his boss during a party. Unfortunately, the timid fellow finds himself accused of murder after a Read More

Lucky Night

Actors: Myrna Loy, Robert Taylor, Henry O'Neill, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: An heiress gets a crash course in the simple life when she marries a penniless man in this comedy. Calvin Jordan (Henry O'Neill) is the prosperous owner of a successful steel mill, and the apple of his eye is his daughter Cora (Myrna Loy). Cora stands to inherit Calvin's firm, and he's taken it Read More

Charlie Chan at Treasure Island

Actors: Sidney Toler, Cesar Romero, Pauline Moore, Victor Sen Yung, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Movie buffs are nearly unanimous in agreement: Charlie Chan at Treasure Island is the best of the Sidney Toler "Charlie Chan" entries. The film wastes no time getting started, with Chan (Toler) and his son Jimmy (Sen Yung) on hand when Charlie's writer friend Paul Essex (Louis Jean Heydt) dies on Read More

Passport Husband

Actors: Stuart Erwin, Pauline Moore, Douglas Fowley, Joan Woodbury, Robert Lowery

Synopsis: For reason unknown, the otherwise thorough 1980 volume The Films of Twentieth Century-Fox utterly ignores the zany 1938 Fox release Passport Husband. Stuart Erwin plays Henry Cabot, overaged busboy at the Club Habana. Whenever the nightclub's singer Conchita Montez (Joan Woodbury) is accosted by a Read More

Alexander's Ragtime Band

Actors: Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Ethel Merman, Jack Haley

Synopsis: His Aunt Sophie (Helen Westley) and his teacher Professor Heinrich (Jean Hersholt) are sure that Roger Grant (Tyrone Power) will be a famous classical violinist, but Roger's more interested in popular music. He and his friend, pianist Charlie (Don Ameche), audition at a saloon in San Francisco's Read More

Time out for Murder

Actors: Gloria Stuart, Michael Whalen, Chick Chandler, Douglas Fowley, Robert Kellard

Synopsis: In this witty comedy mystery, a dim-bulbed news photographer and an equally dull-witted reporter try their hand at sleuthing when they begin investigating a murder to prove that the prime suspect is innocent. Things get really sticky when the accused's bill-collector gets involved. The real killer Read More

Keep Smiling

Actors: Jane Withers, Gloria Stuart, Henry Wilcoxon, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: In this comedy a young girl dreams of becoming a Hollywood movie star. The plucky gal decides to grab the bull's horns one day and goes there to see if her uncle, a movie director will help her launch her career. Unfortunately she discovers that her "famous' relative has fallen onto hard-times and Read More

Mr. Moto's Gamble

Actors: Peter Lorre, Keye Luke, Dick Baldwin, Lynn Bari, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: In this mystery programmer, a prizefighter dies in the midst of a match, but evidence suggests that it was a dose of poison that killed him rather than the violence of the bout. Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre), a detective who also teaches sleuthing to others, is called in to find out who killed the boxer Read More

Walking Down Broadway

Actors: Claire Trevor, Phyllis Brooks, Leah Ray, Dixie Dunbar, Lynn Bari

Synopsis: Not a remake of the 1932 Erich Von Stroheim film of the same name (which was ultimately released as Hello Sister), Walking Down Broadway owes more to the old Warner Bros. melodrama Three on a Match. The story concerns six Broadway chorus girls, who, when their latest show folds on New Years' Eve Read More

City Girl

Actors: Phyllis Brooks, Ricardo Cortez, Robert Wilcox, Douglas Fowley, Chick Chandler

Synopsis: In this tearful crime melodrama, a waitress becomes so taken with her dream of living in posh luxury and comfort that she leaves her honest boyfriend the district attorney to take up with a notorious gangster who lavishes her with stolen furs and fabulous diamonds. She has no idea that the crook Read More

Arizona Wildcat

Actors: Jane Withers, Leo Carrillo, Pauline Moore, William Henry, Henry Wilcoxon

Synopsis: In this sunny western, a mischievous young girl living in the Arizona territory during the 1870s, causes all kinds of trouble while trying to prove that her foster-daddy did not steal a gold shipment. Later, the step-dad, a former outlaw, re-gathers his gang to find the real culprit -- a shady Read More

Submarine Patrol

Actors: Richard Greene, Nancy Kelly, Preston S. Foster, George Bancroft, George "Slim" Summerville

Synopsis: Set during World War I, Submarine Patrol stars Preston S. Foster as a naval officer demoted for dereliction of duty. He is forced to commandeer a battered old submarine chaser and its ragtag crew. Anxious to redeem himself, Foster transforms his loser underlings into a crack combat team, chalking Read More

Wild and Woolly

Actors: Jane Withers, Walter Brennan, Pauline Moore, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Jackie Searl

Synopsis: Wild and Woolly stars young Jane Withers as a hoydenish resident of a modern frontier town. Revelling in the town's 50th anniversary celebration, Jane is brought down to earth by the long-standing feud between her ex-desperado grandfather (Walter Brennan) and a pompous politician (Berton Read More

On the Avenue

Actors: Dick Powell, Madeleine Carroll, Alice Faye, The Ritz Brothers [Al, Jimmy, Harry], George Barbier

Synopsis: Director Roy Del Ruth and singing star Dick Powell were raided from the Warner Bros. stables for this frothy musical comedy that features a wonderful collection of Irving Berlin songs, including "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" and "Slumming on Park Avenue." Powell stars as Broadway impresario Read More

One Mile from Heaven

Actors: Claire Trevor, Sally Blane, Douglas Fowley, Fredi Washington

Synopsis: Within the framework of a conventional newspaper yarn, One Mile From Heaven raises several controversial issues. Scoop-happy reporter Lucy "Tex" Warren (Claire Trevor) senses a big story in the plight of Flora Jackson (Fredi Washington), a young black woman who claims to be the mother of a white Read More

Woman-Wise

Actors: Rochelle Hudson, Michael Whalen, Thomas Beck, Alan Dinehart, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: An earnest, honest newspaper sports editor single-handedly launches a campaign to clean up the shadowy, crooked world of professional prizefighting in this drama. He focuses most of his energy on one shady promoter and proves his point by easily punching out the lights of the promoter's "champ." Read More

She Had to Eat

Actors: Jack Haley, Rochelle Hudson, Arthur Treacher, Eugene Pallette, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: A naive gas station attendant's life takes a turn for the better when he is adopted by an eccentric, boozy travelling millionaire who crosses the country in his own train. Accompanied by his beloved pet bunny, the former gas station jockey boards the train. Soon afterward, he is kidnapped by 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

Love and Hisses

Actors: Walter Winchell, Ben Bernie, Simone Simon, Bert Lahr, Joan Davis

Synopsis: Before sitting down to watch Love and Hisses, it's important to know that columnist Walter Winchell and bandleader Ben Bernie were engaged in a phony but highly publicized feud in the late 1930s. For the purposes of this film, the source of the Winchell-Bernie contretemps is pretty nightclub Read More

This is My Affair

Actors: Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, Victor McLaglen, Brian Donlevy, Sidney Blackmer

Synopsis: Based on fact, this turn-of-the-century crime drama stars Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck (husband and wife at the time). Taylor plays a seemingly disreputable young man who joins a gang of murderous bank robbers, headed by Victor McLaglen. Stanwyck is a beer-hall entertainer, who disapproves Read More

Time out for Romance

Actors: Claire Trevor, Michael Whalen, Joan Davis, Chick Chandler, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Scheduled to marry a man she doesn't love (and for good reason), spoiled heiress Barbara Blanchard (Claire Trevor) runs away from her wedding and hits the road. While hitchhiking, Trevor is given a ride by Bob Reynolds (Michael Whalen), a personable young auto salesman who's been hired to deliver Read More

Charlie Chan on Broadway

Actors: Warner Oland, Keye Luke, Joan Marsh, J. Edward Bromberg, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: In New York to attend a police testimonial in his honor, Honolulu detective Charlie Chan runs smack dab into another murder. The victim is a blackmailing nightclub singer who had listed the names of all known criminals in Manhattan in her diary. The diary disappears, and Charlie joins a glib Read More

Wake up and Live

Actors: Walter Winchell, Ben Bernie, Alice Faye, Patsy Kelly, Ned Sparks

Synopsis: The hyped-up 1930s radio feud between bandleader Ben Bernie and columnist Walter Winchell is all but forgotten today, but that doesn't lessen the entertainment value of the Bernie/Winchell vehicle Wake Up and Live. Amidst the bickering of the two stars, the film traces the progress of mike-shy Read More

It Could Happen to You

Actors: Alan Baxter, Andrea Leeds, Owen Davis, Jr., Astrid Allwyn, Walter Kingsford

Synopsis: It Could Happen to You is one of those captivating "little" pictures whose reputation is built up via word of mouth. Alan Baxter and Owen Davis Jr. star as Bob and Fred, the sons of immigrant Pa Barrett (Al Shean). Fred is a dutiful offspring, but Bob, an adoptee, is a no-good, stealing money from Read More

Sing, Baby, Sing

Actors: Alice Faye, Adolphe Menjou, Gregory Ratoff, Ted Healy, Patsy Kelly

Synopsis: The "Caliban-Ariel" romance of fiftysomething John Barrymore and teenager Elaine Barrie is spoofed in this delightful 20th Century Fox musical. Adolphe Menjou plays the Barrymore counterpart, a loose-living movie star with a penchant for wine, women, and more wine. Alice Faye plays a nightclub Read More

Ring Around the Moon

Actors: Donald Cook, Ann Doran, Alan Edwards, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Ring Around the Moon was based on the once-popular novel by Vera Hobart. The story endeavors to invite comparisons between the high-toned romantic adventures of wealthy Gloria Endicott (Erin O'Brien-Moore) and more earthy amours of low-born Kay Duncan (Ann Doran). Caught between both ladies is Read More

Navy Born

Actors: William Gargan, Claire Dodd, Douglas Fowley, George Irving, Dorothy Tree

Synopsis: A naval officer gets more than he bargained for when he adopts a recently orphaned young boy, the son of his late best friends. Despite the resistance of the lad's surviving relatives, who worry that growing in the Navy will be hard on the boy, the officer loves and takes good care of the boy. At Read More

15 Maiden Lane

Actors: Claire Trevor, Cesar Romero, Douglas Fowley, Lloyd Nolan, Lester Matthews

Synopsis: Hoping to prove to her insurance-investigator uncle that she's a good detective in her own right, Jane Martin (Claire Trevor) pretends to be a jewel thief so that she can infiltrate a criminal gang. She quickly ingratiates herself with suave but deadly crook Frank Peyton (Cesar Romero), and before Read More

Small Town Girl

Actors: Janet Gaynor, Robert Taylor, Binnie Barnes, Andy Devine, James Stewart

Synopsis: One Horse Town is the TV title for MGM's 1936 version Small Town Girl (the new title was bestowed to avoid confusion with the 1953 remake). Robert Taylor plays an irresponsible playboy who is arrested in a backwater town for drunken driving. While intoxicated, Taylor proposes to local girl Janet Gaynor Read More

Thirty Six Hours to Kill

Actors: Brian Donlevy, Gloria Stuart, Douglas Fowley, Isabel Jewell, Stepin Fetchit

Synopsis: A winning sweepstakes ticket is the catalyst in 36 Hours to Kill. The lucky recipient is gangster Duke Benson (Douglas Fowley), who happens to be a fugitive from justice. Duke hops a train to collect his prize money, keeping a low profile lest he be discovered. Also on board are G-man Frank Evers (Brian Donlevy Read More

Big Brown Eyes

Actors: Joan Bennett, Cary Grant, Walter Pidgeon, Isabel Jewell, Lloyd Nolan

Synopsis: Joan Bennett is a manicurist who becomes a newspaper reporter. She joins forces with jaunty detective Cary Grant to get the goods on a particularly vicious insurance racket. Bennett unwittingly puts her life in danger by dating a supposedly above-board socialite (Walter Pidgeon) who is actually Read More

Crash Donovan

Actors: Jack Holt, Eddie Acuff, Hugh Buckler

Synopsis: This action movie provides interesting information about the special training and experiences of motorcycle cops. The story centers around a California highway patrolman who was formerly a carnival stunt rider. Throughout the tale, the CHPs officer has a series of encounters with bad drivers, a Read More

Miss Pacific Fleet

Actors: Joan Blondell, Glenda Farrell, Warren Hull

Synopsis: Based on Frederick Hazlett Brennan's play Battleship Gertie, Miss Pacific Fleet is short and snappy "gobs and gals" affair. At the urging of gold-digging showgirls Gloria Foy (Joan Blondell) and Mae O'Brien (Glenda Farrell), goofy promoter Augustus Frietag (Hugh Herbert) comes up with a "Miss Read More

Transient Lady

Actors: Gene Raymond, Henry Hull, Frances Drake, June Clayworth, Clark Williams

Synopsis: In this drama, a traveling ice show comes to a small southern town run by an amiable mayor. His mischievous younger brother, knowing his brother's protection gives him carte-blanche, gets into all kinds of trouble with the other town punks. The thugs cause real trouble at the local ice rink and Read More

Straight from the Heart

Actors: Mary Astor, Roger Pryor, Carol Coombe, Andy Devine

Synopsis: In this romance, a slightly crooked and highly ambitious mayoral candidate convinces a woman to help him blackmail the incumbent by using a little baby as evidence in a paternity suit. The girl goes along with it until she learns that the mayor is innocent. Suddenly she begins working for him. In Read More

Two for Tonight

Actors: Bing Crosby, Joan Bennett, Mary Boland, Lynne Overman, Thelma Todd

Synopsis: Based on an obscure stage comedy, the Paramount musical Two for Tonight stars Bing Crosby as would-be composer and playwright Gilbert Gordon. Hired by music publisher Alexander Myers (Maurice Cass) to write a musical for temperamental stage star Lilly Bianca (Thelma Todd), Gordon is less than Read More

Night Life of the Gods

Actors: Alan Mowbray, Florine McKinney, Peggy Shannon, Richard Carle, Theresa Maxwell Conover

Synopsis: Another of Thorne Smith's slyly naughty fantasy novels, Night Life of the Gods was transferred to the screen with reasonable fidelity to the original in 1934. Alan Mowbray plays the eccentric Hunter Hawk, inventor of a ray gun that can turn human beings into statues. Much to his surprise, Hawk is Read More

Old Man Rhythm

Actors: Charles "Buddy" Rogers, George Barbier, Barbara Kent, Grace Bradley, Betty Grable

Synopsis: In this musical campus comedy, trouble ensues when a meddlesome, overprotective father enrolls in the same college as his son so he can watch over his love life. The son soon finds himself involved with a conniving golddigger who dumps him when she discovers that his family fortune has been Read More

The Girl from Missouri

Actors: Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Franchot Tone, Patsy Kelly

Synopsis: Originally titled Eadie was a Lady, this Jean Harlow vehicle was slated for release under the title Born to be Kissed, but the new Production Code vetoed this "suggestive" cognomen. After a brief and uncomfortable period as One Hundred Percent Pure, the film was finally shipped to theaters as The Read More

Operator 13

Actors: Gary Cooper, Marion Davies, Jean Parker, Katherine Alexander, Ted Healy

Synopsis: If you can accept blonde, blue-eyed Marion Davies disguising herself in blackface, chances are you'll swallow the rest of Operator 13. Davies plays a Belle Boyd-like actress who agrees to become a Northern spy during the Civil War. She assumes the identity of an octoroon servant and heads into Read More

Let's Talk It Over

Actors: Chester Morris, Mae Clarke, Frank Craven, John Warburton, Irene Ware

Synopsis: In this comedy, a wealthy socialite pursues a carefree playboy who isn't at all interested in her. After all her regular attention-getting ploys fail, the woman fakes a drowning accident in the hopes that he will save her. She is instead rescued by a brutish sailor whom she begins introducing to Read More

Gift of Gab

Actors: Edmund Lowe, Gloria Stuart, Ruth Etting, Phil Baker

Synopsis: In this musical, a radio-announcer is fired after giving a false interview. For consolation he begins to drink heavily. It is his girlfriend who helps him sober up when she provides him with a major scoop--a missing airplane. He enthusiastically sets out after it and eventually finds it. As a Read More

The Thin Man

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell

Synopsis: Filmed on what MGM considered a B-picture budget and schedule (14 days, which at Universal or Columbia would have been considered extravagant), The Thin Man proved to be "sleeper," spawning a popular film, radio, and television series. Contrary to popular belief, the title does not refer to star William Powell Read More

Student Tour

Actors: Jimmy Durante, Charles Butterworth, Maxine Doyle, Phil Regan, Florine McKinney

Synopsis: Student Tour looks like an MGM musical two-reeler that was expanded to feature length as it went along. Charles Butterworth and Jimmy Durante are teamed respectively as fey philosophy professor Lippincott and brash athletic coach Hank. The two comics shepherd a co-ed college rowing team on a world Read More

The Mad Game

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Claire Trevor, Ralph Morgan, J. Carrol Naish, John Miljan

Synopsis: A man on the wrong side of the law has a chance to turn over a new leaf in this crime drama. Edward Carson (Spencer Tracy) is a gangster who made a fortune in bootlegging; however, his lawyer turned on him and set him up on a tax evasion charge that earned him a long stay in prison. While Carson Read More