Lew Kelly Filmography

Keep 'em Slugging

Actors: Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell, Norman Abbott, Evelyn Ankers

Synopsis: Keep 'Em Slugging was the last of Universal's "Little Tough Guys" series-which, like Monogram's "East Side Kids", was an offshoot of Warner Bros.' "Dead End Kids" films. This time around, the kids decide to mend their troublemaking ways and get real jobs. Tommy (Bobby Jordan) is hired by the Read More

The Mad Ghoul

Actors: David Bruce, Evelyn Ankers, George Zucco, Robert Armstrong, Turhan Bey

Synopsis: The Mad Ghoul may well be the definitive George Zucco horror melodrama. The star plays Dr. Alfred Morris, a distinguished scientist who obsession with an ancient Egyptian life-preserving process has tipped him over into madness. In love with young concert singer Isabel Lewis (Evelyn Ankers) Read More

Lady of Burlesque

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Michael O'Shea, J. Edward Bromberg, Iris Adrian, Gloria Dickson, Marion Martin

Synopsis: Barbara Stanwyck shines in her second portrayal of a showgirl in less than two years (the first was in Howard Hawks' Ball of Fire in 1941). In Lady of Burlesque -- which, at times, has a Hawksian edge to the dialogue -- she portrays Dixie Daisy, a striptease artist at a Broadway theater in New Read More

Shut My Big Mouth

Actors: Joe E. Brown, Adele Mara, Victor Jory, Fritz Feld, Don Beddoe

Synopsis: The best of Joe E. Brown's Columbia starring vehicles, Shut My Big Mouth is also one of Joe's funniest efforts since his heyday at Warner Bros. Brown is cast as wealthy easterner Wellington Holmes, who heads to the Wild West in search of peace and quiet (!) When Wellington's stagecoach is held up Read More

Behind the Eight Ball

Actors: The Ritz Brothers [Al, Jimmy, Harry], Carol Bruce, Dick Foran, Grace McDonald, Johnny Downs

Synopsis: To say that Behind the Eight Ball is the best of the Ritz Brothers' quartet of Universal vehicles is faint praise indeed, but it's fact that the Ritzes pack an awful lot of laughs in the film's 60-minute running time. The story takes place at a summer theater in the Berkshire Mountains, where Read More

Bowery at Midnight

Actors: Bela Lugosi, John Archer, Wanda McKay, Tom Neal, Vince Barnett

Synopsis: Bowery at Midnight casts Bela Lugosi as Professor Brenner, a psychology instructor at New York University (which looks a lot like Berkeley in the exterior shots!). When not enlightening his students -- most of them buxom Monogram starlets -- Brenner is engaged in charitable work, running a mission Read More

The Magnificent Ambersons

Actors: Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead

Synopsis: Orson Welles' followup to Citizen Kane (1941) was utterly different from Kane in style and texture, but just as brilliant in its own way. Writer/director Welles does not appear on camera, but his voiceover narration superbly sets the stage for the movie's action, which fades in valentine Read More

Cyclone on Horseback

Actors: Tim Holt, Marjorie Reynolds, Ray Whitley, Lee "Lasses" White, Harry Worth

Synopsis: Veteran burlesque comic Lee "Lasses" White replaced Emmett Lynn as comic sidekick "Whopper" in this fine Tim Holt Western for RKO. Whopper, Stan Bradford (Holt), and Smokey (Ray Whitley) are delivering a herd of pack horses to telegraph lineman Jeff Corbin (Dennis Moore) when intercepted by Read More

The Last of the Duanes

Actors: George Montgomery, Lynne Roberts, Eve Arden, Francis Ford, George E. Stone

Synopsis: With Paramount abandoning its "Zane Grey" western series in 1941, 20th Century-Fox took up the cudgel with such films as The Last of the Duanes. George Montgomery stars as Buck Duane, who in 1870 returns to his Texas hometown, only to find out that his father has been murdered. Following the most Read More

The Gay Falcon

Actors: George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, Allen Jenkins, Anne Hunter, Gladys Cooper

Synopsis: When the film rights to its "Saint" series proved too expensive to renew, RKO Radio came up with a lookalike property in the form of "The Falcon", even engaging George Sanders, the best of the "Saint" impersonators, to play the studio's newest gentleman detective. The Gay Falcon opens as Gay Read More

Robin Hood of the Pecos

Actors: Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, Marjorie Reynolds, Leigh Whipper

Synopsis: Robin Hood of the Pecos was set immediately after the Civil War, when most of Texas was under the thumb of corrupt northern politicians. Alleviating things somewhat is the presence of a mysterious masked night rider, inclined to rob from the rich and give to the poor. Believe it or not, this Read More

Lucky Devils

Actors: Richard Arlen, Andy Devine, Dorothy Lovett, Janet Shaw

Synopsis: Another of Universal's Richard Arlen-Andy Devine actioners, Lucky Devils casts the mismatched duo as a pair of intrepid newsreel cameramen. When they're not risking their lives coverning the Hot Spots of the world, Dick (Arlen) and Andy (Devine) busy themselves romancing Norma (Dorothy Lovett) and Read More

The Great Train Robbery

Actors: Bob Steele, Claire Carleton, Milburn Stone, Helen MacKellar, Si Jenks

Synopsis: The Great Train Robbery is not a remake of the 1903 landmark film of the same name; if it had been, it wouldn't have run any longer than eight minutes. This 1941 production isn't even a western, but instead a modern-day melodrama starring Bob Steele as a railroad detective. Steele takes it upon Read More

Road Agent

Actors: Dick Foran, Leo Carrillo, Andy Devine, Anne Gwynne, Samuel S. Hinds

Synopsis: Not quite a B western but certainly no "A", Road Agent is kept alive by the boisterous byplay of stars Dick Foran, Leo Carrillo and Andy Devine. Summarily accused of murder, drifters Duke (Foran), Pancho (Carrillo) and Andy (Devine) are tossed into the hoosegow, only to be released when their Read More

The Little Foxes

Actors: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright, Richard Carlson, Patricia Collinge, Charles Dingle

Synopsis: Playwright Lillian Hellman first wrote of the horrible Hubbard family in her 1939 play The Little Foxes. In this lavish 1941 film version, Bette Davis takes over for Broadway's Tallulah Bankhead in the role of conniving turn-of-the-century Southern aristocrat Regina Hubbard Giddens. Regina's Read More

Honky Tonk

Actors: Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Frank Morgan, Claire Trevor, Albert Dekker, Marjorie Main

Synopsis: The marvelous rapport between stars Clark Gable and Lana Turner makes MGM's Honky Tonk seem far more substatianal than it really is. About to be tarred and featherd by an angry mob, frontier con artists Candy Johnson (Gable) and his pal Sniper (Chill Wills) manage to make a quick getaway via Read More

The Westerner

Actors: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Doris Davenport, Fred Stone, Forrest Tucker

Synopsis: The town of Vinegaroon, TX, is the home to Judge Roy Bean (Walter Brennan), who calls himself "The Only Law West of the Pecos." Bean keeps a saloon, where he also conducts trials, using his office to get fat on fines and the seizure of property, and hanging most of those who get in his way 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

Saga of Death Valley

Actors: Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, Don "Red" Barry, Doris Day, Frank M. Thomas

Synopsis: Roy Rogers is forced to chase down his own kid brother in this exemplary Republic Pictures oater produced and directed by Joseph Kane. Roy Rogers Sr. (Lane Chandler) is brutally murdered by nasty Ed Tasker (Frank M. Thomas), who takes off with the only witness to the killing, Rogers' youngest son Read More

Panama Patrol

Actors: Leon Ames, Charlotte Wynters, Weldon Heyburn, Adrienne Ames, Abner Biberman

Synopsis: This sequel to Grand National's 1938 actioner Cipher Bureau once again stars Leon Ames as bureau head Major Philip Waring. In case you're wondering, the Cipher Bureau is a government agency in charge of decoding enemy messages. Teamed with agent Helen Lane (Charlotte Wynters), Major Waring is Read More

Three Texas Steers

Actors: John Wayne, Ray "Crash" Corrigan, Max "Alibi" Terhune, Carole Landis, Ralph Graves

Synopsis: Forever switching its time-frame from past to present, Republic's "Three Mesquiteers" series returned to a contemporary milieu for Three Texas Steers. The story revolves around a bankrupt circus, and the efforts made by Stony (John Wayne), Tucson (Ray Corrigan) and Lullaby (Max Terhune) to save Read More

Tough Kid

Actors: Frankie Darro, Dick Purcell, Judith Allen, Lillian Elliott, Don Rowan

Synopsis: A bad seed tries to keep his older brother from making the same mistakes in this crime drama. The latter is a prize fighter who is becoming entangled with the mob. The younger one is already connected and doesn't want to see gangsters exploiting his elder sibling. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Lawless Valley

Actors: George O'Brien, Kay Sutton, Walter Miller, Fred Kohler, Jr.

Synopsis: Lawless Valley is one of the best of George O'Brien's series westerns for RKO Radio. Falsely accused of orchestrating a stage robbery with his conveniently deceased father, O'Brien spends the rest of the film trying to clear his name. Along the way, he uncovers the perfidy of land baron Fred Kohler Sr. Read More

Gold Mine in the Sky

Actors: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Carolyn Hughes, Craig Reynolds, Cupid Ainsworth

Synopsis: In this musical western, ranch owner "Lucky" Langham (Robert Homans) dies unexpectedly, and in his will he leaves his spread to his daughter Cody (Carol Hughes). However, "Lucky" added the proviso that ranch foreman Gene (Gene Autry) is to be the executor of his will, and must give his OK before Read More

Flirting with Fate

Actors: Joe E. Brown, Leo Carrillo, Beverly Roberts, Wynne Gibson, Steffi Duna

Synopsis: Flirting with Fate is one of the lesser Joe E. Brown vehicles for independent producer David L. Loew. Brown is cast as Dixon, the manager of a third-rate vaudeville troupe stranded in a mythical South American country. Completely broke, Dixon hits upon a plan to finance the actors' trip home Read More

Western Jamboree

Actors: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Jean Rouverol, Esther Muir, Joe Frisco

Synopsis: Republic Pictures borrowed heavily from Damon Runyon when they crafted this tuneful Gene Autry series entry, restored to its full length by Gene Autry Entertainment in 2001. Just as Apple Annie had in Lady for a Day (1933), kindly old Dad Haskell Frank Darien) has gilded the lily a bit by Read More

Born to Be Wild

Actors: Ralph Byrd, Doris Weston, Ward Bond, Robert Emmett Keane, Bentley Hewlett

Synopsis: Absolutely no relation to the 1960s rock-n-roll tune of the same name, Born to be Wild is a fast-paced Republic programmer boasting some fairly impressive credits. Ralph Byrd, better known as moviedom's Dick Tracy, plays truck driver Steve Weston, while Ward Bond, usually seen as a bad guy in the Read More

The Painted Desert

Actors: Laraine Day, George O'Brien, Laraine Johnson, Ray Whitley, Stanley Fields, Fred Kohler

Synopsis: 1938's The Painted Desert borrows the title and precious little else from the 1931 western of the same name. Hero George O'Brien makes it his mission in life to stop crooked Fred Kohler from getting his mitts on a valuable strip of land. He also takes time out to romance heroine Laraine Johnson Read More

The Overland Express

Actors: Buck Jones, Marjorie Reynolds, Carlyle Moore, Jr., William Arnold

Synopsis: The dangers experienced by a Pony Express rider are chronicled in this western. The hero rides between Missouri and California. As he gallops along, he encounters angry Indians, and the competitors of the Pony Express the stage coach drivers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Man from Music Mountain

Actors: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Carolyn Hughes, Sally Payne, Ivan Miller

Synopsis: Gene Autry stars in this vintage musical Western that pits a group of poor but honest cattle ranchers against two-faced real estate speculators when it's learned that there may be a gold mine on the ranch. Gene sings four original songs, including "Love Burning Love," "I'm Beginning to Care," and Read More

Mountain Music

Actors: Bob Burns, Martha Raye, John Howard, Terry Walker, George "Gabby" Hayes

Synopsis: In this backwoods musical, two feudin' families provide the basis of the action. The tale begins as the head of one family asks his son to marry the daughter of the other to bring peace. Unfortunately the son knows that it is his brother that really loves the girl and so takes off. The travelin' Read More

Paradise Express

Actors: Grant Withers, Dorothy Appleby, Arthur Hoyt, Maude Eburne, Harry Davenport

Synopsis: Paradise Express is Grand Hotel out of Twentieth Century, fresh from the Republic Studio breeding farms. The titular express is a small-time freight service, struggling for survival against a larger, more streamlined rail company. Faced with bankruptcy, the owners of the underdog railroad Read More

Some Blondes Are Dangerous

Actors: Noah Beery, Jr., William Gargan, Dorothea Kent, Nan Grey, Roland Drew

Synopsis: Some Blondes are Dangerous is a remake of 1931's The Iron Man, using the same W. R. Burnett novel as its source. Noah Beery Jr. stars as Bud "Iron Man" Mason, a talented but rather dimwitted prizefighter. Against the advice of his crusty old manager George Regan (William Gargan), Mason dumps his Read More

High, Wide and Handsome

Actors: Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Dorothy Lamour, Elizabeth Patterson, Raymond Walburn

Synopsis: High, Wide and Handsome almost defies classification: Perhaps it's best referred to as a historical musical western comedy melodrama. Irene Dunne plays an itinerant circus performer who marries oilman Randolph Scott. The couple heads to Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859, where Scott is among the Read More

Western Gold

Actors: Smith Ballew, Heather Angel, LeRoy Mason, Ben Alexander, Otis Harlan

Synopsis: Former nightclub crooner Smith Ballew made his singing-cowboy debut in Western Gold. Set during the Civil War, the story finds Union soldier Bill Gibson (Ballew) heading West to prevent valuable Northern gold shipment from being systematically stolen by Confederate spies. Making our hero's job Read More

Forlorn River

Actors: Larry "Buster" Crabbe, June Martel, John Patterson, Harvey Stephens, Chester Conklin

Synopsis: Paramount's "Zane Grey" series continued rolling onward with 1937's Forlorn River. Larry "Buster" Crabbe, a regular in the Grey films, stars as Nevada, who in the company of his sidekick Weary Pierce (Sid Saylor) searches high and low for the outlaw gang run by Les Setter (Harvey Stephens). It's Read More

Border Cafe

Actors: Harry Carey, John Beal, Armida, George Irving, Leona Roberts

Synopsis: The cattle rustlers in Border Cafe, a modern-day western from the RKO B-unit, are Eastern gangsters headed by none other than that old reprobate J. Carrol Naish. After having landed in jail for drunken driving for the umpteenth time, young Bostonian Keith Whitney (John Beal callously leaves his Read More

All Over Town

Actors: Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson, Mary Howard, Harry Stockwell, Franklin Pangborn

Synopsis: Olsen and Johnson's second starring vehicle for Republic was better than their first (Country Gentlemen), but a Hellzapoppin' it wasn't. Ole and Chic play a couple of itinerant vaudevillians, teamed with Sally the Singing Seal ("the eighth wonder of the world"). Heroine Joan Eldredge (Mary Howard) Read More

Death from a Distance

Actors: Russell Hopton, Lola Lane, George F. Marion, Lee Kohlmar

Synopsis: Eccentric professor Einfeld (Lee Kohlmar) is lecturing a select group of scientists at a darkened planetarium when one of the spectators is shot to death. Homicide detective Ted Mallory (Russell Hopton) can't get a straight story from the witnesses and refuses to allow reporter Kay Palmer (Lola Lane Read More

Ellis Island

Synopsis: From low-rent company Invincible comes this hardy survivor, a cheap-looking but fairly engrossing account of a convicted bank robber who, about to be deported, escapes from Ellis Island with the assistance of a mystery man with less than altruistic motives. Enter immigration official Gary (Donald Cook Read More

The Lone Wolf Returns

Actors: Melvyn Douglas, Gail Patrick, Tala Birell, Thurston Hall

Synopsis: The Lone Wolf Returns stars Melvyn Douglas as Louis Joseph Vance's reformed criminal Michael Lanyard, a.k.a. The Lone Wolf. Lanyard lapses back into his old ways when he attempts to steal an emerald pendant belonging to Gail Patrick, but he falls in love with the girl and remains on the straight Read More

The Man I Marry

Actors: Doris Nolan, Michael Whalen, Marjorie Gateson, Gerald Oliver Smith

Synopsis: Social butterfly Rena Allen (Doris Nolan) is bored unto tears by her stuffy fiance Throckton Van Cortland (Gerald Oliver Smith). She runs off to the country, where she falls in love with struggling playwright Ken Durkin (Michael Whalen). He is astonished by her uncanny ability to critique his work Read More

Murder at Glen Athol

Actors: John Miljan, Irene Ware, Noel Madison, Barry Norton, Iris Adrian

Synopsis: The "Crime Club" detective-novel series spawned a film counterpart in 1935, which for the next four years bounced around such studios as Warner Bros., Universal, and Chesterfield. The last-named company's contribution was Murder at Glen Athol, based on a novel by Norman Lippincott. Usually cast as Read More

Winds of the Wasteland

Actors: John Wayne, Phyllis Fraser, Yakima Canutt, Douglas Cosgrove, Lane Chandler

Synopsis: Former pony express riders John Blair (John Wayne) and Larry Adams (Lane Chandler) don't buy the Brooklyn Bridge in this Republic Western, but the two greenhorns instead purchase a dilapidated stage line to a ghost town. While the unscrupulous seller, "Honest Cal" Drake (Douglas Cosgrove), count Read More

Lady Luck

Actors: Patricia Farr, William Bakewell, Duncan Renaldo, Iris Adrian

Synopsis: In this drama, a manicurist is mistaken for the winner of a large sweepstakes and finds herself pursued by fortune hunters. One of them wants to marry her for the publicity and a stage contract. The trouble really begins when the real winner shows up. She is more than happy to let the manicurist Read More

Timothy's Quest

Actors: Dickie Moore, Virginia Weidler, Eleanore Whitney, Tom Keene, Elizabeth Patterson

Synopsis: Previously filmed in 1919, the Kate Douglas Wiggin novel Timothy's Quest was remade as a talkie in 1935. Dickie Moore plays Timothy Tarbox, a dewy-eyed orphan united in misery with his little sister Samantha (Virginia Weidler). The kids are taken in by maiden lady Vilda Cummins (Elizabeth Patterson Read More

Three of a Kind

Actors: Chick Chandler, Evelyn Knapp, Richard Carle, Bradley Page

Synopsis: Three of a Kind was also released as Mistaken Identity, which pretty much says it all. Chick Chandler, Berton Churchill and Richard Carle star respectively as confidence tricksters Jerry Bassett, Con Cornelius and F. Thorndyke Penfield. Each of the crooks thinks that the other two are wealthy Read More

Wild Brian Kent

Actors: Ralph Bellamy, Mae Clarke, Helen Lowell, Stanley Andrews, Lew Kelly

Synopsis: In this western, a polo-playing free-loader convinces a farmer to take him in; the cad then proceeds to take advantage of the farmer's daughter. But when a Realtor begins threatening to repossess the farmer's land, the lazy leech gets involved. In the end, he stops a fire from destroying the Read More

Mistaken Identity

Synopsis: Three confidence men set up in a luxury hotel, but wind up as their own victims when several swindles backfire. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

Two Fisted

Actors: Lee Tracy, Roscoe Karns, Grace Bradley, Kent Taylor, Gail Patrick

Synopsis: Two Fisted is based on the James Gleason-Richard Taber stage play Is Zat So?, previously filmed under its original title in 1927. Lee Tracy stars as fast-lipped fight manager Hay Hurley, while Roscoe Karns co-stars as slow-witted pugilist Chick Moran. Flat broke, Hay and Chick take servant jobs in Read More

The Nitwits

Actors: Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Fred Keating, Betty Grable, Evelyn Brent

Synopsis: The Nitwits are Johnny (Bert Wheeler) and Newt (Robert Woolsey), cigar-counter proprietors in the building owned by music publisher Lake (Hale Hamilton). Johnny spends his spare time spooning with his sweetheart, Lake's secretary Mary (Betty Grable), while Newt tinkers with his inventions, the Read More

Public Opinion

Actors: Lois Wilson, Crane Wilbur, Shirley Grey, Luis Alberni, Andreas de Segurola

Synopsis: In this romance, a young woman falls in love with a bacteriologist who is married to a hot-tempered opera star. When his wife leaves him, the girl sees her chance for love. Unfortunately, the singer returns and reconciles, forcing the girl to get in a relationship with a less colorful, younger Read More

Port of Lost Dreams

Actors: Lola Lane, George F. Marion

Synopsis: In this drama, a gun moll eludes the pursuing police by hiding out on a fishing vessel. There she meets and falls in love with captain. They get married, and she quietly--he knows nothing of her past--goes straight. Trouble ensues when the police finally capture her. Though she has a baby, they Read More

Society Fever

Actors: Lois Wilson, Lloyd Hughes, Hedda Hopper, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Grant Withers

Synopsis: In this comedy, a woman lives with her recently impoverished family who would do anything to regain their former wealth and status. They use the young woman, and every time any likely person comes to call, they try to foist her upon them. One of these visitors is the son of a conniving lawyer who Read More

In Person

Actors: Ginger Rogers, George Brent, Alan Mowbray, Grant Mitchell, Samuel S. Hinds

Synopsis: After suffering a nervous breakdown (at least that's what she calls it), imperious movie star Carol Corliss (Ginger Rogers) retreats to a small mountain resort community to recuperate. Carol proceeds to adopt a series of ridiculous disguises so she won't be bothered by her fans, only to realize Read More

Diamond Jim

Actors: Edward Arnold, Jean Arthur, Binnie Barnes, Cesar Romero, Eric Blore

Synopsis: Screenwriter Preston Sturges never lets the facts get in the way of a good story in this colorful filmed biography of turn-of-the-century millionaire Diamond Jim Brady. The hearty Edward Arnold stars as Brady, who parlays a small-time railroad supply firm into a thriving financial empire. Once Read More