Lon Chaney, Jr. Filmography

Film House Fever

Synopsis: This compilation tape is a collection of clips and trailers from low-budget, cult-type movies. The "framing" device of having two guys on a couch (one of whom is future cult-icon Steve Buscemi) watching TV and making cracks about the movies is fairly lame, and many of the films showcased have been Read More

Into the Night

Actors: Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Pfeiffer, Richard Farnsworth, Irene Papas, Kathryn Harrold

Synopsis: Filled with enough cameos to keep film buffs entertained, this otherwise routine action-comedy by John Landis boasts Michelle Pfeiffer as one of its major attractions. She plays Diana, a woman prone to having affairs with some very dangerous men, and Jeff Goldblum is Ed Okin, an aerospace engineer Read More

The Hollywood Collection: The Horror of it All

Synopsis: Directed by Philip Martell, music director of such horror films as Snake Woman (1961) and Die, Monster, Die! (1964), this documentary recounts the history of horror movies, with footage and scenes from major horror films such as Nosferatu and The Horror of Dracula. Highlights include footage of Read More

Time to Run

Actors: Barbara Sigel

Synopsis: The protagonist is young runaway Barbara Sigel (a Golden Globe nominee for her performance in this film), who has a mad-on against the world. Refusing help from anyone over 30, the runaway likewise rejects the solace of the church. This generation gap can only be closed by total and willing Read More

Dracula vs. Frankenstein

Actors: J. Carrol Naish

Synopsis: A slapdash epic of bad filmmaking geared strictly toward drive-in audiences, Dracula vs. Frankenstein has gone on to achieve cult status thanks to its sheer ineptness and impressive cast. At an oceanside amusement park, Dr. Frankenstein (J. Carrol Naish) runs a house of horrors that serves as a Read More

Buckskin

Actors: Barry Sullivan, Joan Caulfield, Wendell Corey, Lon Chaney, Jr., John Russell

Synopsis: Chaddock (Barry Sullivan) is the straight-shooting marshall of Gloryhole, Montana. Wealthy rancher Rep Marlowe (Wendell Corey) practically owns the town by way of his gambling saloons, shady land deals and hired guns who intimidate the law-abiding citizens. Sheriff Tangley (Lon Chaney Jr.) calls Read More

Fireball Jungle

Synopsis: Cars are crashing everywhere in this action film that tells the story of Nero Sagittarius, a mobster, and his partner Cateye Meares are determined break into the Southern stock-car circuit. Their entry is opposed by Steve Cullen as it was Meares who killed his brother. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Read More

Gallery of Horror

Synopsis: Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors; Return from the Past; The Blood Suckers; Gallery of Horrors. No, that's not a quadruple feature at the Highway 194 Twin Drive-In. All four titles have been applied to the same film, which also travels under the name Alien Massacre. This multipart scarefest contains Read More

Hillbillys in a Haunted House

Actors: Basil Rathbone

Synopsis: Horror, comedy, and country corn combine when country singers Woody Weathrby and Boots Malone get caught in a big storm en route to the Nashville Jamboree and end up taking shelter in a creepy looking old mansion that is said to be haunted. Though plenty of spooky things go on there, the hapless Read More

Welcome to Hard Times

Actors: Henry Fonda, Janice Rule, Keenan Wynn, Janis Paige, John Anderson, Warren Oates

Synopsis: Long before he scored with the epic Ragtime, novelist E.L. Doctorow wrote a minor novel upon which this stark 1967 film is based. It was adapted for the screen by veteran western director Burt Kennedy. In a forlorn town called Hard Times in the Old West, a cowardly mayor, Will Blue (Henry Fonda) Read More

Blood of Dracula's Castle

Actors: John Carradine, Paula Raymond

Synopsis: Dracula carries on his blood-drinking tradition in modern-day California, joined by his bride in a castle into which an unsuspecting couple have just moved. (Talk about incompatible roomies!) The Count and Countess (Alex D'Arcy & Paula Raymond) abduct a smorgasbord of cuties in miniskirts and Read More

The Monkees: The Monkees in a Ghost Town

Actors: Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith

Synopsis: Stranded in a deserted western town, the Monkees are captured by a couple of gangsters named Lennie (Lon Chaney Jr. and George (Len Lesser). While our heroes plan a daring escape, the two crooks await the arrival of "The Big Man" -- who turns out to be a brassy female, Bessie Kowalski (Rose Read More

Apache Uprising

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Corinne Calvet, John Russell, Lon Chaney, Jr., Gene Evans

Synopsis: Jim Walker Rory Calhoun is a hero who fights Indians and crooks who plan a series of stagecoach robberies in this routine western. He defends the honor of a woman (Corinne Calvet) wrongly accused of having a bad reputation. Johnny Mack Brown plays the local Sheriff Ben Hall, with Lon Chaney, Jr. Read More

Johnny Reno

Actors: Dana Andrews, Jane Russell, Lon Chaney, Jr., John Agar, Lyle Bettger, Tom Drake

Synopsis: Johnny Reno (Dana Andrews) is a US Marshall who is bushwhacked by outlaws on his way to Stone Junction, Kansas. Joe Connors (Tom Drake) and his brother Ab (Dale Van Sickle) mistakenly believe the lawman is after them and fire on Reno, and Reno captures Joe after Ab is killed in the gun battle. The Read More

Black Spurs

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Linda Darnell, Scott Brady, Lon Chaney, Jr., Bruce Cabot

Synopsis: In this western, a world-weary bounty hunter begins working for an avaricious crook who wants to destroy the good name of a little town so that the railroad will be built across his land. To enact his plan he brings a notorious gambler to town. He also establishes a brothel in the saloon. The Read More

Young Fury

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Virginia Mayo, Lon Chaney, Jr., Richard Arlen, John Agar

Synopsis: In this western, a gunslinger runs from the Dawson gang and decides to return home to the wife he abandoned many years before. There he finds that his infant son has grown into a thuggish hellion who has been lead to believe that his mother is dead. He also hates the father who left him. The Read More

House of the Black Death

Synopsis: A weird little low-budget item featuring Lon Chaney, Jr. and John Carradine as the DeSarde brothers, a pair of sorcerers with opposing powers. The evil brother (Chaney) sports devil's horns and torments the captive guests at the DeSarde mansion, while the invalid benevolent brother (Carradine) Read More

Town Tamer

Actors: Dana Andrews, Terry Moore, Pat O'Brien, Lon Chaney, Jr., Bruce Cabot

Synopsis: Adapting his own novel, Frank Gruber penned the screenplay for the A.C. Lyles production Town Tamer. Veteran filmmaker Leslie Selander directs an equally veteran cast in this high-action Western. After his wife is murdered, hired gun Tom Rosser (Dana Andrews) rides into town in search of revenge Read More

Face of the Screaming Werewolf

Synopsis: Another import horror chop-job courtesy of producer Jerry Warren, this time with a recognizable American star -- sort of. Lon Chaney, Jr. returns to Wolf Man mode once again (albeit a cheaper, low-rent version that seems to incorporate shag carpet swatches) in what was originally a Mexican monster Read More

Witchcraft

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Jack Hedley, Jill Dixon, Viola Keats, Marie Ney

Synopsis: In this spooky horror film set in an old English village, the trouble begins when a man endeavors to dig up a cemetery containing the charred bodies of witches burned at the stake 300 years before. The warlock who looks after the family cemetery tries to stop him, but cannot. As soon as their Read More

The Redmen and the Renegades

Synopsis: In this frontier adventure, Hawkeye and his sidekick must clear Ethan Allen's name after he is accused of treason. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Pathfinder and the Mohican

Synopsis: In this adventure, Hawkeye and Chingachgook must prove that a tribe of Delaware Indians did not commit murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Long Rifle and the Tomahawk

Synopsis: White settlers are protected by Hawkeye and his partner Chingachgook in this western. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Law of the Lawless

Actors: Dale Robertson, Yvonne De Carlo, William Bendix, Bruce Cabot, Barton MacLane

Synopsis: This is the first of numerous westerns produced by A.C. Lyles which became famous not for their stories but for who played in them--all the stars being veterans not often seen on the screen anymore. As far as plot line, essentially we have a badguy who has become a good guy (read that ex Read More

Spider Baby

Synopsis: Exploitation titan Jack Hill, who went on to make such cult favorites as Switchblade Sisters, The Swinging Cheerleaders, and Foxy Brown, made his solo directorial debut with this fascinating, offbeat shocker. The three surviving children of Titus W. Merrye, who represent the end of his family's Read More

Stage to Thunder Rock

Actors: Barry Sullivan, Marilyn Maxwell, Keenan Wynn, Scott Brady, Lon Chaney, Jr.

Synopsis: In this western adventure, a sheriff prepares to retire and finds himself forced to deal with his past when he is assigned to round up a gang of outlaws comprised of the sons of the man who raised him after his own parents were killed. The sheriff has to kill one of the desperadoes. The other he Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Cage at McNaab

Synopsis: Paladin (Richard Boone) is hired to arrange a jailhouse meeting between Nora Larson (Jacqueline Scott) and her husband Brian (Brian Larson), who has been condemned to death. Unfortunately, Nora has hatched a scheme whereby her husband will escape--and Paladin will hang in his place. Lon Chaney Jr. Read More

The Haunted Palace

Actors: Vincent Price, Debra Paget, Lon Chaney, Jr., Frank Maxwell, Leo Gordon

Synopsis: The Haunted Palace is a witches' brew of stories written by Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft--with the fine hand of sinister scenarist Charles Beaumont stirring the pot. Vincent Price plays two roles this time: A New England doctor burned as a sorcerer in 1745, and the dead man's great-grandson Read More

The Devil's Messenger

Synopsis: Satan sends his newest most seductive minion back to the earthly plane to search for new recruits in this horror compilation from an unsold Swedish television series No. 13 Demon Street that stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as the Devil. Each of the beautiful hellcat's victims dies in interesting ways Read More

Chivato

Synopsis: A brave band of American crusaders join the counter-revolutionaries in Cuba to help overthrow Castro and his communist government in this dramatic adventure. Former boxing champ Jake "the Raging Bull" LaMotta played the role of Julio. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Lock Up: Against the Law

La Casa del Terror

Synopsis: An insane scientist attempts to bring a mummy back to life, not realizing that the bandages were actually disguising not a mummy, but a werewolf. This Mexican horror-comedy attempts to find laughs in the resulting confusion and carnage. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide Read More

The Alligator People

Actors: Beverly Garland, George Macready, Richard Crane, Lon Chaney, Jr., Frieda Inescort

Synopsis: A confused horror yarn set in the Deep South, Alligator People stars Richard Crane as a husband who becomes accidently separated from his new wife (Beverly Garland) during a train ride. She tracks him down to the swamplands surrounding his family mansion. Her reunion with her husband is tarnished Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Scorched Feather

Synopsis: A troubled young man named Robert Ceilbleu (Mario Alcaide) hires Paladin (Richard Boone) to protect his father, ill-mannered Indian scout William Ceilbleu (Lon Chaney Jr.) from a deranged Comanche warrior named Hotanian. Before long, Paladin finds that his mission isn't as cut-and-dried as it Read More

Night of the Ghouls

Actors: Criswell, Kenne Duncan, Duke Moore, Tor Johnson, Valda Hansen

Synopsis: Night of the Ghouls (which was also known as Revenge of the Dead) was Edward D. Wood Jr.'s first attempt at making a horror film without any contribution, either in a true performance or through the presence of archival footage, from Bela Lugosi, who had died three years earlier. The plot, which Read More

The Defiant Ones

Actors: Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Charles McGraw, Cara Williams, Lon Chaney, Jr.

Synopsis: Convicts Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier escape from a chain gang. Curtis' character, John "Joker" Jackson, hates blacks, while Poitier's character, Noah Cullen, hates whites. However, the men are manacled together, forced to rely on each other to survive. Captured at one point by a lynch-happy Read More

Money, Women and Guns

Actors: Jock Mahoney, Kim Hunter, Tim Hovey, Gene Evans, Tom Drake

Synopsis: In this curious blend of Western and detective melodrama, Jock Mahoney plays a frontier gumshoe named Hogan. When an old prospector is murdered, Hogan takes on the assignment of finding the four heirs to the prospector's fortune. Briefly sidetracked by a romance with Mary Kingman (played by Kim Hunter Read More

The Cyclops

Actors: James Craig, Gloria Talbott, Lon Chaney, Jr., Tom Drake, Duncan Parkin

Synopsis: Producer/director Bert I. Gordon began his career-long devotion to movies about giant-sized people and animals with this low-budget chiller, which has a surprisingly strong cast of onetime Hollywood leading men. Gloria Talbott plays Susan Winter, a young American woman who hires soldier-of-fortune Read More

Pardners

Actors: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Lori Nelson, Jeff Morrow, John Baragrey, Jackie Loughery

Synopsis: This Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis romp is liberally based on the 1936 Bing Crosby film Rhythm on the Range. Set around 1910, the film stars Lewis as the pampered son of female tycoon Agnes Moorehead. Yearning to return to the Wild West where his father was a famed peacekeeper, Lewis purchases a prize Read More

Telephone Time: The Golden Junkman

Manfish

Actors: John Bromfield, Lon Chaney, Jr., Victor Jory, Barbara Nichols, Tessa Prendergast

Synopsis: Edgar Allan Poe's The Gold Bug and The Tell-Tale Heart were updated and woven together into a single narrative in the ultra-cheap adventure yarn Manfish. John Bromfield, Lon Chaney Jr. and Victor Jory head the cast as three fortune hunters, combing the West Indies in search of buried treasure. The Read More

Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer

Actors: Bruce Bennett, Lon Chaney, Jr., Faron Young, Damian O'Flynn

Synopsis: Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer was lensed in the Trucolor process. Brice Bennett plays the titular 18th century frontiersman, carving out a home for himself, his family and his fellow settlers in the wilds of Kentucky. The climax finds Boone and company defending Fort Boonesborough from a Shawnee Read More

The Black Sleep

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Akim Tamiroff, Lon Chaney, Jr., John Carradine, Bela Lugosi, Herbert Rudley, Tor Johnson

Synopsis: Given its cast and director, it is disheartening that The Black Sleep isn't any better than it is. Basil Rathbone heads the cast as Sir Joel Cadman, who uses a mind-controlling drug known as "The Black Sleep" to place brilliant scientist Gordon Ramsay (Herbert Rudley) under his control. Cadman Read More

The Indestructible Man

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Ross Elliott, Robert Shayne, Ken Terrell, Marvin Ellis

Synopsis: Lt. Dick Chasen (Casey Adams) narrates the strange story of Charles "Butcher" Benton (Lon Chaney, Jr.), a condemned man who came back for revenge. In prison, Butcher refuses to reveal to his crooked lawyer Lowe (Ross Elliott) where he hid $600,000 from a bank robbery. Even though he's due to be Read More

Along the Mohawk Trail

Synopsis: The presence of a woodsman and his Native American friend and companion creates a disturbance in a small backwater community--the head of the community doesn't want Indians having rights. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

The Silver Star

Actors: Edgar Buchanan, Marie Windsor, Lon Chaney, Jr., Earle Lyon

Synopsis: Edgar Buchanan enjoys a rare top-billed assignment in Lippert's The Silver Star. The film's leading man, however, is one Earle Lyon, who also produced the picture. Lyon plays a reluctant sheriff who turns tail and runs when three outlaws come to town intending to do him in. Ultimately, Lyon is Read More

I Died a Thousand Times

Actors: Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, Lori Nelson, Lee Marvin

Synopsis: I Died a Thousand Times is a scene-by-scene remake of the 1941 crime-drama classic High Sierra. Jack Palance steps into the old Humphrey Bogart role as Roy "Mad Dog" Earle, the ageing bank robber who intends to pull off one last heist before retiring. Sprung from prison by likeable crime boss Big Read More

Unaired Pilots Vol. 2: Daniel Boone...

Big House, USA

Actors: Broderick Crawford, Ralph Meeker, Reed Hadley, William Talman

Synopsis: In this violent, gripping drama, a ruthless criminal kidnaps a little boy and takes him into the Colorado wilderness where, unfortunately, the lad accidentally dies in a terrible fall. This doesn't stop the crook from collecting and hiding a substantial ransom. He is eventually captured and Read More

Not as a Stranger

Actors: Olivia de Havilland, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford, Charles Bickford

Synopsis: Ambitious but impecunious medical student Lucas Marsh (Robert Mitchum) marries the older and (in this film, at least) not especially attractive Kristina Hedvigson (Olivia de Havilland) so that she can pay his tuition fees. Kristina loves Lucas, but he loves nothing but his work. Emotionally Read More

The Indian Fighter

Actors: Kirk Douglas, Elsa Martinelli, Walter Abel, Walter Matthau, Diana Douglas

Synopsis: The Indian Fighter is trail guide Kirk Douglas, who agrees to shepherd a wagon train through Sioux territory. Douglas tries to convince the Sioux to leave his charges alone, but such hotheads as drunken white trader Walter Matthau and embittered Indian brave Harry Landers escalate the tensions. Douglas 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

Jivaro

Actors: Fernando Lamas, Rhonda Fleming, Brian Keith, Lon Chaney, Jr., Richard Denning

Synopsis: In this adventure, four explorers search for a vast treasure in the Amazon jungle. One of the explorers is a woman who got involved after she traveled from California to marry her fiance whom she hasn't seen in two years. Another man tries to convince her that her fiance has become an alcoholic Read More

Tales of Adventure

Synopsis: This adventure video is comprised of three TV pilots based on Jack London's stories. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Black Pirates

Synopsis: 1954's The Black Pirates stars Anthony Dexter, who three years earlier hadn't quite set box-office records afire with his portrayal of Rudolph Valentino. Dexter heads a band of pirates who land in a sleepy Mexican village. A buried treasure is rumored to be somewhere in the vicinity, and the Read More

The Boy from Oklahoma

Actors: Will Rogers, Jr., Nancy Olson, Lon Chaney, Jr., Anthony Caruso, Wallace Ford

Synopsis: Reminiscent of Destry Rides Again, this feature is about peaceable young lawyer Tom Brewster (Will Rogers Jr.), who sets up shop in a rowdy western town. Though perfectly able to wield a six-gun, Brewster refuses to use brawn when brain will do. He is galvanized into action when his old pal Wallace Ford Read More

The Big Chase

Synopsis: A young police officer tries his best to assuage the fears of his pregnant wife by refusing dangerous new jobs. But despite his caution, he has a job to do and he ends up chasing a dangerous thief all the way to Mexico in a helicopter. This actioner chronicles his death-defying adventures. Read More

Passion

Actors: Yvonne De Carlo, Cornel Wilde, Raymond Burr, Lon Chaney, Jr., Rodopho (Rudy) Acosta

Synopsis: The winning combination of producer Benedict Bogeaus and director Allan Dwan once more struck box-office gold with Passion. Set in 19th century California, the film stars Cornel Wilde as a young rancher seeking vengeance for the murders of his wife Yvonne de Carlo and his parents. The guilty Read More

A Lion Is in the Streets

Actors: James Cagney, Barbara Hale, Anne Francis, Warner Anderson, John McIntire

Synopsis: In 1945, James Cagney, through his independent production company, bought the rights to a lurid novel by Adria Locke Langley, concerning the rise of a Southern demagogue, loosely based on the political career of Huey Long. By the time the film finally went into production and was released in 1953 Read More

Raiders of the Seven Seas

Actors: John Payne, Donna Reed, Gerald Mohr, Lon Chaney, Jr., Anthony Caruso

Synopsis: John Payne stars as legendary pirate Barbarossa -- aka Redbeard -- in Raiders of the Seven Seas. Capturing a Spanish galleon almost single-handedly, Barbarossa claims haughty Contessa Alida (Donna Reed) as his own property. Engaged to marry naval officer Alfredo (Gerald Mohr), Alida despises Read More

High Noon

Actors: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Otto Kruger

Synopsis: This Western classic stars Gary Cooper as Hadleyville marshal Will Kane, about to retire from office and go on his honeymoon with his new Quaker bride, Amy (Grace Kelly). But his happiness is short-lived when he is informed that the Miller gang, whose leader (Ian McDonald) Will had arrested, is Read More

Springfield Rifle

Actors: Gary Cooper, Phyllis Thaxter, David Brian, Paul Kelly, Lon Chaney, Jr.

Synopsis: Springfield Rifle was Gary Cooper's third western in a row, released not long after the classic High Noon. Cooper plays Union army officer Lex Kearney, who undertakes a covert investigation to find out why the North's supply of horses has suddenly diminished. Because of the top-secret nature of Read More

The Black Castle

Actors: Richard Greene, Boris Karloff, Stephen McNally, Lon Chaney, Jr.

Synopsis: Boris Karloff returns to his old Universal stamping grounds in the mild horror item Black Castle. The plot is motivated by a brace of 18th-century aristocrats, Beckett (Richard Greene) and Count Von Bruno (Stephen McNally). Invited to visit Von Bruno's castle in Austria, Beckett accepts, hoping in Read More

Battles of Chief Pontiac

Actors: Lex Barker, Helen Westcott,