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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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 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

13 Demon Street [TV Series]

Lock Up: Against the Law

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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 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

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, Kem Dibbs, 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

Telephone Time: The Golden Junkman

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

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

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

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

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

Unaired Pilots Vol. 2: Daniel Boone...

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

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 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 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

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

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

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

Battles of Chief Pontiac

Actors: Lex Barker, Helen Westcott, Lon Chaney, Jr., Berry Kroeger, Roy Roberts

Synopsis: Some sources have indicated that Battles of Chief Pontiac was originally intended as the pilot for a TV series. Erstwhile Tarzan Lex Barker stars as 18th-century frontiersman Kent McIntyre, while Lon Chaney Jr. essays the title role of Chief Pontiac. On behalf of the British, McIntyre tries to 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

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

Thief of Damascus

Actors: Paul Henreid, John Sutton, Jeff Donnell, Lon Chaney, Jr., Elena Verdugo

Synopsis: Generous portions of stock footage from 1948's Joan of Arc are somehow worked into the Arabian Nights proceedings of Thief of Damascus. His tongue firmly in cheek, Paul Henreid plays the title character, aka Abu Amdar. The plot has something to do with an evil desert chieftain (John Sutton) who Read More

The Bushwackers

Actors: John Ireland, Wayne Morris, Lawrence Tierney, Dorothy Malone, Lon Chaney, Jr.

Synopsis: Also known as The Rebel, The Bushwackers was coscripted by director Rodney Amateau and actor Tom Gries (later the director of such big-budgeters as Will Penny). Tired of senseless bloodshed, civil war veteran John Ireland vows never to use a gun again. This proves difficult when Ireland runs afoul Read More

Colgate Comedy Hour, Vol. 3

Inside Straight

Actors: David Brian, Arlene Dahl, Barry Sullivan, Mercedes McCambridge, Paula Raymond

Synopsis: Director Gerry Mayer, nephew of MGM-head Louis B. Mayer, proved that nepotism had nothing to do with his hiring by turning out the first-rate historical melodrama Inside Straight. The film begins in 1870 San Francisco, as the city is threatened with financial disaster due to overspeculation on the Read More

Behave Yourself!

Actors: Farley Granger, Shelley Winters, William Demarest, Francis L. Sullivan, Margalo Gillmore

Synopsis: One of the oddest comedies of the 1950s, Behave Yourself! stars Farley Granger and Shelley Winters as a pair of none-too-bright newlyweds. Granger and Winters adopt a stray pooch named Archie, who unbeknownst to them has been trained as a go-between for a couple of underworld gangs. To the Read More

Bride of the Gorilla

Actors: Barbara Payton, Lon Chaney, Jr., Raymond Burr, Tom Conway, Paul Cavanagh

Synopsis: This silly, stagebound but entertaining little monster-mash from Universal horror writer/director Curt Siodmak stars burly Raymond Burr as a steward on a rubber plantation whose romantic tryst with the boss' wife (Barbara Payton) eventually leads to the employer's murder. When one of the Read More

Flame of Araby

Actors: Maureen O'Hara, Jeff Chandler, Maxwell Reed, Susan Cabot, Lon Chaney, Jr.

Synopsis: The aggressively Irish Maureen O'Hara and the staunchly American Jeff Chandler are cast as Arabian Nights types in Flame of Araby. Chandler plays Tamerlaine, a Bedouin chief who is engaged in a hunt for a legendary black stallion. Also coveting the prize steed is Tunisian princess Tanya (O'Hara) Read More

Once a Thief

Actors: Cesar Romero, June Havoc, Marie McDonald, Lon Chaney, Jr., Iris Adrian

Synopsis: W. Lee Wilder, the younger brother of Billy Wilder, was producer/director/co-writer of Once a Thief. June Havoc stars as Margie, a shoplifter who falls in love with smooth-talking Mitch (Cesar Romero). Margie's new beau reveals his true colors by stealing every penny she has, then turning her into Read More

Only the Valiant

Actors: Gregory Peck, Barbara Payton, Ward Bond, Gig Young, Lon Chaney, Jr.

Synopsis: Originally conceived as a Gary Cooper western, Only the Valiant reached the screen with Gregory Peck in the lead. Peck plays Richard Lance, a strictly by-the-book Army captain. Though hated by his men, Lance is respected for his military know-how. This comes in very handy when Lance and a Read More

There's a Girl in My Heart

Actors: Lee Bowman, Elyse Knox, Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, Lon Chaney, Jr.

Synopsis: Whenever Monogram wanted to get prestige bookings, the studio released its product through its "class" subsidiary Allied Artists. Such was the case of There's a Girl in My Heart, a period musical that any of the larger studios would have been proud of. The only indication of its Monogram origins Read More

Captain China

Actors: John Payne, Gail Russell, Jeffrey Lynn, Lon Chaney, Jr., Edgar Bergen

Synopsis: Paramount's Pine-Thomas production unit was afforded a larger budget than usual for Captain China. The title character, played by John Payne, is a ship's captain whose embittered behavior after losing his lady love seemingly leads to tragedy. Accused of deliberately scuttling his ship during a Read More

The Counterfeiters

Actors: John Sutton, Doris Merrick, Hugh Beaumont, Lon Chaney, Jr., George O'Hanlon

Synopsis: With Maurice Conn as producer and Peter Stewart (aka Sam Newfield) as director, one suspects that 20th Century-Fox's The Counterfeiters was actually produced by one of the minor companies like Film Classics or PRC. Scotland Yard investigator Jeff McAllister (John Sutton) teams with the FBI to Read More

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lon Chaney, Jr., Bela Lugosi, Glenn Strange

Synopsis: It seems that Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), in league with a beautiful but diabolical lady scientist (Lenore Aubert), needs a "simple, pliable" brain with which to reactivate Frankenstein's creature (Glenn Strange). The "ideal" brain belongs to the hapless Lou Costello, whom the lady doctor woos to Read More

16 Fathoms Deep

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Arthur Lake, Lloyd Bridges, Eric Feldary

Synopsis: 16 Fathoms Deep was a curious choice as the first effort from Arthur Lake Productions. Heretofore known best as Dagwood Bumstead in Columbia's Blondie series, Arthur Lake not only elected to produce this remake of the 1934 melodrama of the same name but also to play the film's comedy-relief Read More

My Favorite Brunette

Actors: Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney, Jr., John Hoyt

Synopsis: Just as Bob Hope's My Favorite Blonde (1942) was a takeoff on Alfred Hitchcock, Hope's My Favorite Brunette was a lampoon of the noirish "hard-boiled detective" school popularized by Raymond Chandler. Awaiting execution on death row, Hope tells the gathered reporters how he got into his present Read More

Albuquerque

Actors: Randolph Scott, Barbara Britton, George "Gabby" Hayes, Lon Chaney, Jr., Russell Hayden

Synopsis: Randolph Scott puts in time with Paramount's Pine-Thomas unit in the big-budget western Albuquerque. Scott is cast as Cole Armin, the nephew of tyrannical town boss John Armin (George Cleveland). Defying his grasping uncle, Cole sides with a small wagon-train line which the elder Armin hopes to Read More

House of Dracula

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., John Carradine, Martha O'Driscoll, Lionel Atwill, Glenn Strange, Jane Adams

Synopsis: This Universal "monster rally", an immediate sequel to House of Frankenstein, would seem to have been deliberately designed as the final entry in the studio's B-horror cycle. Onslow Stevens plays psychiatrist Dr. Edelman, who suddenly has a thriving business when two of Universal's "fright" Read More

Here Come the Co-Eds

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Peggy Ryan, Martha O'Driscoll, Lon Chaney, Jr., June Vincent

Synopsis: At 88 minutes, Here Come the Co-Eds is one of the longest of Abbott & Costello's Universal starring vehicles, and though not necessarily the best, it manages to sustain a high comic content throughout. The scene is a financially strapped girl's college, where professional dancer Molly (Martha O'Driscoll Read More

The Daltons Ride Again

Actors: Alan Curtis, Kent Taylor, Lon Chaney, Jr., Noah Beery, Jr., Martha O'Driscoll

Synopsis: In this action western, the notorious Dalton Boys have decided to go straight and move to Argentina. Just before they leave, they learn of a friend whose land is about to be seized by a greedy land company. Before they can help, the man is killed by a company assassin. The brothers do manage to Read More

The Frozen Ghost

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Evelyn Ankers, Milburn Stone

Synopsis: An installment from Universal's "Inner Sanctum" series (whose trademark featured an introduction narrated by a spooky disembodied head), this low-budget thriller stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as luckless stage hypnotist "Gregor the Great" who, after seemingly causing the death of one of his audience Read More

Pillow of Death

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Brenda Joyce, Clara Blandick, Rosalind Ivan, J. Edward Bromberg

Synopsis: This lesser "Inner Sanctum" entry stars Lon Chaney Jr. as unhappily married lawyer Wayne Fletcher. In love with his secretary Donna Kincaid (Brenda Joyce), Fletcher is the principal suspect when his wife is found smothered to death in her own bed. Lack of evidence allows Fletcher to walk Read More

Strange Confession

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Brenda Joyce, J. Carrol Naish, Milburn Stone, Lloyd Bridges

Synopsis: In this suspense story (released as part of Universal's "Inner Sanctum" series, named for the popular radio series of the day), Jeff Carter is a scientist who is working on a medicine which would cure the flu. Carter's duplicitous boss Roger Graham (J. Carrol Naish) sends him on a business trip to Read More

The Mummy's Ghost

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., John Carradine, Ramsay Ames, Robert Lowery, Barton MacLane

Synopsis: The still very undead mummy experiences insane jealousy in this the third of Universal's Kharis thrillers. Although he was thought to have perished in a fire in The Mummy's Tomb (1942), Kharis (Lon Chaney Jr.) is once again wreaking havoc in the town of Mapleton, MA. Sent by the High Priest Read More

Follow the Boys

Actors: George Raft, Vera Zorina, Charles Grapewin, George Macready, Charles Butterworth, Regis Toomey, Grace McDonald

Synopsis: Paramount Pictures did their patriotic duty with this World War II era musical, with a number of the studio's biggest stars making cameo appearances. Tony West (George Raft), his sister Kitty (Grace McDonald), and their father Nick (Charles Grapewin) tour together as The Three Wests, a failing act Read More

Ghost Catchers

Actors: Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson, Gloria Jean, Martha O'Driscoll, Andy Devine, Leo Carrillo

Synopsis: Colonel Breckinridge Marshall (Walter Catlett) of Clearwater, GA -- who puts on a big front but is actually only a step away from the poor house -- rents a luxurious townhouse in Manhattan in anticipation of the Carnegie Hall debut of his two daughters, singer Melinda (Gloria Jean) and Read More

Weird Woman

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Anne Gwynne, Evelyn Ankers, Ralph Morgan, Elizabeth Risdon

Synopsis: The second of Universal's "Inner Sanctum" thrillers, Weird Woman stars Lon Chaney Jr. as Norman Reed, a college professor worried about the sanity of his new bride, Paula (Anne Gwynne), who was raised in Hawaii with all manners of superstitions, including voodoo. Jealous of Paula, Norman's former Read More

Cobra Woman

Actors: Maria Montez, Jon Hall, Sabu, Edgar Barrier, Lon Chaney, Jr., Mary Nash

Synopsis: On the eve of her wedding to Ramu (Jon Hall), the beautiful Tollea (Maria Montez) is spirited away from her tranquil South Sea island to the mysterious, forbidden place of her birth, Cobra Island. Ramu follows and, with help from his young-but-not-too-bright friend Kado (Sabu) and their chimp Read More

Dead Man's Eyes

Actors: Jean Parker, Paul Kelly, Jonathan Hale

Synopsis: The third installment in Universal's low-budget "Inner Sanctum" mysteries, Dead Man's Eyes promises a great deal more than screenwriter Dwight W. Babcock can deliver. Lon Chaney Jr. stars as Dave Stuart, a struggling artist promising his fiancée Heather Hayden (Jean Peters) that he will marry her Read More

House of Frankenstein

Actors: Boris Karloff, J. Carrol Naish, Lon Chaney, Jr., John Carradine, Lionel Atwill, Anne Gwynne

Synopsis: In many ways the most endearing of Universal's B-grade "monster rallies" of the 1940s, House of Frankenstein manages within its 70-minute time span to make room for Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange), Dracula (John Carradine) the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.), and a couple of new recruits, mad Read More

The Mummy's Curse

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Peter Coe, Virginia Christine, Kay Harding, Dennis Moore

Synopsis: Ostensibly taking place twenty-five years after the events of The Mummy's Ghost, this sequel marks the last of Universal's series featuring the evil mummy "Kharis," played by Lon Chaney, Jr.. A rather gruff-looking Chaney plays the loosely wrapped Egyptian high priest, who is extricated from his Read More

Crazy House

Actors: Cass Daley, Basil Rathbone, Patric Knowles, Martha O'Driscoll, Leighton Noble, Thomas Gomez

Synopsis: Olsen and Johnson's followup to their zany, iconoclastic Hellzapoppin' was the more conventional Crazy House. The premise: Having nearly laid waste to Universal while filming Hellzapoppin', O & J are thrown out of the studio when they arrive with plans for a new picture. Only momentarily daunted Read More

Frontier Badmen

Actors: Robert Paige, Anne Gwynne, Noah Beery, Jr., Diana Barrymore, Leo Carrillo

Synopsis: Cattlemen Robert Paige and Noah Beery Jr. run up against a shady syndicate, set up to squash the dealing between independent dealers and cattle buyers. Paige sets up his own exchange, in direct competition with cattle baron Thomas Gomez. He also falls in love with Anne Gwynne, daughter of a man Read More

Son of Dracula

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Robert Paige, Louise Allbritton, Evelyn Ankers, Frank Craven

Synopsis: Son of Dracula represents a felicitious creative collaboration between director Robert Siodmak and his screenwriter-brother Curt. The story is set in the American south, where the mysterious Count Alucard (Lon Chaney Jr.) has recently taken up residence. Katherine Caldwell (Louise Allbritton), a Read More

Calling Dr. Death

Synopsis: In this first of Universal's "Inner Sanctum" mysteries, Lon Chaney Jr. plays a neurologist plagued by a faithless wife. He suffers a bout of insanity, blacks out, and loses all track of time. Upon returning to his home, he discovers that his wife has been murdered. Investigating detective J. Carroll Naish Read More

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Evelyn Ankers, Reginald Denny, Thomas Gomez

Synopsis: From the first frame of its opening credits, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror promises (and subsequently delivers) mystery and thrills several layers deep -- following a short prologue intended to introduce Holmes to contemporary England (circa 1942), there is a series of terror broadcasts Read More

The Mummy's Tomb

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Dick Foran, Elyse Knox, Turhan Bey, John Hubbard, Mary Gordon

Synopsis: You cannot keep a good mummy down forever and Kharis is back in this sequel to The Mummy's Hand, which itself was something of a remake of the classic Boris Karloff thriller of 1935, The Mummy. Although assumed to have been killed by Stephen Banning (Dick Foran) in the previous film, Andoheb Read More

North to the Klondike

Actors: Broderick Crawford, Evelyn Ankers, Andy Devine, Lon Chaney, Jr., Lloyd Corrigan

Synopsis: It was an open secret in Hollywood that bosom buddies (and fellow Universal contractees) Broderick Crawford and Lon Chaney Jr. usually spent their weekend drunkenly punching one another out. Evidently Universal hoped to harness this pugnacity for box-offices purposes, which may be why North to the Read More

Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Ilona Massey, Patric Knowles, Lionel Atwill, Bela Lugosi

Synopsis: The fifth film in Universal's "Frankenstein" series goes for the box-office gold by combining two--count 'em, two!--of the studio's star monsters. We all thought that Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.), alias The Wolf Man, had been shot dead in his own starring film in 1941, but the opening scenes of Read More

Keeping Fit

The Ghost of Frankenstein

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Bellamy, Lionel Atwill, Bela Lugosi

Synopsis: Universal's "Frankenstein" series descended from the "A" to the "B" category with The Ghost of Frankenstein, though production values were still well above average and the cast is first-rate. The story picks up where Son of Frankenstein (1939) left off, with both the Monster (Lon Chaney Jr.) and Read More

Eyes of the Underworld

Actors: Richard Dix, Wendy Barrie, Lon Chaney, Jr., Lloyd Corrigan, Don Porter, Billy Lee

Synopsis: Some unexpected casting choices distinguish this so-so Universal actioner. Richard Dix stars as police chief Richard Barry, whose present respectable veneer obscures the fact that he once served a prison sentence. When Barry is threatened with exposure by silky-smooth gangster functionary Thomas Read More

Badlands of Dakota

Actors: Robert Stack, Ann Rutherford, Richard Dix, Frances Farmer, Broderick Crawford

Synopsis: Up-and-coming Universal leading man Robert Stack made his western-movie debut in Badlands of Dakota. Set in the Dakotas during the days of the Great Gold Boom, the story finds brothers Jim and Bob Holliday (Stack and Broderick Crawford) dukeing it out over the affections of pretty Anne Grayson Read More

San Antonio Rose

Actors: Jane Frazee, Robert Paige, Eve Arden, Lon Chaney, Jr., Shemp Howard

Synopsis: San Antonio Rose is an amiably wacky mini-musical evenly divided between its "official" stars, The Merry Macs, and a strong cast of supporting clowns. Robert Paige plays roadhouse operator Con Conway, whose establishment is in danger of being squeezed out by its competition. Stranded entertainers Read More

Too Many Blondes

Actors: Rudy Vallee, Helen Parrish, Lon Chaney, Jr., Jerome Cowan, Shemp Howard

Synopsis: One wonders if the title Too Many Blondes was inspired by the well-publicized romantic peccadilloes of the film's star, Rudy Vallee. The plot centers on a husband-wife radio team, Dick (Vallee) and Virginia (Helen Parrish). When Dick is caught in an innocent but compromising situation with brassy Read More

Riders of Death Valley [Serial]

Actors: Jean Brooks

Synopsis: The Saturday matinee crowd got two cowboy stars for the price of one in this lavishly budgeted western serial starring former singing cowboy Dick Foran and Buck Jones. The latter contributed deadpan humor to the proceedings, making Jones perhaps the highest paid B-western comedy relief in history. Read More

Overland Mail

Synopsis: Frontier marshall Jim Lane (Lon Chaney) is investigating a local Indian tribe that he believes to be responsible for a series of recent attacks on Pony Express riders. The task may appear straightforward, but Jim has a feeling that there is another force at work behind the scenes. With bodies Read More

The Wolf Man

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Claude Rains, Warren William, Evelyn Ankers, Ralph Bellamy, Bela Lugosi, Maria Ouspenskaya, Patric Knowles

Synopsis: "Even a man who is pure at heart/And says his prayers by night/May become a wolf when the wolf-bane blooms/And the moon is full and bright." Upon first hearing these words, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney) dismisses them as childish folderol. After all, this is the 20th Century; how can a human being Read More

Man Made Monster

Actors: Lionel Atwill, Lon Chaney, Jr., Anne Nagel, Frank Albertson, Samuel S. Hinds

Synopsis: Originally slated as a Boris Karloff-Bela Lugosi vehicle, Man Made Monster emerged on screen as a tour de force for Lon Chaney Jr. (in his first horror-film starring role) and Lionel Atwill. Chaney plays Dynamo Dan the Electric Man, a sideshow performer whose talent for absorbing mass quantities Read More

Billy the Kid

Actors: Robert Taylor, Brian Donlevy, Ian Hunter, Mary Howard, Gene Lockhart

Synopsis: The famous outlaw rides again in this fictionalized western that chronicles Billy's turn from criminal to fine upstanding citizen. The film received an Oscar nomination for its color cinematography. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

One Million B.C.

Actors: Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Lon Chaney, Jr., John Hubbard, Mamo Clark

Synopsis: Even taking into consideration Of Mice and Men, One Million BC was inarguably the most ambitious feature-film project ever undertaken by producer Hal Roach. Told in flashback, this is the highly fanciful tale of the prehistoric feud between the Rock Tribe and Shell People. Tumak (Victor Mature) Read More

Northwest Mounted Police

Actors: Gary Cooper, Madeleine Carroll, Preston S. Foster, Paulette Goddard, Robert Preston

Synopsis: Cecil B. De Mille directed this lavish all-star spectacular paying tribute to America's neighbors to the North. In 1885, as Louis Riel (Francis J. McDonald) tries to organize Indians and French settlers into a fighting force that will battle against the ruling British, Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers (Gary Cooper Read More

Saturday Night Serials

Synopsis: Rhino Video put out this compilation tape of trailers and film clips from the golden age of serials (the 1930s and 1940s), released mainly by Republic, Columbia, Universal and Mascot. Among the serials showcased are The Phantom Creeps, Junior G-Men, Phantom Empire and Undersea Kingdom. ~ Brian Read More

Jesse James

Actors: Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Nancy Kelly, Randolph Scott, Henry Hull, Brian Donlevy

Synopsis: The real Frank and Jesse James were murderous thugs, light years away from the Robin Hood image imposed on them by revisionist dime novelists. But in 1939, 20th Century-Fox wasn't about to build an expensive Technicolor feature around the exploits of a couple of low-lives, thus Jesse James upholds Read More

Charlie Chan in City of Darkness

Actors: Sidney Toler, Richard Clarke, Harold Huber, Pedro de Cordoba

Synopsis: This timely entry in Fox's Charlie Chan series is set in Paris during the Munich Crisis of 1938. Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) arrives in the City of Light for a reunion with his war buddies, only to find those lights dimmed by a city-wide blackout. The murder victim this time out is munitions Read More

Union Pacific

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Akim Tamiroff, Robert Preston, Lynne Overman, Brian Donlevy

Synopsis: Cecil B. DeMille takes us back to the 1860s, then rebuilds the first intercontinental railroad in Union Pacific. The real-life spectacle is occasionally interrupted by the fictional adventures of railroad overseer Joel McCrea, postmistress Barbara Stanwyck (with an incredible Irish brogue), and Read More

Frontier Marshal

Actors: Randolph Scott, Nancy Kelly, Cesar Romero, Binnie Barnes, John Carradine

Synopsis: The second of three films based on the Wyatt Earp biography by Stuart N. Lake, Frontier Marshal stars Randolph Scott as Marshal Earp of Tombstone. Earp and his brothers enforce the law as much by reputation as by gunplay. Occasionally the marshal's efforts are complicated by his "friendly enemy" Read More

Of Mice and Men

Actors: Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., Betty Field, Charles Bickford, Roman Bohnen

Synopsis: This 1939 film version of John Steinbeck's classic novel was a surprising choice for comedy producer Hal Roach; in fact, Roach had no intention of filming the property until forced to do so as a result of a lawsuit brought by director Lewis Milestone. Burgess Meredith stars as itinerant farm Read More

Charlie Chan in the City of Darkness

Synopsis: In this episode of the popular detective series, Chan attends a WW I reunion in Paris. While catching up with his buddies, he gets entangled in the investigation of the murder of a munitions maker who sent arms to the other side. The film was created in response to the Munich crisis of 1938. At 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

Happy Landing

Actors: Sonja Henie, Don Ameche, Jean Hersholt, Ethel Merman, Cesar Romero

Synopsis: Happy Landing was another Sonja Henie moneyspinner from the 20th Century-Fox film factory. The story gets under way when skirt-chasing bandleader Duke Sargent (Cesar Romero) pitches woo to Trudy Ericksen (Sonja Henie) while on a tour of Norway. To Duke, it's just another harmless flirtation, but 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

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

Road Demon

Actors: Henry Arthur, Joan Valerie, Henry Armetta, Thomas Beck

Synopsis: In this exciting action film, a young Indy driver endeavors to emulate his famous father, and restore his dad's good reputation after he was killed in a racing in an accident caused by ruthless racketeers who made it look as if the veteran driver was drunk. The young son is assisted by trucker and 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

Josette

Actors: Don Ameche, Simone Simon, Robert Young, Joan Davis, Bert Lahr

Synopsis: In this musical comedy of errors, David Brassard, Sr. (William Collier, Sr.) has his heart stolen from him by a conniving, gold-digging nightclub singer named Josette (Tala Birell). Brassard's two sons, Pierre (Robert Young) and David Junior (Don Ameche) are both horrified and vow to lure the Read More

Cheyenne Rides Again

Actors: Tom Tyler, Lucille Browne, Jimmy Fox, Roger Williams

Synopsis: Former silent screen cowboy Tom Tyler and newcomer Lon Chaney, Jr. (still billed, modestly, as Creighton Chaney) square off in this inexpensive oater produced by infamous poverty row regular Sam Katzman. Believed by the sheriff (Charles "Slim" Whitaker) to be the notorious bandit Cheyenne Tommy Read More

Midnight Taxi

Actors: Brian Donlevy, Frances Drake, Alan Dinehart, Sig Rumann, Harold Huber

Synopsis: Sometimes it seemed as if Brian Donlevy played nothing but G-men during his years at 20th Century-Fox. In Midnight Taxi, Donlevy is cast as Chick Gardner, a federal agent who poses as a New York cab driver. His plan is to use his cover to expose a gang of counterfeiters, who've been using taxis as 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

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

Life Begins in College

Actors: The Ritz Brothers [Al, Jimmy, Harry], Joan Davis, Tony Martin, Gloria Stuart, Fred Stone

Synopsis: The Ritz Brothers play three goofballs working their way through college by putting in time at a tailor shop. The college football team's star player is Nat Pendleton, a wealthy Native American who has donated a large amount of money to the school. As long as Pendleton is able to play, the Read More

Secret Agent X-9 [Serial] [1937]

Actors: Scott Kolk, Jean Rogers, David Oliver, Monte Blue, Henry Brandon

Synopsis: Supporting actor Scott Kolk was elevated to playing the title role in this Graustarkian spy thriller, serialized in 12 chapters by Universal. Reportedly based on characters created by Dashiell Hammett, the serial featured an American secret agent assigned to recover the crown jewels of Belgravia. 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

Wife, Doctor and Nurse

Actors: Loretta Young, Warner Baxter, Virginia Bruce, Jane Darwell, Sidney Blackmer

Synopsis: Loretta Young is the wife, Warner Baxter the doctor and Virginia Bruce the nurse in this 20th Century-Fox trifle. Society gal Young marries Park Avenue medico Baxter, little guessing that humble nursie Bruce also loves the doc. Young raises vociferous objections, compelling Bruce to leave. Read More

Slave Ship

Actors: Warner Baxter, Wallace Beery, Elizabeth Allan, Mickey Rooney, George Sanders

Synopsis: This period adventure drama was directed by Tay Garnett and adapted from a story by William Faulkner. The skipper of a slave trading vessel operating along the West African coast in 1860, Captain Jim Lovett (Warner Baxter) is troubled by his flesh-peddling trade. He's marrying the beautiful Nancy Read More

Angel's Holiday

Actors: Jane Withers, Robert Kent, Joan Davis, Sally Blane, Harold Huber

Synopsis: Lively June (Jane Withers), teen-aged daughter of mystery writer Waldo Everett (Jon Qualen), who calls her "Angel," becomes involved in intrigue centering on movie star Pauline Kaye (Sally Blane) and her companion Stivers (Joan Davis). Reporter Nick Moore (Robert Kent), once sweet on Pauline, is Read More

Thin Ice

Actors: Sonja Henie, Tyrone Power, Arthur Treacher, Raymond Walburn, Joan Davis

Synopsis: Norwegian skating star Sonja Henie reached an early pinnacle with this romantic comedy co-starring Tyrone Power as a Ruritanian prince impersonating an American reporter. They fall in love, of course, and the whirlwind romance threatens to interrupt an important treaty between three rival Read More

Second Honeymoon

Actors: Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, Stuart Erwin, Claire Trevor, Marjorie Weaver

Synopsis: This cinematic meringue stars Loretta Young as a young woman whose second husband (Lyle Talbot) is a hard working but dull business exec. She pines for hubby Number One (Tyrone Power), an irresponsible playboy. Young runs into Tyrone again during a Florida vacation, spurning him at first because Read More

Ace Drummond: Chapter 02 - The Invisible Enemy

Ace Drummond: Chapter 01 - Where East Meets West

Ace Drummond: Chapter 11 - The Dragon Commands

Ace Drummond: Chapter 13 - The Worlds Akin

Ace Drummond: Chapter 12 - The Squadron of Death

Ace Drummond [Serial]

Synopsis: Ostensibly based on the life of World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, whose smiling visage opened each of the 13 chapters, this fanciful serial depicted the travails of a globe trotting airline company. It seems that a villain known only as The Dragon (Arthur Loft) is determined to sabotage Read More

Ace Drummond: Chapter 08 - The Sign in the Sky

Ace Drummond: Chapter 09 - Secret Service

Ace Drummond: Chapter 07 - The Trackless Trail

Ace Drummond: Chapter 06 - Evil Spirits

Ace Drummond: Chapter 04 - The Radio Riddle

Ace Drummond: Chapter 03 - The Doorway of Doom

Ace Drummond: Chapter 10 - The Mountain of Jade

Ace Drummond: Chapter 05 - Bullets of Sand

Undersea Kingdom [Serial]

Synopsis: Directed by B. Reeves Eason and former editor Joseph Kane, this Flash Gordon imitation was the second serial from a then newcomer in the field, Republic Pictures. Actually, it was only the Republic Eagle trademark that was new; Undersea Kingdom was produced by Nat Levine, formerly of Mascot Read More

The Singing Cowboy

Actors: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Lois Wilde, Lon Chaney, Jr.

Synopsis: In this western, Gene Autry plays a cowboy with a heart as big as Texas who heads for the city to try to raise money so that a crippled little girl can get the operation she needs to walk again. First he talks a coffee company into being his sponsor. They opt to broadcast their performance on Read More

Rose Bowl

Actors: Eleanore Whitney, Tom Brown, Larry "Buster" Crabbe, William Frawley, Ben Baker

Synopsis: Actual footage of the 1936 Rose Bowl game is cleverly (if not seamlessly) integrated into the action of this sports-oriented comedy. Longtime chums Paddy O'Reilly (Tom Brown) and Dutch Schultz (Benny Baker) may be heroes of the high-school gridiron, but they're persona non grata with the girls Read More

Killer at Large

Actors: Mary Brian, Russell Hardie, Betty Compson, George McKay, Thurston Hall

Synopsis: A small community is terrorized by an unknown serial killer, one "Mr. Zero," who has held the populace in thrall for several weeks. The mysterious murderer takes refuge in the storage area of a department store, where Linda Allen (Mary Brian) works as a store detective. When jewelry-department Read More

The Old Corral

Actors: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Hope Manning, The Sons of the Pioneers

Synopsis: A typical Gene Autry everything-but-the-kitchen-sink musical Western, The Old Corral featured the spectacle of Autry getting robbed at gunpoint by his future rival, Roy Rogers. Rogers, who was then known as Dick Weston, and his fellow highwaymen (the singing group the Sons of the Pioneers) go Read More

Scream in the Night

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Sheila Terry, Manuel Lopez, Philip Ahn

Synopsis: Although released after The Shadow of Silk Lennox, this ultra low-budget mystery thriller was the first film in which Creighton Chaney used the billing Lon Chaney, Jr. The actor was persuaded to change his name by producer Ray Kirkwood, who promised to make 24 action melodramas with him as the Read More

Accent on Youth

Actors: Sylvia Sidney, Herbert Marshall, Phillip Reed, Holmes Herbert, Catherine Doucet

Synopsis: Based on Samson Raphaelson's stage play, Accent on Youth focuses on a May-December romance. Herbert Marshall (46 years old at the time) is a successful middle-aged playwright; Constance Cummings is his young secretary, who prefers the company of mature men. She sets her cap on marrying the Read More

Captain Hurricane

Actors: James Barton, Helen Westley, Helen Mack, Gene Lockhart, Douglas Walton

Synopsis: James Barton plays a salty old sea captain on the verge of retirement, forced to return to the sea when his funds run out. Planning to stay with his ship only long enough to pay his mortgage, Barton finds himself on the bounding main a lot longer than expected due to bad weather and unexpected Read More

The Shadow of Silk Lennox

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Dean Benton, Marie Burton, Jack Mulhall

Synopsis: Having refused for years to ride on his famous father's coattails, Creighton Chaney was convinced by Poverty Row producer-director Ray Kirkwood to bill himself Lon Chaney, Jr. in a proposed series of 24 action thrillers, of which this very minor gangster melodrama was the second entry. Read More

The Life of Vergie Winters

Actors: Ann Harding, John Boles, Betty Furness, Helen Vinson, Frank Albertson

Synopsis: In this tear-jerking adaptation of Louis Bromfield's novel A Good Woman, the title character stands tall in the face of small town gossip in order to stay with her already married lover who makes promises to her he does not intend to keep. Matters get complicated when Vergie gets pregnant. At the Read More

Sixteen Fathoms Deep

Actors: Sally O'Neil, Creighton Chaney, George Regas, Maurice Black, Lloyd Ingraham

Synopsis: Lon Chaney Jr.-- still billed under his given name of Creighton Chaney -- was afforded one of his earliest leading roles in Monogram's 16 Fathoms Deep. Chaney is cast as Joe, a strapping young sponge fisherman who dreams of owning his own boat. Forced to borrow money from his rival Savanis (Georges Regas Read More

Scarlet River

Actors: Billy Butts, Betty Furness, Tom Keene

Synopsis: In Scarlet River, Tom Keene plays "himself," a cowboy movie star, on location in the Wide Open Spaces for his latest epic. The locals chortle and guffaw at these picture people posing as genuine Westerners, but Keene proves his worth by rescuing Dorothy Wilson from villainous ranch foreman Read More

Son of the Border

Actors: Tom Keene, Julie Haydon, Edgar Kennedy

Synopsis: This Tom Keene western casts the leading man as a lawkeeper who accidentally kills his best friend (Creighton Chaney, aka Lon Chaney Jr.) when the latter becomes involved with an outlaw gang. Tom adopts his dead pal's son (David Durand), raising him as his own. The one startling aspect of the Read More

The Three Musketeers [Serial]

Synopsis: Adapted from Alexander Dumas's novel, this adventure is about a trio of Foreign Legion friends who confront the Devil of the Desert. Three Musketeers is the last of actor John Wayne's three serials for Mascot Studios. It was later edited down to just below feature length and released as the 1946 Read More

Girl Crazy

Actors: Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Eddie Quillan, Dorothy Lee, Mitzi Green

Synopsis: The 1930 George & Ira Gershwin musical smash Girl Crazy was refashioned for the screen in 1932 as a vehicle for comedians Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. Most of the original play's romantic plotline has been jettisoned, shifting the emphasis to cabdriver Jimmy Deegan (Wheeler) and his larcenous Read More

Bird of Paradise

Actors: Dolores Del Rio, Joel McCrea, John Halliday, Lon Chaney, Jr., Richard "Skeets" Gallagher

Synopsis: Having inherited the warhorse stage piece Bird of Paradise from his predecessor William LeBaron, RKO Radio production chief David O. Selznick opted to do the property up brown, hoping to transform the Richard Walton Tully original into RKO's "prestige" offering of 1932. Joel McCrea stars as a Read More

The Last Frontier [Serial]

Synopsis: A serial remake of a 1926 Western feature starring William Boyd, The Last Frontier became an early opportunity for young Lon Chaney, Jr. -- still billed Creighton Chaney -- to prove himself worthy of the Chaney name. But young Creighton, handicapped as he was by stilted dialogue and sub-par action Read More