Monte MontagueFilmography

Thunder over the Plains

Actors: Randolph Scott, Lex Barker, Phyllis Kirk, Charles McGraw

Synopsis: Randolph Scott is as strong and silent as ever in Thunder Over the Plains. The scene is Texas, in the years just following the Civil War. Carpetbaggers have taken hold of the Texas government and imposed a near-dictatorship, hiding behind the legal protection of the Union Army of Occupation. Read More

Horizons West

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

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

The Last Musketeer

Actors: Rex Allen, Slim Pickens, Mary Ellen Kay, James Anderson

Synopsis: Though he doesn't wield a sword nor wear a plumed hat, singing cowboy Rex Allen qualifies as The Last Musketeer in this Republic western. Allen is called upon to stem the underhanded activities of land baron Russ Tasker (James Anderson). It is Tasker's intention to buy up all the local farmland Read More

Vengeance Valley

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Robert Walker, Joanne Dru, Sally Forrest, John Ireland

Synopsis: The old "Cain and Abel" plot device is redefined within Western terms in MGM's Vengeance Valley. Burt Lancaster stars as ranch-hand Owen Daybright, who has been raised as a son by rancher Arch Stroble (Ray Collins). Stroble's natural son Lee (Robert Walker) has always been envious of Owen, who in Read More

The Savage Horde

Actors: Adrian Booth, Grant Withers, Barbara Fuller, Noah Beery, Jr.

Synopsis: William Elliot is the multitextured hero of the deluxe Republic western Savage Horde. Elliot plays a gunslinger named Ringo, who, though no paragon of virtue, is not a murderer. After killing a man in self-defense, Ringo takes it on the lam from the law. Hiding out in a remote frontier town, Ringo Read More

The Rustlers

Actors: Tim Holt, Richard Martin, Martha Hyer, Steve Brodie, Lois Andrews

Synopsis: Another of RKO's profitable Tim Holt western series, Rustlers costars Holt with his popular sidekick Richard Martin (as Chico Rafferty). Holt and Martin are arrested by sheriff Harry Shannon, who accuses them of being members of a vicious rustling gang. Actually Shannon is the head of the Read More

Brothers in the Saddle

Synopsis: The siblings of the title are Tim Holt and Steve Brodie. Holt is the good guy (after all, the film was part of Holt's RKO western series), while younger brother Brodie is the hotheaded troublemaker. The film offers a wealth of fistfights, gun duels and pursuits on horseback, as well as a dash of Read More

Moonrise

Actors: Dane Clark, Gail Russell, Ethel Barrymore, Allyn Joslyn, Rex Ingram

Synopsis: All of his life, Danny Hawkins (Dane Clark) has been taunted and mistreated by most of the people around him, enduring innumerable beatings and other humiliations as a boy because his father was a murderer who died on the gallows. He finds it not much better as an adult, living with his aunt in Read More

Station West

Actors: Dick Powell, Jane Greer, Agnes Moorehead, Burl Ives, Tom Powers

Synopsis: Station West may look like a western, but it sure sounds like a contemporary film noir. Dick Powell stars as Haven, a government private investigator assigned to investigate the murders of two cavalrymen. Travelling incognito, Haven arrives in a small frontier outpost, where leggy saloon singer Read More

Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'

Actors: Donald O'Connor, Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Penny Edwards, Joe Besser

Synopsis: Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' starts off on a tense note as a struggling man is led through the streets of a western town, presumably headed for his own execution. Within a few minutes, however, we discover that the "victim" is a reluctant trainee for an upcoming foot-race between the feuding Read More

The Vigilantes Return

Actors: Jon Hall, Margaret Lindsay, Paula Drew, Andy Devine, Robert Wilcox

Synopsis: In this western, a marshal goes undercover to stop a brutal gang of crooks from continuing to terrorize local ranchers. After infiltrating the gang, he discovers that the perpetrator is the owner of the town saloon where his ex-girlfriend works. Unfortunately, the marshal gets discovered and Read More

Fighting Frontier

Actors: Tim Holt, Cliff Edwards, Ann Summers, Eddie Dew, William Gould

Synopsis: The first of Tim Holt's 1943 quota of RKO westerns was Fighting Frontier. This time, Holt appears to be cast as a double-dyed villain. Actually, it's all a ruse, cooked up by the Governor to find out the identity of a clever bandit chieftan. It wouldn't be fair to reveal the name of the bad guy Read More

The Cyclone Kid

Actors: Don "Red" Barry, John James, Lynn Merrick, Alex Callam, Joel Friedkin

Synopsis: The time-honored "homesteaders vs. cattlemen" plot device is given another go-round in the Republic western The Cyclone Kid. John James plays Dr. Dawson, a young phsyician who tries to rally the local settlers against the despotic cattle barons. Alas, the good doctor finds himself pitted against Read More

The Phantom Plainsmen

Actors: Tom Tyler, Bob Steele, Rufe Davis, Robert O. Davis, Lois Collier

Synopsis: Republic's The Phantom Plainsman is another in the long-running "Three Mesquiteers" western series. The heroic triumverate are herein portrayed by Bob Steele (as Tucson Smith), Tom Tyler (Stony Brooke) and Rufe Davis (Lullaby Joslin). In keeping with a trend then prevalent in "B" westerns, the Read More

Raiders of the Range

Actors: Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, Rufe Davis, Lois Collier, Frank Jaquet

Synopsis: Republic's "Three Mesquiteers" western series was in its fifth year of production when Raiders of the Range was released in March of 1942. In this one, the Mesquiteers are enacted by Bob Steele (as Tucson Smith), Tom Tyler (Stony Brooke) and Rufe Davis (Lullaby Joslin). Our heroes come to the aid Read More

Westward Ho

Actors: Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, Evelyn Brent, Donald Curtis, Lois Collier

Synopsis: The all-purpose title Westward Ho was applied in 1942 to this "Three Mesquiteers" western. This time, the Mesquiteers are Tucson Smith, Stony Brooke and Lullaby Joslin, here played respectively by Bob Steele, Tom Tyler and Rufe Davis. Our heroes converge on a small town to solve a series of Read More

The Navy Comes Through

Actors: Pat O'Brien, George Murphy, Jane Wyatt, Jackie Cooper, Carl Esmond, Desi Arnaz

Synopsis: A combat picture was virtually a license to print money in 1942, and RKO Radio's The Navy Comes Through was no exception (net profit: $542,000). Most of the film takes place on the ramshackle old merchant-marine freighter, skippered by Captain McCall (Ray Collins). The captain and his stalwart Read More

Stardust on the Sage

Actors: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Edith Fellows, Louise Currie

Synopsis: Not quite as exciting as it should be, Stardust on the Sage is still a serviceable Gene Autry vehicle. This time, Gene is teamed up with young Jeff Drew (Bill Henry), who tries to sell mining stock to the local cattlemen. Meanwhile, villain Pearson (Emmet Vogan) plots to steal the mine from Gene Read More

Barnacle Bill

Actors: Wallace Beery, Marjorie Main, Leo Carrillo, Virginia Weidler, Donald Meek

Synopsis: MGM tried to recapture the magic of the Wallace Beery/Marie Dressler films of the 1930s with Barnacle Bill. Beery is teamed with Marjorie Main, a Dressler "type" who had a roughneck style all her own. In the film, grumbly old fisherman Beery spends most of his screen time avoiding Main, who Read More

Along the Rio Grande

Actors: Tim Holt, Ray Whitley, Betty Jane Rhodes, Emmett Lynn, Robert Fiske

Synopsis: Tim Holt and sidekicks Ray Whitley and Emmett Lynn join an outlaw gang in this RKO Western filmed on-location at Victorville, CA, and at the Walker and Jauregui movie ranches. When their friend Pop Edwards is shot (in the back, no less) by Doc Randall (Robert Fiske) and his crew, Jeff (Holt) Read More

The Apache Kid

Actors: Don "Red" Barry, Lynn Merrick, LeRoy Mason, Robert Fiske

Synopsis: Don "Red" Barry, Republic's answer to Jimmy Cagney, stars in The Apache Kid. Barry plays Pete Dawson, a pugnacious cowboy who dons a mask and becomes a stagecoach robber. It's all in a good cause, however: Dawson is stealing from the town boss (Leroy Mason) who has ripped off a group of miners. Read More

King of the Texas Rangers [Serial]

Synopsis: In this serial, onetime football hero Slingin' Sammy Baugh stars as Tom King, a Texas Ranger on the hunt for the Nazis who killed his father. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide 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

Dude Cowboy

Actors: Tim Holt, Marjorie Reynolds, Ray Whitley, Lee "Lasses" White, Louise Currie

Synopsis: Tim Holt is, of course, a true red-blooded cowboy in this overly tuneful RKO Western and only pretends to be the title character in order to locate a kidnapped engraver. The latter (Byron Foulger) is forced by a crooked dude ranch owner (Eddie Kane) to print counterfeit money but a couple of bills 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

Thundering Hoofs

Actors: Tim Holt, Ray Whitley, Lee "Lasses" White, Luana Walters, Archie Twitchell

Synopsis: RKO Radio's Thundering Hoofs was the first of several Tim Holt westerns directed by "Hopalong Cassidy" veteran Lesley Selander. The plot is galvanized by the chicanery of crooked lawyer Farley (Archie Twitchell), who has been sent westward to purchase a stagecoach line on behalf of his boss. It Read More

The Singing Hill

Synopsis: Also known as The Singing Hills, this Gene Autry western boasts a screenplay cowritten by Jesse Lasky Jr. Gene and his saddle pal Smiley Burnette ride into town and sing a few songs. They make the acquaintance of heiress Virginia Grey, who wants to divest herself of her land holdings. Villain Read More

Prairie Law

Actors: George O'Brien, Virginia Vale, Dick Hogan, John Farrell MacDonald, Charles "Slim" Whitaker

Synopsis: Cowboy hero George O'Brien has his hands full with crooked land promoter Paul Everton in Prairie Law. Selling acres and acres of worthless land while promising to provide an unlimited water supply to his customers, Everton sparks off a range war between cattlemen and homesteaders. Working on Read More

Wagon Train

Actors: Tim Holt, Martha O'Driscoll, Ray Whitley, Emmett Lynn, Bud McTaggart

Synopsis: In his first starring Western for RKO, young Tim Holt must not only carry on his father's freight business but also hunt down his murderer. A certain Matt Gardner (Cliff Clark) wants to corner the freight business to Pecos and persuades young Zack Sibley's wagon master (Wade Crosby) to switch Read More

Legion of the Lawless

Actors: George O'Brien, Virginia Vale, Herbert Heywood, Norman Willis, Hugh Sothern

Synopsis: George O'Brien's first 1940 western release, Legion of the Lawless uses its frontier trappings for a plea against vigilante justice-specifically, lynching. A group of masked night riders terrorize the homesteaders in the 19th century village of Iveston, all the while insisting that they're merely Read More

Young Bill Hickok

Actors: Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, John Miljan, Sally Payne

Synopsis: This Roy Rogers vehicle is a followup (though not a sequel) to 1940's Young Buffalo Bill. Definitely a "premature anti-fascist", singing frontiersman Bill Hickok (Roy Rogers) tries to thwart the takeover of West by foreign invaders. John Miljan is frontier fuhrer Nicholas Tower, who hires a gang Read More

Virginia City

Actors: Errol Flynn, Miriam Hopkins, Randolph Scott, Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh

Synopsis: Promoted as a follow-up to the popular 1939 western Dodge City (which, indeed, was left wide open for a sequel in its closing scenes), Virginia City bears only surface resemblance to the earlier film. Indeed, the only discerning links between the two pictures are the western setting and the Read More

The Marshal of Mesa City

Actors: George O'Brien, Virginia Vale, Leon Ames, Henry Brandon, Lloyd Ingraham

Synopsis: A remake of sorts of the 1935 western The Arizonian, this fine George O'Brien oater features Leon Ames as Sheriff Judd Cronan, a slick lawman running Mesa City as if he owns the place. When schoolmarm Virginia King (Virginia Vale) has had enough of both Cronan's capriciousness and his advances and Read More

The Rookie Cop

Actors: Tim Holt, Virginia Weidler, Janet Shaw, Frank M. Thomas, Robert Emmett Keane

Synopsis: Filmed on a budget of $77,000, Rookie Cop was another attempt by RKO Radio to transform canine star Ace the Wonder Dog into the new Rin-Tin-Tin. The title character is young Clem (Tim Holt), who tries to convince his superiors to utilize police dogs as a crime-solving device. Thrown off the force Read More

Timber Stampede

Actors: George O'Brien, Chill Wills, Marjorie Reynolds, Morgan Wallace, Robert Fiske

Synopsis: In this western, a courageous rancher single-handedly tries to stop avaricious land grabbers from destroying important timberland. The bad-guys claim to do this so they can build a railroad, but the rancher isn't fooled. A New York newspaper reporter is, and she ends up publishing a glowing report Read More

Trouble in Sundown

Actors: George O'Brien, Rosalind Keith, Ray Whitley, Chill Wills, Ward Bond

Synopsis: In this western, a real estate agent takes everything from a bank and then frames the banker for the crime. The evil agent then becomes the receiver for the institution and begins trying to foreclose on numerous ranchers. His nefarious plans are thwarted by a cowboy hero who brings justice to the Read More

Arizona Legion

Actors: Laraine Day, George O'Brien, Carlyle Moore, Jr., Chill Wills, Edward J. Le Saint

Synopsis: This formula western stars George O'Brien as a member of the Arizona Rangers, a quasi-vigilante society aimed at ridding the west of lawlessness. O'Brien is assigned to infiltrate a criminal gang in Arizona. For duty's sake, O'Brien must alienate himself with his sweetheart (Laraine Johnson, later Read More

Allegheny Uprising

Actors: Claire Trevor, John Wayne, George Sanders, Brian Donlevy, Wilfred Lawson

Synopsis: Films set during America's colonial era seldom did well at the box office, and Allegheny Uprising was no exception. John Wayne and Claire Trevor, stars of the recent western hit Stagecoach, are reteamed herein as 18th
century adventurer James Smith and his spitfire sweetheart Janie. Taking Read More

Racketeers of the Range

Actors: George O'Brien, Chill Wills, Marjorie Reynolds, Gay Seabrook, Robert Fiske

Synopsis: In keeping with its up-to-date title, the 1939 George O'Brien western Racketeers of the Range is set in "contemporary" Arizona. The villains are a band of brigands who've infiltrated the meat-packing industry. Cattle rancher O'Brien certainly has his hands full in this one, attempting to find out Read More

The Renegade Ranger

Actors: George O'Brien, Ray Whitley, Rita Hayworth, Tim Holt, Lucio Villegas

Synopsis: The old west collides with the new in this fine remake of RKO's 1932 Come On, Danger!. Or, rather, veteran RKO star George O'Brien is at odds with his eventual successor at the studio, Tim Holt -- at least part of the way. They play Texas Rangers assigned to bring in suspected murderess Judith Read More

Riders of the Black Hills

Actors: Max "Alibi" Terhune, Ann Evers, Roscoe Ates

Synopsis: Riders of Black Hills is the second of 13 consecutive "Three Mesquiteers" westerns directed by George Sherman. The Mesquiteers this time out are Stony Brooke (Bob Livingston), Tucson Smith (Ray Corrigan) and Lullaby Joslin (Max Terhune). All three come to the rescue when a racehorse is kidnapped Read More

Pals of the Saddle

Actors: John Wayne, Ray "Crash" Corrigan, Max "Alibi" Terhune, Doreen McKay, Joe Forte

Synopsis: Pals of the Saddle is one of the more engaging entries in Republic's Three Mesquiteers Western series. Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune repeat their standard roles of Tucson Smith and Lullaby Joslin; the role of Stony Brooke, recently vacated by Bob Livingston, is here played by none other than John Wayne Read More

Little Tough Guy

Actors: Billy Halop, Helen Parrish, Robert Wilcox, Marjorie Main, Gabriel Dell

Synopsis: The first of the "splinter" groups to emerge from the Dead End Kids was the Little Tough Guys, consisting of veteran Dead-Enders Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Bernard Punsly and David Gorcey (Hally Chester and Billy Benedict would also appear in this new grouping from time to time). Read More

The Law West of Tombstone

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

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

Radio Patrol [Serial]

Actors: Grant Withers, Catherine Hughes, Adrian Morris, Mickey Rentschler, Silver Wolf

Synopsis: In the tradition of such earlier Universal serials as Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim, the 12-chapter Radio Patrol was based on a popular comic strip, this one created by Eddie Sullivan and Charlie Schmidt. Grant Withers heads the cast as "radio cop" Pat O'Hara, at present the protector of young Pinky Read More

Git Along Little Dogies

Actors: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Maple City Four, Judith Allen, Weldon Heyburn

Synopsis: Gene Autry gets into a heated fight with an oil company in this very tuneful early entry in the Autry oeuvre, restored in 2001 under the auspices of Gene Autry Entertainment. Gene, who believes the oil wells will pollute the grazing land, is feuding with broadcaster Doris Maxwell (Judith Allen) Read More

Roll Along Cowboy

Actors: Smith Ballew, Cecilia Parker, Ruth Robinson, Frank Milan

Synopsis: Roll Along, Cowboy was the second starring vehicle for Smith Ballew, producer Sol Lesser's answer to Gene Autry. Our hero reports for work at the ranch of middle-aged Ruth Robinson, only to find that she's being threatened by outlaws. With a song in his heart and a gun in his holster, Ballew routs 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

Guns of the Pecos

Actors: Dick Foran, Anne Nagel, Gordon Hart, Joseph Crehan, Eddie Acuff

Synopsis: Warner Bros.' resident singing cowboy, the amiable Dick Foran, warbles "The Prairie Is My Home" and "When the Cowboy Takes a Wife" (by M.K. Jerome and Jack Scholl) in between battling a corrupt judge in this pleasant B-Western produced by the studio's busy Bryan Foy unit. Foran is Steve Ainslee, a Read More

The Adventures of Frank Merriwell [Serial]

Synopsis: Based on the turn-of-the-century dimestore novels of Bert L. Standish (real name: William Patton Gilbert), this slow-moving serial featured husky Donald Briggs in the title role, a Fardale College star athlete who inherits a valuable ring from his father (William P. Carleton). By deciphering an Read More

Show Boat

Actors: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan

Synopsis: This second film version of the Edna Ferber/Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II musical Show Boat is considered by many film buffs to be the best of the three. Covering nearly four decades (was there ever an Edna Ferber novel that didn't?), the film stars Irene Dunne as Magnolia Hawks, a role she'd Read More

Treachery Rides the Range

Actors: Dick Foran, Paula Stone, Craig Reynolds, Monte Blue, Carlyle Moore, Jr.

Synopsis: This western tells the story of a brave Army captain assigned to escort an important official's daughter through Indian country. Unfortunately, a pair of wicked buffalo hunters have been trying to upset the Cheyenne by breaking the treaty the woman's father created; they are hunting the massive Read More

The Phantom of Santa Fe

Synopsis: A Poverty Row western that has the rare distinction of being shot in color, director Jacques Jaccard's action-packed shoot 'em up tells the tale of a peaceful prairie beset by a mysterious phantom. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide Read More

Song of the Saddle

Actors: Dick Foran, Alma Lloyd, Charles B. Middleton, Addison Richards, Eddie Shubert

Synopsis: The second of singing cowboy Dick Foran's Warner Bros. westerns, Song of the Saddle was a decided improvement on the first (Moonlight on the Prairie). Foran is cast as Frank Wilson Jr., who heads Westward to avenge the long-ago murder of his father (Addison Richards). Frank had witnessed the Read More

Outlawed Guns

Actors: Monte Montague, Buck Jones, Pat O'Brien, Frank McGlynn, Sr.

Synopsis: Outlawed Guns stars Buck Jones as Reece Rivers, the nice-guy older brother of headstrong Babe Rivers (played by Pat O'Brien -- not the Warner Bros. star of the same name). When Babe gets mixed up with outlaws, Reece loyally takes the rap. Eventually Babe pays for his recklessness with his life Read More

She Gets Her Man

Actors: ZaSu Pitts, Hugh O'Connell, Helen Twelvetrees, Lucien Littlefield, Ward Bond

Synopsis: In this comedy, a waitress at a local lunch counter inadvertently foils a bank robbery and finds herself turned into a national heroine by an eager-beaver reporter. Unfortunately, her sudden notoriety causes gangsters to abduct her. The plucky waitress not only manages to talk them into returning Read More

Remember Last Night

Actors: Edward Arnold, Constance Cummings, Sally Eilers, Robert Young, Robert Armstrong

Synopsis: In the wake of The Thin Man, every studio in Hollywood scrambled to churn out sophisticated mystery-comedies wherein murders are solved by a wealthy, attractive, fun-loving young couple. One of the best of these Thin Man derivations was Universal's Remember Last Night, adapted from Adam Hobhouse's Read More

The Affair of Susan

Actors: ZaSu Pitts, Hugh O'Connell, Walter Catlett, Tom Dugan, Inez Courtney

Synopsis: Susan (ZaSu Pitts) is a plain-Jane wallflower who spends a day at Coney Island. Here she catches the eye of equally shy (and twice as homely) Hugh O'Connell. Though both hero and heroine spend every penny and then some riding the rides and trying their luck at the arcade; it hardly matters since Read More

Stormy

Actors: Jean Rogers, John Farrell MacDonald, Fred Kohler

Synopsis: In this drama, a young boy earns the trust of an especially skittish colt and they form a special bond. Trouble ensues when the lad finds himself between two arguing brothers. One wants to save the little horse and the herd he runs with, while the other brother wants to exploit the mustangs. The Read More

The Bride of Frankenstein

Actors: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Elsa Lanchester, Ernst Thesiger, Dwight Frye

Synopsis: This greatest of all Frankenstein movies begins during a raging thunderstorm. Warm and cozy inside their palatial villa, Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon), Percy Shelley (Douglas Walton), and Shelley's wife Mary (Elsa Lanchester) engage in morbidly sparkling conversation. The wicked Byron mockingly Read More

Pirate Treasure: Mutiny

Actors: Richard Talmadge, Lucille Lund, Walter Miller, Pat O'Malley, William Desmond

Synopsis: His dramatic fall broken by sacks of flour, Dick (Richard Talmadge) once again emerges unharmed and the voyage to the Caribbean island can begin. En route, Dorothy (Lucille Lund) accidentally discovers the group of gang members hiding in the hold of the Lottie Carson. Unaware that he is the secret Read More

Tailspin Tommy

Synopsis: A young auto mechanic gets a job with Three Points Airlines, and helps to get them a government mail contract in this action serial. The head of a rival cargo airline, angered that he didn't get the contract, plots the destruction of Three Points in order to take over the contract. ~ Brian Gusse Read More

Rocky Rhodes

Actors: Buck Jones, Sheila Terry, Stanley Fields, Walter Miller

Synopsis: Rocky Rhodes was Buck Jones' first western vehicle for Universal Pictures. Evidently inheriting a leftover script from previous Universal cowboy star Ken Maynard, Jones plays the title character, who as the film opens is heading back to his home in Arizona with his raffish saddle-pal Harp (Stanley Fields Read More

The Impatient Maiden

Actors: Lew Ayres, Mae Clarke, Una Merkel, John Halliday, Andy Devine

Synopsis: Lew Ayres and Mae Clarke, the reigning king and queen of the Universal lot in 1932, were teamed under the guidance of the studio's star director James Whale in Impatient Maiden. Anticipating his "Dr. Kildare" duties by nearly six years, Ayres is cast as inexperienced young surgeon Myron Brown. In Read More

Come On, Danger!

Synopsis: In this western, a Texas Ranger is assigned to bring in a woman who is causing trouble in a nearby town. He soon comes to suspect, however, that she is being set up to deflect attention away from a gang of cattle thieves and bandits led by a man whom the Ranger believes killed his brother. ~ Brian Read More

Shadow of the Eagle [Serial]

Synopsis: Mascot produced their serials fast and furious with little concern for believability, acting prowess, or technical niceties. Shadow of the Eagle is neither the best nor worst of the bunch, but rather typical of the company's hit-and-miss methods. The acting is occasionally downright embarrassing Read More

Finger Prints [Serial]

Actors: Kenneth Harlan, Edna Murphy, Gayne Whitman, Gertrude Astor, William Worthington

Synopsis: A couple of holdovers from the silent era, Kenneth Harlan and Edna Murphy, starred in this below-average Universal serial directed by the prolific Ray Taylor. Murphy's father (William Worthington) is falsely accused of murder, but Secret Service agent Harlan believes the real culprit to be the Read More

Quick Trigger Lee

Synopsis: Produced by cameraman Burton King for ill-named Poverty Row company Big 4 Film Corp., this western starred laconic silent screen cowboy Bob Custer in the title role. Quick Trigger is on his way to help a beleaguered old prospector who, because of bad eyesight, has signed a crooked I.O.U. The nasty Read More

The Lonesome Trail

Actors: Jimmy Aubrey, Virginia Brown Faire, Yakima Canutt, Art Mix, Charles Delaney

Synopsis: An innocent cowboy is once again suspected of a crime he didn't commit in The Lonesome Trail, an obscure early talkie western from low-budget producer Syndicate that wasted the talents of silent western stars Yakima Canutt, Bob Reeves, Art Mix, and Monte Montague. The accuser (Montague), as it Read More

Trigger Tricks

Actors: Hoot Gibson, Sally Eilers, Jack Richardson

Synopsis: "Trigger Tricks", wrote "B"-western historian William K. Everson, "may well have set a record as the most talkative talkie western ever made." Hoot Gibson stars as an easygoing cowpoke who becomes a fightin' fool in his efforts to learn the identity of his brother's murder. While working as a Read More

The Ace of Scotland Yard

Actors: Crauford Kent, Florence Allen, Herbert Prior, Monte Montague, Grace Cunard

Synopsis: A typical interim serial, the ten-chapter Ace of Scotland Yard was released in both a silent version and as a part-talkie. Dignified British actor Crauford Kent played Angus Blake, a retired Scotland Yard investigator who becomes involved in a tug-of-war between two desirable women, the virginal Read More

King of the Rodeo

Synopsis: One of Hoot Gibson's final silent westerns (and a sequel to the popular Chip of the Flying U (1926)), King of the Rodeo presented the canny star as a rodeo champion from Montana getting himself ready for the big Chicago meet. There are, of course, a couple of bad guys to be dealt with along the Read More

Eyes of the Underworld

Synopsis: A socialite gets involved with a newspaper expose in this crime melodrama produced by Universal. When Pat Doran (Bill Cody learns that the publisher father (Charles Clary) of his girlfriend has been murdered because of a series of articles exposing a crime ring, the wealthy sportsman takes matters Read More

Wolves of the City

Actors: Bill Cody, Sally Blane, Al Ferguson, Monte Montague, Louise Carver

Synopsis: Having made his directorial debut with 1928's The Price of Fear, former screenwriter Leigh Jason turned director full-time with 1929's Wolves of the City. A priceless artifact is stolen, and the thieves demand $150,000 ransom. Heroine Sally Blane tries to retrieve the valuable curio on her own Read More

Courtin' Wildcats

Actors: Hoot Gibson, Eugenia Gilbert, Harry Todd, Joseph W. Girard, Monte Montague

Synopsis: A bookish Easterner (Hoot Gibson) is shipped off to a Western ranch for toughening up. Once on the ranch, he falls for a tough dame (Eugenia Gilbert) who is falsely accused of murdering her father's enemy. To the strains of "Courtin' Calamity," the former dude shows what he is really made of by Read More

Slim Fingers

Actors: Duane Thompson, Arthur Morrison, Wilbur Mack

Synopsis: In the third of five inexpensive silent crime melodramas produced by Universal, former B-Western ace Bill Cody played Wellsley, a wealthy young clubman forced at gunpoint to drive a pretty art thief (Duane Thompson) to her apartment. The place is raided by the cops, and young Wellsley is mistaken Read More

Wild West Show

Actors: Hoot Gibson, Monte Montague

Synopsis: Cowboy star Hoot Gibson had plenty of circus and rodeo experience under his belt by the time he starred in the tailor-made vehicle The Wild West Show. In this one, the old Hooter joins a poverty-stricken travelling show, out of love for the show's star attraction, aviatrix Dorothy Sullivan. Gibson Read More

Body Punch

Actors: Jack Daugherty, Virginia Brown Faire, George Kotsonaros, Monte Montague, Wilbur Mack

Synopsis: A prize-fighter and a professional wrestler meet in a benefit match in this routine comedy-drama. Believing boxer Jack Townsend (Jack Daugherty) is his romantic rival, fortune hunter Peyson Turner (Wilbur Mack) places a stolen bracelet in his dressing-room during the match. Townsend escapes the Read More

Danger Rider

Actors: Hoot Gibson, Eugenia Gilbert

Synopsis: Universal's sloppy-looking cowboy star Hoot Gibson plays the carefree son of the tough prison warden (Frank Beal) in this fine late-silent Gibson western. The penal colony is enjoying the presence of a very liberal-minded supervisor (Eugenia Gilbert), with whom Hoot naturally falls in love. She Read More

The Gate Crasher

Actors: Glenn Tryon, Patsy Ruth Miller, T. Roy Barnes, Fred Malatesta

Synopsis: In this, at times, hilarious silent, romantic comedy, love blossoms after a posterhanger has an highway mishap with a Broadway star. Later the hard-working fellow finds out that someone has stolen the actress' jewels from her New York home. Still smitten, he heads for the Big Apple to get them Read More

The Air Patrol

Actors: Al Wilson, Elsa Benham, Taylor Duncan, Jack Mower, Monte Montague

Synopsis: Real-life flyboy Al Wilson starred in a string of successful silent aviation epics, of which Air Patrol was typical. Wilson is cast as special agent Al Langdon, at present pursuing elusive gem smuggler Michael Revere (Jack Mower). Going undercover, Langdon joins Revere's gang, and in this capacity Read More

Clearing the Trail

Actors: Hoot Gibson, Dorothy Gulliver

Synopsis: The audience got two Universal stars for the price of one with this rousing Western: Hoot Gibson and Fred Gilman. The two popular celluloid cowboys played brothers, one a lawman Gibson, the other a rancher Gilman fighting a gang of horse thieves hired by greedy neighbor Captain C.E. Anderson. Read More

Hey! Hey! Cowboy

Actors: Hoot Gibson, George "Slim" Summerville, Kathleen Key, Clark Comstock, Nick Cogley

Synopsis: Silent screen western hero Hoot Gibson played a private investigator hired by a rancher to get the goods on a disagreeable neighbor in this average Universal oater. The villain, as it turns out, is a cunning city-slicker who is buying up land in the valley. An above-average cast that included Read More

Blake of Scotland Yard [Serial]

Actors: Hayden Stevenson, Gloria Grey, Herbert Prior, Monte Montague, Wilbur Mack

Synopsis: Hayden Stevenson played the title role in this, one of Universal's most popular silent serials. A mystery villain, known only as the Spider (Al Hart), is out to steal Lord Blanton's (Herbert Prior) secret formula for the manufacturing of gold. Blanton's plucky daughter, Lady Diana (Gloria Grey) Read More

Range Courage

Actors: Fred Humes, Gloria Grey, Dick Winslow, William A. Steele

Synopsis: Second-string Universal cowboy Fred Humes starred in this familiar silent Western about a returning war veteran who finds himself falsely accused of murder. With the help of the rancher's pretty daughter (Gloria Grey) and a spunky 12-year-old (Dick Winslow), the veteran manages to unmask the real Read More

Somewhere in Sonora

Actors: Ken Maynard, Kathleen Collins

Synopsis: Cowboy Bob Bishop (Ken Maynard) searches for rancher Leadley's (Carl Stockdale) son Bart (Joe Bennett), who has joined a gang of outlaws lead by the vicious Ramon Bistula (Richard Neill). Along the way he befriends lovely Mary Burton (Kathleen Collins) and her father Mexicali Burton (Charles Hill Mailes Read More

One Man Trail

Actors: Monte Montague, Ena Gregory

Synopsis: A low-budget outfit calling itself Hollywood Producers' Finance Association bought an old Buck Jones Western from Fox, put Monte Montague in clothes resembling Jones', hired leading lady Ena Gregory for a scene or two, re-edited the old footage with the new and presto! A brand new Western entitled Read More

The Ace of Spades

Actors: William Desmond, Mary McAllister, Albert J. Smith, William A. Steele, Cathleen Calhoun

Synopsis: The oft-filmed Oklahoma land rush took center stage once again in this lavish 15-chapter Universal Western serial starring the veteran William Desmond. Desmond played Dan Harvey, a prairie sleuth attempting to locate a gang of crooks who are terrorizing the settlers and whose calling card is "The Read More

Secret of the Pueblo

Synopsis: Lower-echelon silent Western star Neal Hart both directed and starred in this unusual oater dealing with cliff-dwelling Pueblo Indians. The Indians have taken lovely Ruth Bryson (Hazel Deane) prisoner, but handsome Bob Benson (Hart), who has managed to locate the secret entrance to the memorial Read More

A Western Demon

Synopsis: In this very slight comedy Western, hero Ned Underwood (William Fairbanks) goes undercover as a dishwasher on a ranch in order to put a stop to a series of cattle rustlings. The leader of the rustlers is actually the ranch foreman (Monte Montague), a fact which is obvious to even the youngest Read More

Peaceful Peters

Actors: William Fairbanks, Harry Lamont, Evelyn Nelson, Wilbur McGaugh

Synopsis: This routine Western programmer has all the usual elements -- the stolen mine, the quick-on-the-draw hero, the wicked villain and his equally villainous gang, and the girl in need of rescuing. Peaceful Peters (William Fairbanks) befriends an old miner who is killed by badman Jim Blalock (Harry Lamont Read More

The Flaming Disc

Synopsis: Elmo Lincoln, the screen's first Tarzan, plays both the hero and the villain's henchman in this serial released in 18 chapters by Universal. One of those crazed professors so beloved by pulp writers has invented a lens capable of reducing iron and steel to ashes, a contraption coveted by yet Read More

Elmo the Fearless

Synopsis: Universal's top serial queen, Grace Cunard was all set to start this sequel to the popular Elmo the Mighty (1919) when felled by illness. The beneficiary of Miss Cunard's misfortune was former comedienne Louise Lorraine, who thus embarked on a lucrative stint in serials that would garner her a Read More