Morris AnkrumFilmography

Perry Mason: The Case of the Wednesday Woman

Synopsis: Although he no longer works for the insurance company that had hired him to track down the stolen Jokarta Diamond, shady private detective Jack Mallory (Michael Pate) has never given up the chase. Worming his way into the confidence of Katherine Stewart (Phyllis Hill), Mallory puts a tail on Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Sleepy Slayer

Synopsis: Lifelong parasite Rachel Gordon (Phyllis Hill) will be cut off without a cent by her rich Uncle Abner (Richard Hale) unless she immediately returns all the money she has syphoned from his bank account. Out of desperation, Rachel takes a shot at Albert while the man is sleeping. It turns out she Read More

X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes

Actors: Ray Milland, Diana Van Der Vlis, Harold J. Stone, Don Rickles, John Hoyt

Synopsis: Dr. James Xavier (Ray Milland) is a brilliant but unorthodox researcher whose work with human sight has yielded an experimental chemical that may vastly increase the range of what we can see. Despite the misgivings and warnings of the two people closest to him, Dr. Diane Fairfax (Diana Van Der Vlis Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Lawful Lazarus

Synopsis: Declared legally dead, Trevor Harris (David McLean) suddenly appears out of nowhere to be at the bedside of his dying wife. Harris hopes to prevent her last wish--that her Uncle Edgar (Philip Bourneuf) be named legal guardian of her three children and act as executor for the family forutne--from Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Captain's Coins

Synopsis: Schoolteacher and maritime historian Philip Andrews (Jeremy Slate) incurs the wratch of shipping-company owner Ben Farraday (Herbert Rudley) when he insists that Evelyn Farraday (Joan Patrick), Philip's fiancee and Ben's niece, deserved a portion of the company's profits. It inevitably follows Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Polka-Dot Pony

Synopsis: Way back in 1942, the ex-husband of Angela Fernaldi left her baby at an orphanage. Twenty years have passed, and now Angela is extremely wealthy--and two girls, both named Maureen, are claiming to be her daughter in order to collect a $200,000 trust fund. One of the two, Maureen Thomas (Melinda Read More

The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come

Actors: Jimmie F. Rodgers, Chill Wills, Luana Patten

Synopsis: John Fox Jr.'s popular 1906 novel has been filmed several times, and converted into a number of theatrical presentations. The 1961 edition of Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come stars singer Jimmy F. Rodgers as a confused young man growing up in 1860s Kentucky. Sheltered from his brutal guardian by a Read More

Most Dangerous Man Alive

Actors: Ron Randell, Debra Paget, Elaine Stewart, Anthony Caruso, Gregg Palmer

Synopsis: Flamboyant mob chief Eddie Candell (Ron Randell), who was framed for murder by jealous associate Andy Damon (Anthony Caruso), makes a break while on his way to the death house. Fleeing across the desert, he suddenly finds himself on an atomic testing range, just as an experimental bomb goes off. Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Waylaid Wolf

Synopsis: Playboy Loring Lamont (Tony Travis) lures his father's secretary Arlene Ferris (Andra Martin) to his beach house, with seduction on his mind. The outraged Arlene smacks Lamont in the face and steals his car to escape his clutches. When Lamont turns up murdered, Arlene is accused of the crime, but Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Madcap Modiste

Synopsis: High-fashion diva Flavia Halliday (Marie Windsor) humiliates her husband Charles (John Conte) on network television by flatly refuting Charles' announcement that he has sold their firm's name to another company. For Charles, this is the last straw: He demands a divorce, but Flavia merely laughs at Read More

Maverick: The Marquesa

Synopsis: Winning a high-stakes poker game, Bart (Jack Kelly) finds himself the owner of the Lucky Lady Saloon in Santa Leora. But when he shows up to claim his prize, he is confronted by the hired guns of Marquessa Luisa de Ruisenor (played byAdele Mara, the wife of Maverick producer-creator Roy Huggins). Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Provocative Protegee

Synopsis: It looks like suicide when hasbeen concert pianist David Carpenter (Gregory Morton) plunges off a cliff. Then the suspicion arises that Carpenter was actually murdered so that his wife Anita (Virginia Field) could collect his life insurance. But Anita is not the client of Perry Mason (Raymond Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Singular Double

Synopsis: In big trouble after delivering some "hot" money, Lucy Stevens (Connie Hines) fakes her own suicide by driving her empty car into the ocean. She then assumes the identity of her own (fictional) cousin, Carole Morgan, and assumes that her problems are over. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) enters the Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Borrowed Brunette

Synopsis: Much to her astonishment, Eva Martell (played by Maggie Mahoney, the mother of Oscar-winning actress Sally Field) is paid $100 a day and installed in a luxurious apartment: all she has to do is impersonate another woman named Helen Reynolds (Paula Raymond). Eva and her Aunt Agnes (Sheila Bromley) Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Deadly Toy

Synopsis: Determined to win Claire Allison (Mala Powers) for himself, no-good Martin Selkirk (Dennis Patrick) has Claire's boyfriend Dirk Benedict (Robert Rockwell) beaten up, and also besieges Claire with threatening news clippings. Thus, when Selkirk is murdered (and if anyone "needed killing", it was Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Garrulous Gambler

Synopsis: Perennial loser Larry Benton (Wynn Pearce) is convinced that he has killed a guy named Mike during a poker-game argument. Actually, Larry is the victim of a blackmail scam, perpetrated by a shady customer named Johnny Clay. After Larry forges his brother Steve's name on a check to Johnny, the Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Startled Stallion

Synopsis: Jo Ann Blanchard (Patricia Hardy) seeks the help of Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) in reclaimed her ranch and her prize stallion, both of which have been claimed in a foreclosure by neighboring rancher John Brant (Trevor Bardette). Subsequently, Brant is killed, and at first it appears as though the Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Stuttering Bishop

Synopsis: A man claiming to be Australian Bishop Arthur Mallory (Vaughn Taylor) arranges a reunion between orphanage alumnus Carol Delaney (Rebecca Welles) and her millionaire grandfather Charles Burroughs (Carl Benton Reid. Shortly thereafter, Burroughs is murdered and Carol is arrested for the crime. Read More

Twilight for the Gods

Actors: Rock Hudson, Cyd Charisse, Arthur Kennedy, Leif Erickson, Charles McGraw

Synopsis: Adapted by Ernest Gann from his own novel, Twilight for the Gods bears traces of Gann's earlier The High and the Mighty. This "psychological adventure" stars Rock Hudson as Captain Bell, who crawls into a bottle after being court-martialed and discharged from the Navy. Reduced to skippering a Read More

Young and Wild

Actors: Gene Evans, Scott Marlowe, Carolyn Kearney, Robert Arthur

Synopsis: Three juvenile-delinquents launch a reign of terror upon those who witnessed a deadly auto accident in this exploitation drama. The kids got into trouble while joy-riding down a California road in a stolen car. For malicious fun, they deliberately sideswipe a car and then accidentally hit another Read More

The Saga of Hemp Brown

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Beverly Garland, John Larch, Russell Johnson, Fortunio Bonanova

Synopsis: Saga of Hemp Brown gets under way when the title character (Rory Calhoun) is court-martialed and booted from the Cavalry. Brown is accused of permitting his men to walk into a deadly ambush; he knows he's innocent, and he spends the rest of the picture tracking down the real culprit. Joining a Read More

Half Human

Synopsis: Another example of a fairly interesting Japanese monster film rendered nearly incomprehensible by ham-fisted editing and substandard English dubbing, the original Yeti epic Jû Jin Yuki Otoko was shorn of nearly half its 100-plus-minute length, then crudely spliced back together with additional Read More

Frontier Gun

Actors: John Agar, Joyce Meadows, Barton MacLane, Robert Strauss, Lyn Thomas

Synopsis: 3DFrontier Gun3D is another of the moderately interesting low-budget westerns turned out by 20th Century-Fox's Regal Films subsidiary in the late 1950s. John Agar plays Jim Crayle, who offers his services as voluntary marshal when crazed gunman Yubo (Robert Strauss) inaugurates a reign of Read More

Badman's Country

Actors: George Montgomery, Neville Brand, Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Karin [Katharine] Booth, Gregory Walcott

Synopsis: A veritable honor roll of famed western heroes and villains appears in the fanciful oater Badman's Country. It all begins when Sheriff Pat Garrett (George Montgomery) draws up plans to lure the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, headed by Butch Cassidy (Neville Brand) and the Sundance Kid (Russell Johnson) Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Prodigal Parent

Synopsis: Philip Larkin (Terry Becker) is murdered, and his stepfather Joseph Harrison (John Hoyt) is charged with the crime. A key piece of evidence for the prosecution is a home movie showing Larkin and Harrison quarrelling; could their argument have been about sexy Lorraine Stevens (Andra Martin), whom Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Screaming Woman

Synopsis: There's no shortage of suspects when vitriolic society columnist Mary K. Davis (Marian Seldes) is murdered. Even so, the police charge the dead woman's nurse Leona Walsh (Josephine Hutchinson) with the crime...mainly because Leona has given a full confession to DA Hamilton Burger (William Talman). Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Lucky Loser

Synopsis: Although the trial of young Theodore Balfour (Tyler MacDuff), who was accused of killing his father Lawrence (Bruce Bennett), had ended in a hung jury, Theodore's lawyer had advised him to plead to the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. Outraged that Theodore seems to have been railroaded Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Rolling Bones

Synopsis: The greedy relatives of wealthy Daniel Reed (Edgar Stehli) want to have him committed to a mental institution, using as evidence the fact that he has been issuing $20,000 checks to strangers. Perry is hired by Reed's girlfriend Millie Foster (Kitty Kelly) to prevent the old man from being put Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: 24 Hours at North Fork

Synopsis: A recent plague has decimated virtually all the crops in a farming community. The only rancher whose crops were spared is Max Bruckner (Morris Ankrum), a wealthy, peace-loving Mennonite. When Bruckner is threatened by ill-tempered merchant Milo Culligan (Karl Swenson), he turns to Paladin (Richard Read More

Jack the Ripper

Actors: Boris Karloff

Synopsis: Four terrifying stories from The Veil television series are introduced by Boris Karloff with titles "Summer Heat," "Vision of Crime," "Food on the Table" and "Jack the Ripper." ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Green-Eyed Sister

Synopsis: Harriet Bain (Virginia Vincent) is accused of murdering J.J. Stanley (James Bell), the man who had embezzled a huge sum of money from the Texas National Bank in collaboration with Harriet's father Ned (Carl Benton Reid). It seems that, just before his death, Stanley had approached Ned and Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Demure Defendant

Synopsis: Accused of murdering her Uncle Martin (Alexander Price), Nadine Marshall (Christine White) makes a detailed confession of the crime while under drugged hypnosis. The doctor handling the case informs Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), who despite this damning evidence is convinced that Nadine is innocent. Read More

From the Earth to the Moon

Actors: Joseph Cotten, George Sanders, Debra Paget, Don Dubbins, Patric Knowles

Synopsis: The resurgence of interest in Jules Verne following the release of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) led to a brief cycle of Verne-based films. Produced in Mexico by Benedict Bogeaus, From the Earth to the Moon stars Joseph Cotten as eccentric Civil War-era scientist Victor Barbicane. Claiming Read More

How to Make a Monster

Actors: Robert H. Harris, Gary Conway, Paul Brinegar, Gary Clarke, Malcolm Atterbury

Synopsis: Like many American International films of its era, How to Make a Monster was sold to distributors on the basis of its title alone: only after theatrical play dates had been established did anyone get around to writing a script! Robert H. Harris plays Pete Drummond, who according to the script has Read More

Giant from the Unknown

Actors: Ed Kemmer, Sally Fraser, Buddy Baer, Morris Ankrum, Bob Steele

Synopsis: In Richard Cunha's Giant from the Unknown, scientists come upon a petrified lizard in the California Mountains. The lizard revives, proving the theory of suspended animation. Excitedly, scientist Wayne Brooks (Ed Kemmer) begins searching for a legendary Spanish giant called Vargas, who disappeared Read More

Zombies of Mora-Tau

Actors: Gregg Palmer, Allison Hayes, Autumn Russell, Joel Ashley, Morris Ankrum

Synopsis: Quickie king Sam Katzman's Zombies of Mora Tau is a game attempt to imitate what Roger Corman was doing so well over at American-International. The story takes place on the coast of Africa, where a race of white zombies jealously guards an ancient, jewel-encrusted African Idol. The treasure rests Read More

Drango

Actors: Jeff Chandler, John Lupton, Joanne Dru, Morris Ankrum, Ronald Howard

Synopsis: Union army major Drango (Jeff Chandler) is assigned to rebuild a ruined Georgian town in the aftermath of the Civil War. Despite his best intentions, Drango has trouble combatting the hatred and resentment of the townsfolk. In particular, Clay Allen (Ronald Howard), the hotheaded son of Judge Read More

Hell's Crossroads

Actors: Stephen McNally, Peggie Castle, Robert Vaughn, Barton MacLane, Harry Shannon

Synopsis: This wide-screen Republic western is yet another retelling of the James Brothers saga--albeit one with a few unexpected twists. This time, Jesse (Henry Brandon) and Frank (Douglas Kennedy) are supporting characters, while the film's dramatic weight is carried by Jesse's (fictional) friend and Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Nervous Accomplice

Synopsis: In order to get rid of her husband Bruce's mistress Roxy Howard (Greta Thyssen), Sybil Granger hires Perry (Raymond Burr) to secretly help her gain a majority financial interest in Bruce's oil company. But someone else is apparently aware of what Sybil is up to, and that someone is old George Lutz Read More

Beginning of the End

Actors: Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Richard Benedict, James Seay

Synopsis: Produced by Bert I. Gordon, The Beginning of the End a menacing onslaught of giant-sized grasshoppers. Department of Agriculture functionary Peter Graves and photojournalist Peggie Castle discover that the huge grasshoppers are the product of a gone-awry experiment in radioactivity. Before the Read More

Maverick: Naked Gallows

Synopsis: Convicted murderer Clete Overton (Ed Kemmer) escapes from jail on the eve of his hanging. Bart tries to prove Cleve's innocence when the fugitive insists that he was charged on circumstantial evidence. Unfortunately, someone is determined that Clete remain under the shadow of the noose--and that Read More

The Giant Claw

Actors: Jeff Morrow, Mara Corday, Morris Ankrum, Edgar Barrier, Robert Shayne

Synopsis: Scientist Mitch McAfee (Jeff Morrow) cannot convince anyone that an enormous bird, evidently here from outer space, has arrived on Earth and is grabbing planes from the sky, gobbling up the passengers and crew. However, the bird (The Claw) eventually makes its presence more that adequately known Read More

The Brain from Planet Arous

Actors: John Agar, Joyce Meadows, Robert Fuller, Henry Travis

Synopsis: The plot of The Brain from Planet Arous has something to do with a huge floating brain which takes over the body of nuclear scientist Steve March (John Agar) as the first step in its takeover of the earth. Tipping off the fact that March is not himself are his strange eyeballs and his rather Read More

Omar Khayyam

Actors: Cornel Wilde, Michael Rennie, Debra Paget, Raymond Massey, John Derek

Synopsis: Frank Freeman Jr., son of the longtime head of Paramount Pictures, made his debut as producer with the opulent but empty Omar Khayyam. Cornel Wilde stars as the legendary Persian poet, here depicted as not only a philosopher but a scientist, politician and great lover. As the Persians gear up for Read More

Kronos

Actors: Jeff Morrow, Barbara Lawrence, John Emery, George O'Hanlon, Morris Ankrum

Synopsis: A alien satellite enters close orbit around the Earth and releases a projectile that takes over the body and mind of Dr. Hubbell Eliot (John Emery), the director of Lab Central, America's top astrophysics research facility. Even as Elliot is falling victim to the invaders, Lab Central scientist Read More

Walk the Proud Land

Actors: Audie Murphy, Anne Bancroft, Jay Silverheels, Charles Drake, Tommy Rall

Synopsis: Walk the Proud Land is the true story of Indian agent John Philip Clum, as set down on paper by Clum's son. The film begins in 1874, as Clum, an Eastern government representative, arrives in San Carlos, Arizona. It is Clum's intention to uphold the peace between the settlers and the Apaches, and Read More

The Naked Gun

Synopsis: Not to be confused with the popular David Zuckor comedy from the late '80s that starred Leslie Nielson, 1956's Naked Gun chronicles the adventures of a bored insurance salesman who spices up his drab life by heading to the Mexican jungle to search for an ancient Aztec treasure and return it to its Read More

When Gangland Strikes

Synopsis: In this crime drama, mobsters swear to get revenge upon a zealous public prosecutor as he tries to get them put into prison. The desperate mobsters try to stop him by using his innocent daughter in a blackmail scheme. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Quincannon, Frontier Scout

Actors: Tony Martin, Peggie Castle, John Bromfield, John Smith, Ron Randell

Synopsis: Singer Tony Martin plays the non-musical title role in United Artists' Quinannon, Frontier Scout. Sent on a top-secret mission by the government, Quincannon tries to find out who's been selling repeating rifles to the Indians. The culprit turns out to be an old friend of the hero--and, for plot Read More

Fury at Gunsight Pass

Actors: David Brian, Neville Brand, Richard Long, Lisa Davis, Katherine Warren

Synopsis: Fury at Gunsight Pass is a brief, to-the-point "budget" western, well cast and excitingly staged. David Brian stars as bank robber Whitey Turner, whose outlaw gang takes over a small town. Beating gang leader Dirk Hogan (Neville Brand) to the punch by robbing the town bank ahead of schedule Read More

The Desperados Are in Town

Actors: Robert Arthur, Kathleen Nolan, Rhys Williams, Dave "Tex" O'Brien

Synopsis: In this western, a young man tries to walk the straight and narrow, but he is impeded by his past. The trouble begins when the young fellow flees his family's Texas dirt farm and becomes an outlaw. He is advised by one of the desperadoes to return home. The boy does, and with hard work, makes the Read More

Death of a Scoundrel

Actors: George Sanders, Yvonne De Carlo, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Victor Jory, Nancy Gates

Synopsis: A contemptuous and self-serving immigrant, Clementi Sabourin (George Sanders) pulls himself up by his bootstraps by instrumenting a series of cons and seductions which bilk several very wealthy persons out of most of their money. Most of the action is related in a series of flashbacks after Read More

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers

Actors: Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor, Donald Curtis, Morris Ankrum, John Zaremba

Synopsis: Anyone who's seen the 1996 science-fiction lampoon Mars Attacks may have trouble watching Earth vs. the Flying Saucers with a straight face. Hugh Marlowe plays scientist Russell Marvin, who is on-hand when an alien spacecraft lands on earth. The saucermen at first insist that they've come in Read More

Chief Crazy Horse

Actors: Victor Mature, Suzan Ball, John Lund, Ray Danton, Keith Larsen

Synopsis: Reviled in his lifetime as a lunatic insurrectionist, Chief Crazy Horse has in recent years emerged as a Native American hero. In this off-beat western, unusual for its time in that it sympathetically presented the Native American viewpoint, Victor Mature plays the misunderstood Sioux leader while Read More

The Eternal Sea

Actors: Sterling Hayden, Alexis Smith, Dean Jagger, Ben Cooper, Virginia Grey, Morris Ankrum, John Maxwell

Synopsis: One of Republic's most elaborate productions of the 1950s, The Eternal Sea is the biography of American admiral John M. Hoskins. Sterling Hayden delivers a superbly understated performance as Hoskins, who continued to serve throughout WW2 despite the loss of a leg in the early phases of the Read More

Jupiter's Darling

Actors: Esther Williams, Howard Keel, Marge Champion, Gower Champion, George Sanders

Synopsis: Esther Williams' long association with MGM came to an abrupt end with Jupiter's Darling, which even she will admit was her silliest film. Based on Robert Sherwood's satirical play The Road to Rome, the film cast as Williams as Amytis, fiancee of vacillating Roman statesman Fabius Maximus (George Sanders Read More

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marie Windsor, Michael Ansara, Dan Seymour

Synopsis: Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy is the last of the team's vehicles for Universal-International. Stranded in Egypt, Bud and Lou hire themselves out as travelling companions to archeologist Kurt Katch. Before long, Katch is murdered by a group of cultists, and a medallion, embossed with a map Read More

Crashout

Actors: William Bendix, Arthur Kennedy, Luther Adler, William Talman, Gene Evans

Synopsis: Six convicts plan a prison break and are successful, though their ringleader (William Bendix) is injured in the attempt. He promises to share the fortune in gold he has stowed away if they help him get to a doctor. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

No Man's Woman

Synopsis: Carolyn Grant (Marie Windsor), a Monterey gallery owner, is playing the field and seems to have one too many men on her string, including her wealthy estranged husband, the local art critic, and even the fiancé of her shop assistant. So when Carolyn is murdered during an apparent break-in at her Read More

The Silver Star

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

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

Three Young Texans

Actors: Mitzi Gaynor, Keefe Brasselle, Jeffrey Hunter, Harvey Stephens, Dan Riss, Michael Ansara

Synopsis: Mitzi Gaynor was contractually awarded with top billing in 20th Century-Fox's Three Young Texans, but the film's true star is Jeffrey Hunter. To prevent his father from being blackmailed into committing a train robbery, Johnny Colt (Hunter) pulls off the theft himself. Our hero and his lady friend Read More

Two Guns and a Badge

Actors: Wayne Morris, Morris Ankrum, Beverly Garland, Roy Barcroft, William Phipps

Synopsis: In the last of his four western programmers for Allied Artists, Wayne Morris plays frontiersman Jim Bisby. Mistaken for a notorious gunslinger, Jim is appointed deputy sheriff of a wide-open cattle town. Playing along, our hero gets down to business -- and by the time his true identity is Read More

Drums Across the River

Actors: Audie Murphy, Walter Brennan, Lyle Bettger, Lisa Gaye, Hugh O'Brian

Synopsis: Audie Murphy is at his taciturn best in the Universal western Drums Along the River. Murphy is cast as Gary Brannon, a peaceful homesteader living a quiet existence with his father Sam (Walter Brennan). No-account Frank Walker (Lyle Bettger), hoping to open up the Ute Indian territory for Read More

Taza, Son of Cochise

Actors: Rock Hudson, Barbara Rush, Gregg Palmer, Bart Roberts, Morris Ankrum

Synopsis: In this unusual Western directed by Douglas Sirk, Rock Hudson stars as Taza, whose legendary father Cochise (Jeff Chandler) is on his deathbed. Taza promises his father that he will keep the tribe -- which Cochise united and ruled -- at peace. But Taza's brother wants the tribe to join with Read More

The Saracen Blade

Actors: Ricardo Montalban, Rick Jason, Carolyn Jones, Whitfield Connor

Synopsis: Ricardo Montalban takes time out from mighty Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to star in the Sam Katzman quickie Saracen Blade. Montalban plays Pietro, a 13th-century intellectual who spends his evenings as a masked avenger. Pietro hopes to avenge the death of his father, and to this end will not rest until he Read More

Southwest Passage

Actors: Joanne Dru, Rod Cameron, John Ireland, John Dehner

Synopsis: In this western, a forward thinking hero joins in on the promotion of camels as the perfect desert pack animals. He embarks upon a journey with a group of others. Among them is a fugitive bankrobber and his girl friend who are trying to outfox a posse. One of the hero's men recognizes the Read More

The Steel Cage

Actors: Paul Kelly, Maureen O'Sullivan, John Ireland, Lawrence Tierney, Arthur Franz

Synopsis: Like its predecessor Duffy of San Quentin, The Steel Cage is made up of episodes from a never-telecast TV series based on the career of progressive prison warden Clinton T. Duffy. Paul Kelly plays Duffy, while his wife is portrayed by Maureen O'Sullivan. Divided into three separate playlets, the Read More

Tennessee's Partner

Actors: John Payne, Ronald Reagan, Rhonda Fleming, Coleen Gray, Anthony Caruso

Synopsis: Another winning collaboration between producer Benedict Bogeaus and director Allan Dwan, Tennessee's Partner is the third film version of the same-named Bret Harte story. The plotline is motivated by the curious friendship between slick gambler Tennessee (John Payne) and gunslinging Cowpoke Read More

Vera Cruz

Actors: Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster, Denise Darcel, Cesar Romero, Sarita Montiel

Synopsis: Produced by Burt Lancaster's own company, Vera Cruz teams Lancaster with the venerable Gary Cooper. The story, set during the Mexican revolution of 1866, casts Coop and Lancaster as Ben Trane and Joe Erin, two rival soldiers of fortune who team to fight for the highest bidder. The two men come to Read More

Cattle Queen of Montana

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Ronald Reagan, Gene Evans, Lance Fuller, Anthony Caruso, Jack Elam

Synopsis: Filmed on location at Montana's Glacier National Park, Cattle Queen of Montana makes excellent use of the diverse talents of Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan. Stanwyck is cast as Sierra Nevada Jones, who hopes to stake her claim in the cattle business despite opposition from hostile land barons. Read More

Silver Lode

Actors: John Payne, Lizabeth Scott, Dan Duryea, Dolores Moran, Emile G. Meyer, Frank Sully

Synopsis: Next to Slightly Scarlet, Silver Lode is the best of the many 1950s collaborations between producer Benedict Bogaeus and director Allan Dwan. Clearly inspired by High Noon, the story covers three hours in the lives of a group of westerners. As the townsfolk prepare for the Fourth of July Read More

Apache

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters, John McIntire, Charles Buchinsky, John Dehner

Synopsis: Apache was based on Paul I. Wellman's novel Broncho Apache, which in turn was inspired by a true story. Burt Lancaster plays Massai, a lieutenant of the great Apache warrior Geronimo (here depicted as an old man, played by Monte Blue). Though his tribe has signed surrender terms with the Read More

The Outlaw Stallion

Actors: Philip Carey, Dorothy Patrick, Roy Roberts, Gordon Jones

Synopsis: Filmed on location in Utah, The Outlaw Stallion top-bills Phil Carey and Dorothy Patrick, but the star of the proceedings is young Billy Gray. Living on a ranch with his widowed mother (Patrick), Billy makes friends with the white stallion who leads the herd of wild horses living under the ranch's Read More

Mexican Manhunt

Synopsis: Set in Mexico, this thriller centers on an author who becomes obsessed with solving a murder that occurred fifteen years ago. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Moonlighter

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Ward Bond, William Ching, John Dierkes

Synopsis: Disreputable wanderer Wes Anderson (Fred MacMurray) has been thrown in a frontier town calaboose, accused of being a "moonlighter" -- a cowpuncher who herds cattle by day and steals them by night. When Anderson escapes from jail, another man is falsely accused of Wes' crimes and is promptly Read More

Devil's Canyon

Actors: Virginia Mayo, Dale Robertson, Stephen McNally, Arthur Hunnicutt, Robert Keith

Synopsis: RKO Radio's second 3D production, Devil's Canyon is a combination western and jail-break picture. The scene is Arizona Territorial Prison, wherein 500 desperate men are incarcerated. The inmates become even more desperate when female outlaw Abby Nixon (Virginia Mayo) is likewise locked up. As the Read More

Fort Vengeance

Actors: James Craig, Rita Moreno, Keith Larsen, Reginald Denny, Charles Irwin

Synopsis: Fort Vengeance starts out as a western and ends up as a "northern." Trouble-making brothers Dick (James Craig) and Carey (Keith Larsen) skeedaddle to Canada when things get too hot for them in the states. The brothers join the Royal Canadian Mounties, where their knowledge of Indian activities Read More

Invaders From Mars

Actors: Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Jimmy Hunt, Leif Erickson, Hillary Brooke

Synopsis: Originating during the science-fiction/Red-Scare boom of the '50s, Invaders From Mars is an entertaining little picture that holds up reasonably well. David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) is a 12-year-old astronomy buff who is stunned to see a flying saucer landing in the sand pit beyond his backyard. His Read More

Sky Commando

Actors: Dan Duryea, Frances Gifford, Michael Fox, William R. Klein

Synopsis: Dan Duryea essays a rare sympathetic role in the Columbia programmer Sky Commandos. At first glance, however, Duryea seems to be the villain. Cast as a martinet air force officer, he drives his men mercilessly, earning the enmity of practically everyone under his command. But through a series of Read More

Arena

Actors: Gig Young, Jean Hagen, Polly Bergen, Barbara Lawrence

Synopsis: Bob Danvers, an arrogant, irresponsible rodeo star, retaliates for losing his wife by having an affair with a pretty fan in this melodrama. His wife, Ruth, really loves him, but she can no longer handle his selfishness and leaves. Hob has his moment of truth at a major Tucson rodeo when his Read More

Because of You

Actors: Loretta Young, Jeff Chandler, Alex Nicol, Frances Dee, Alexander Scourby

Synopsis: Fans of Loretta Young were rather taken aback by the early scenes of Because of You, wherein Young is seen as brash, uninhibited bleach-blonde Christine Carroll. On the verge of marrying gangster Mike Monroe (Alex Nicol), Christine is arrested by the cops, and sent to prison on the strength of Read More

Hiawatha

Actors: Vince Edwards, Yvette Dugay, Keith Larsen, Eugene Iglesias, Armando Silvestre

Synopsis: When Vincent Edwards attained TV stardom as "Ben Casey" in 1961, his detractors took great delight in citing Edwards' earlier starring appearance in Monogram's Hiawatha. A great deal of fun was had by all when it was revealed that Edwards had to have his chest shaved on a daily basis while playing Read More

And Now Tomorrow

The Man Behind the Gun

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

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

Red Planet Mars

Actors: Peter Graves, Andrea King, Orley Lindgren, Walter Sande, Marvin Miller, Herbert Berghof

Synopsis: A husband-and-wife scientist team (Peter Graves, Andrea King) are experimenting with a "hydrogen tube" invention (which he got from a missing German scientist, lost in the collapse of the Reich), when they get signals back from what appears to be Mars. The culture-shock of that event is serious Read More

Mutiny

Actors: Mark Stevens, Angela Lansbury, Patric Knowles, Gene Evans, Rhys Williams

Synopsis: Director Edward Dmytryk returned from a few unhappy years on the Blacklist in the early 1950s, to direct a handful of programmers before being restored to "A" pictures. Dmytrk's Mutiny is set during the War of 1812. Mark Stevens, captain of the American ship Concord, finds himself at the mercy of Read More

The Raiders

Actors: Richard Conte, Viveca Lindfors, Barbara Britton, Hugh O'Brian, Richard Martin

Synopsis: It's always a pleasure to see ace western director Leslie Selander in action, and Riders of Vengeance is no exception. Originally released as The Raiders, this Universal programmer stars Richard Conte as a miner who leads an expedition of his compatriots to the California Gold Rush. Crooked Morris Ankrum Read More

Son of Ali Baba

Actors: Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Susan Cabot, William Reynolds

Synopsis: In this swashbuckling adventure-satire, Kashma Baba's famous father Ali, sends the reluctant youth to military school to prepare him for the troubles ahead. Meanwhile, an evil Caliph kidnaps and enslaves an Arabian princess as part of his plan to steal Ali Baba's fabulous treasure. He then sends Read More

Fort Osage

Actors: Rod Cameron, Jane Nigh, Morris Ankrum, Douglas Kennedy, John Ridgely

Synopsis: Lesley Selander took time off from his directorial duties on Tim Holt's RKO western series to helm the Monogram oater Fort Osage. Rod Cameron stars as frontier scout Tim Clay, assigned to guide a wagon train through Indian territory. Clay knows that he's in for a lot of trouble because of the Read More

My Favorite Spy

Actors: Bob Hope, Hedy Lamarr, Francis L. Sullivan, Arnold Moss, John Archer

Synopsis: Bob Hope is up to his famous nose in danger in this espionage comedy. Second-rate burlesque comic Peanuts White (Hope) is approached by federal agents who think that he's international spy Eric Augustine, to whom Peanuts bears a striking resemblance. When they realize that Peanuts and Eric are two Read More

The Lion Hunters

Actors: Johnny Sheffield, Morris Ankrum, Ann E. Todd, Douglas Kennedy, Smoki Whitfield

Synopsis: Bomba the Jungle Boy--aka Johnny Sheffield--makes his fifth screen appearance in Monogram's Lion Hunters. Bomba's task this time out is to stem the activities of crooked animal hunters Forbes (Morris Ankrum) and Martin (Douglas Kennedy). The villains have set up camp in the land of the Masai, who Read More

Along the Great Divide

Actors: Kirk Douglas, Virginia Mayo, John Agar, Walter Brennan, Ray Teal

Synopsis: Raoul Walsh injects his expected artistry in the otherwise journeyman western Along the Great Divide. Feeling responsible for his father's death, marshal Kirk Douglas seeks redemption. He gets his chance when he saves murder suspect Walter Brennan from a lynch mob. The grateful Brennan accompanies Douglas Read More

Fighting Coast Guard

Actors: Brian Donlevy, Forrest Tucker, John Russell, Richard Jaeckel, William Murphy

Synopsis: The Coast Guard is highlighted in this propaganda drama set during WW II. In addition to the usual blend of romance and military adventure, the film also features an interesting glimpse in to the training of the young Guards as they prepare for war. The story centers around a crew of shipyard Read More

Flight to Mars

Actors: Marguerite Chapman, Cameron Mitchell, Arthur Franz, Virginia Huston, John Litel

Synopsis: Flight to Mars is the second American film of the postwar era (after the previous year's Rocketship X-M) to depict a manned space trip to the Red Planet. Leading-man responsibilities are evenly divided between Arthur Franz as brilliant scientist Dr. Jim Barker and Cameron Mitchell as two-fisted Read More

Tomorrow Is Another Day

Actors: Ruth Roman, Steve Cochran, Lurene Tuttle, Ray Teal, Morris Ankrum

Synopsis: When Margaret Mitchell originally submitted her manuscript for Gone with the Wind, its title was Tomorrow Is Another Day. The 1951 film of that title has nothing to do with Gone with the Wind, as will be obvious before the credits fade. Steve Cochran plays an ex-convict who thinks he killed Read More

Southside 1-1000

Actors: Don DeFore, Andrea King, George Tobias, Barry Kelley, Morris Ankrum

Synopsis: In the tradition of 20th Century Fox's semi-documentary "Now it can be told" films, Monogram Picture's "A" division Allied Artists came up with Southside 1-1000. The U.S. Secret Service goes after a gang of counterfeiters, whose engraver (Morris Ankrum) has covertly constructed his plates while in Read More

Short Grass

Actors: Rod Cameron, Cathy Downs, Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Walburn, Jonathan Hale

Synopsis: Western aficionados tend to regard Short Grass as the best-ever directorial effort by Lesley Selander. Considerably longer than most Monogram westerns (82 minutes), the film never lags, thanks to the expertise of Selander and a top-rank cast. Rod Cameron plays Steve, a drifter who briefly settles Read More

The Redhead and the Cowboy

Actors: Glenn Ford, Edmond O'Brien, Rhonda Fleming, Alan Reed, Sr., Morris Ankrum

Synopsis: Glenn Ford and Rhonda Fleming star in The Redhead and the Cowboy, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out who plays what. Fleming is cast as Confederate spy Candace Bronson, who makes her way through enemy lines to deliver an important message. She is accompanied by Gil Kyle (Glenn Ford), who Read More

In a Lonely Place

Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy, Carl Benton Reid, Robert Warwick, Jeff Donnell, Art Smith, Martha Stewart

Synopsis: A haunting work of stark confessionalism disguised as a taut noir thriller, In a Lonely Place -- Nicholas Ray's bleak, desperate tale of fear and self-loathing in Hollywood -- remains one of the filmmaker's greatest and most deeply resonant features. It stars Humphrey Bogart as Dixon Steele, a Read More

Chain Lightning

Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker, Raymond Massey, Richard Whorf, James Brown

Synopsis: This second-echelon Humphrey Bogart vehicle casts Bogie as a bomber pilot who becomes a free-lance flyboy after the war. Eleanor Parker, Bogart's wartime love, is now the secretary of aircraft manufacturer Raymond Massey. Partly out of an effort to link up with Parker again, Bogart signs on as a Read More

The Damned Don't Cry

Actors: Joan Crawford, David Brian, Steve Cochran, Kent Smith, Hugh Sanders

Synopsis: A woman's desire to rise above her drab lower middle-class life take her down the road to destruction in this gripping crime melodrama. The story opens as she cowers insider her old home, fearing the inevitable arrival of the murderous gangsters pursuing her. Her tragic tale unfolds via flashback. Read More

Borderline

Actors: Fred MacMurray, Claire Trevor, Raymond Burr, Roy Roberts, José Torvay

Synopsis: This crime melodrama with humorous undertones involves the investigation of dope smugglers on the Mexican border. Americans Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor enter the scene and find themselves embroiled in the illicit activities. Both are government agents, but each one thinks the other is a Read More

Rocketship X-M

Actors: Lloyd Bridges, Osa Massen, John Emery, Noah Beery, Jr., Hugh O'Brian

Synopsis: Together with The Steel Helmet and Baron of Arizona, Rocketship X M is one of the best films ever turned out by the usually unimpressive Lippert Studios. Set sometime in the future, the film details the first manned space flight to the moon. John Emery plays the head of the expedition, with Lloyd Bridges Read More

The Fountainhead

Actors: Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Kent Smith, Henry Hull, Robert Douglas

Synopsis: The hero of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead is Howard Roark (Gary Cooper), a fiercely independent architect obviously patterned after Frank Lloyd Wright. Rather than compromise his ideals, Roark takes menial work as a quarryman to finance his projects. He falls in love with heiress Dominique (Patricia Neal Read More

We Were Strangers

Actors: Jennifer Jones, John Garfield, Pedro Armendáriz, Gilbert Roland, Ramon Novarro

Synopsis: Set in the Cuba of 1933, We Were Strangers stars John Garfield as revolutionary-minded Tony Fenner. A member of an underground movement dedicated to toppling the despotic Machado regime, Tony supervises the booby-trapping of a cemetery where several top Cuban officials are planning to converge for Read More

Slattery's Hurricane

Actors: Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Veronica Lake, John Russell, Gary Merrill

Synopsis: Ex-navy pilot Slattery (Richard Widmark) works for a dope-smuggling ring. When he's not in the air, Slattery is making time with Dolores (Veronica Lake), the somewhat put-upon secretary of the ring's leader. Only upon meeting Aggie (Linda Darnell), the wife of his old navy buddy Hobson (John Russell Read More

Colorado Territory

Actors: Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Malone, Henry Hull, John Archer

Synopsis: Though not acknowledged by contemporary reviewers, Colorado Territory is a westernized remake of the 1941 crime drama High Sierra. Raoul Walsh, director of the earlier film, returns to helm the remake, doing a grand job on both occasions. Joel McCrea stars in the Humphrey Bogart role, playing a Read More

Bad Men of Tombstone

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

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

For the Love of Mary

Actors: Deanna Durbin, Edmond O'Brien, Don Taylor, Jeffrey Lynn, Ray Collins

Synopsis: Deanna Durbin's career was clearly on the downswing when she starred in For the Love of Mary. Durbin plays a switchboard operator at the White House, whose hiccuping spells throw several incoming special-interest callers into a tizzy. The President himself cures Durbin of her hiccups, thereby Read More

Fighting Back

Actors: Paul Langton, Jean Rogers, Joe Sawyer, Morris Ankrum, John Kellogg

Synopsis: In this crime drama, a convict is freed after he agrees to join the military during WW II. After he is discharged he gets a job at a factory. The criminal is almost completely reformed when he is visited by an old partner in crime. The shady pal's dog steals the factory owner's bracelet and the Read More

Joan of Arc

Actors: Ingrid Bergman, Selena Royle, José Ferrer, Ward Bond, Robert H. Barrat, Francis L. Sullivan, Jimmy Lydon, Cecil Kellaway, Rand Brooks

Synopsis: Director Victor Fleming's final film features Ingrid Bergman as a vivid and luminous Joan of Arc, the 15th-century French peasant girl who led the French in battle against the invading English, becoming a national hero. When she was captured, tortured, and ultimately executed by the English, she Read More

Cynthia

Actors: Morris Ankrum, Elizabeth Taylor, George Murphy, S.Z. Sakall, Scotty Beckett, Carol Brannan, Mary Astor, Harlan Briggs, Spring Byington

Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Taylor receives her first screen kiss in the innocuous MGM confection Cynthia. Taylor plays the title character, a sickly, sheltered young lady who is never permitted the companionship of other teenagers. Frustrated though Cynthia may be, she has nothing on her parents Read More

The Sea of Grass

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

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

Good News

Actors: June Allyson, Morris Ankrum, Tom Dugan, Connie Gilchrist, Jane Green

Synopsis: This second film version of the DeSylva/Brown/Henderson Broadway musical Good News may not be the best of the Arthur Freed-produced MGM musicals, but it's certainly one of the peppiest. The film is set at Tait college during the Roaring 20s. The wisp of a plot involves Tait football-star Peter Lawford Read More

Desire Me

Actors: Greer Garson, Robert Mitchum, Richard Hart, George Zucco, Cecil Humphreys, Morris Ankrum

Synopsis: Marise Aubert (Greer Garson) has begun seeing a psychiatrist to treat her overwhelming guilt. It seems that Marise was married to Paul (Robert Mitchum), who was sent overseas in World War II. She loved Paul deeply and remained faithful to him. She then receives tragic news that Paul died in Read More

Undercover Maisie

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

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

The High Wall

Actors: Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter, Herbert Marshall, Dorothy Patrick, H.B. Warner, Warner Anderson

Synopsis: Former army pilot Robert Taylor is accused, on the basis of strong circumstantial evidence, of his wife's murder. Suffering from periodic blackouts, Taylor isn't so certain of his innocence himself. When offered a brain operation, Taylor refuses, knowing that if he is proven sane he will be Read More

Little Mister Jim

Actors: Butch Jenkins, James Craig, Frances Gifford, Luana Patten, Spring Byington

Synopsis: MGM's newest child star Jackie "Butch" Jenkins--lisp and all--is the title character in this overlong family drama. The setting is a postwar army camp, where returning GIs live in Quonsets with their families. Jenkins' mother dies, whereupon his soldier dad becomes an alcoholic. Both father and Read More

Song of the Thin Man

Actors: Leon Ames, Warner Anderson, William Bishop, Bruce Cowling, Bess Flowers

Synopsis: In the sixth and final Thin Man whodunit, Nick (William Powell) and Nora Charles (Myrna Loy) look into the mysterious killing of bandleader Tommy Drake (Phillip Reed). The police quickly hone in on the owner of a gambling ship, Phil Brant (Bruce Cowling), who was about to lose Drake's band to a Read More

The Postman Always Rings Twice

Actors: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn, Audrey Totter

Synopsis: James M. Cain's novel received its first authorized screen treatment in this MGM production. Drifter Frank Chambers (John Garfield) takes a job at a roadhouse run by slovenly but likeable Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway). Nick's sexy young wife Cora (Lana Turner) takes an immediate liking to Frank, but Read More

The Harvey Girls

Actors: Judy Garland, John Hodiak, Ray Bolger, Angela Lansbury, Marjorie Main, Preston S. Foster

Synopsis: This glorified Technicolor commercial for the Fred Harvey restaurants stars Judy Garland as a 19th-century mail-order bride. Upon arriving in New Mexico, Garland discovers that her husband-to-be is the town drunk. She cuts her losses and takes a job at the local Harvey restaurant, an establishment Read More

The Cockeyed Miracle

Actors: Frank Morgan, Keenan Wynn, Cecil Kellaway, Audrey Totter, Richard Quine

Synopsis: Frank Morgan plays a turn-of-the-century shipbuilder who dies of a sudden heart attack. Morgan is summoned to Heaven by the ghost of the father (Keenan Wynn), who'd been killed in a barroom brawl at an early age and thus is now younger than his own son! After a few amusing efforts at testing his Read More

Lady in the Lake

Actors: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully, Leon Ames

Synopsis: Robert Montgomery is the director and star of the film noir mystery Lady in the Lake, adapted for the screen by source novelist Raymond Chandler. Montgomery plays detective Philip Marlowe, a private eye who just wants to publish his own crime stories. Kingsby Publications editor Adrienne Fromsett (Audrey Totter Read More

The Mighty McGurk

Actors: Morris Ankrum, Edward Arnold, Wallace Beery, Charles Judels, Aline MacMahon

Synopsis: It's The Champ all over again, with Wallace Beery as a down-and-out prizefighter and Dean Stockwell as the small boy whom he adopts. Mighty McGurk also borrows from Beery's earlier The Bowery (33) by placing its story in that New York neighborhood in 1900. The final echo from Wally Beery's movie Read More

Courage of Lassie

Actors: Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Morgan, Tom Drake, Selena Royle, Harry Davenport

Synopsis: This is the one where Lassie plays a war veteran with amnesia. Actually Lassie isn't even Lassie, but a male collie named Bill (at least he isn't asked to appear "in drag" like all the other cinematic Lassies). Raised from a pup by adolescent Elizabeth Taylor, the doggy hero becomes a sheep collie Read More

The Hidden Eye

Actors: Edward Arnold, Frances Rafferty, Ray Collins, Paul Langton

Synopsis: The Hidden Eye was the second of two MGM films featuring mystery writer Baynard Kendrick's blind detective Duncan McLain. As in Eyes in the Night, sightless sleuth McLain is played by Edward Arnold. This time, our hero tackles a series of murders apparently tied in with an ancient oriental cult. Read More

Adventure

Actors: Clark Gable, Greer Garson, Joan Blondell, Thomas Mitchell, Tom Tully

Synopsis: A middle-aged Clark Gable returned from active duty in World War II to star in this MGM release that was heavily advertised as his big comeback. Gable is Harry Patterson, the bosun mate on a merchant marine vessel, a tough sailor and fighter with the proverbial girl in every port. But while in a Read More

Barbary Coast Gent

Actors: Binnie Barnes, John Carradine, Bruce Kellogg, Frances Rafferty

Synopsis: A con artist heads for the gold fields of Nevada during the 1880s after he is tossed off of San Francisco's Barbary Coast. Once in the state, he poses as an important banker. When he actually does find a gold mine, he is forcibly compelled to divvy up the take with the townsfolk. He doesn't mind Read More

Rationing

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

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

Gentle Annie

Actors: James Craig, Donna Reed, Marjorie Main, Henry Morgan

Synopsis: Marjorie Main's first solo starring vehicle for MGM finds the formidable character actress cast as a tough-but-tender female outlaw. Living on her tumbledown ranch in Oklahoma territory, Annie Goss (Main) shelters her desperado sons (Henry Morgan, Paul Langton) from the authorities. While planning Read More

Meet the People

Actors: Lucille Ball, Dick Powell, Virginia O'Brien, Bert Lahr, Rags Ragland

Synopsis: MGM's musical extravaganza Meet the People top-bills two future powerful TV executives: Dick Powell and Lucille Ball. Ball plays a popular but stuck-up Broadway star who leaves the bright lights to become a welder in a shipyard. Here she meets and falls in love with coworker Powell. This being a Read More

The Thin Man Goes Home

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Gloria de Haven, Lucile Watson, Anne Revere, Harry Davenport

Synopsis: This fifth entry in MGM's off-and-on "Thin Man" series maintains the high production and story values of the first four. Per the title, retired private detective Nick Charles (William Powell) pays a visit to his home town of Sycamore Springs, with wife Nora (Myrna Loy) in tow. Poor Nick is Read More

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

Actors: Van Johnson, Robert Walker, Phyllis Thaxter, Tim Murdock, Scott McKay, Robert Mitchum

Synopsis: Billed third, Spencer Tracy plays Lt. Col. James P. Doolittle, who led the bombing raid over Tokyo. Most of the footage concerns pilot Ted Lawson (Van Johnson), who loses a leg while escaping from China after the attack; other subplots concern the meticulous preparations for the raid, and the Read More

See Here, Private Hargrove

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

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

Marriage Is a Private Affair

Actors: Lana Turner, James Craig, John Hodiak, Frances Gifford, Hugh Marlowe

Synopsis: Robert Z. Leonard, who must have taken room and board at MGM, was the directorial hand behind this slight domestic drama. Lana Turner is the bride, John Hodiak the groom. James Craig is the odd man out, who pursues Turner when Hodiak is off fighting the war. Bored by domesticity, Turner welcomes Read More

Radio Bugs

Actors: Bobby Blake, Billy "Froggy" Laughlin, Janet Burston, Brandon Hurst

Synopsis: Inspired by the success of his favorite comedian Red Skelton, Our Gang member Froggy (Billy Laughlin) decides to become a radio star. Armed with a tattered joke book and a vast array of "funny" props, Froggy and the other gang members begin searching for a suitable radio sponsor, starting in the Read More

Dixie Dugan

Actors: James Ellison, Charlotte Greenwood, Charlie Ruggles, Lois Andrews, Helene Reynolds

Synopsis: Lois Andrews, best known in 1943 as the ex-wife of comedian Georgie Jessel, plays the title character in this cinemadaptation of Joseph P. McEvoy's popular comic strip Dixie Dugan. Swept up in the war effort, Dixie gets a job as secretary to government official Roger Hudson (James Ellison). Though Read More

Best Foot Forward

Actors: Lucille Ball, Tommy Dix, William Gaxton, Virginia Weidler, Nancy Walker, June Allyson, Gloria de Haven

Synopsis: Five original cast members of the hit Broadway musical Best Foot Forward appear in this Technicolor MGM screen adaptation. Set at a small town military prep school, the story gets under way when movie star Lucille Ball (played by movie star Lucille Ball) pays a visit to the campus for publicity Read More

Swing Fever

Actors: Marilyn Maxwell, William Gargan, Lena Horne, Nat Pendleton

Synopsis: In most of his movie vehicles, bandleader Kay Kyser played a bandleader named Kay Kyser. In Swing Fever, however, Kyser is cast as aspiring songwriter Lowell Blackford. Though he isn't too successful at peddling his songs, Blackford does have one unique talent: The ability to hypnotize boxer Read More

I Dood It

Actors: Red Skelton, Eleanor Powell, Lena Horne, Patricia Dane, Richard Ainley, Sam Levene

Synopsis: In later years, director Vincente Minnelli would dismiss I Dood It as his worst picture, though a more deserving candidate for that "honor" would be Minnelli's valedictory film A Matter of Time. In this remake of Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage, Red Skelton plays pants-presser Joseph Rivington Read More

Let's Face It

Actors: Bob Hope, Betty Hutton, ZaSu Pitts, Phyllis Povah, Eve Arden, Dave Willock

Synopsis: Let's Face It is adapted from the Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the old Norma Mitchell/Russell G. Medcraft stage chestnut The Cradle Snatchers. The basic story of three neglected wives who hire a trio of young men as professional companions is updated for the World Read More

The Heavenly Body

Actors: William Powell, Hedy Lamarr, James Craig, Fay Bainter, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: In this light romantic comedy, William B. Whitley (William Powell) is an astronomer who is very excited about his latest discovery, a comet that has been named after him. However, Whitley has been so busy tracking the course of his comet as its path leads straight into the moon that he's been Read More

The Human Comedy

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Frank Morgan, Fay Bainter, James Craig, Marsha Hunt, Ray Collins, Van Johnson

Synopsis: Author William Saroyan's corn-shucking brand of sentimentality works wonders in this 1943 filmization of his novel. Narrator Ray Collins is dead before the film begins; thus he is able to provide an all-seeing overview of the tiny community of Ithaca, California. The principal character, played by Mickey Rooney Read More

Reunion in France

Actors: Joan Crawford, John Wayne, Philip Dorn, Reginald Owen, Albert Basserman

Synopsis: Better known as Reunion in France, this women's-magazine-style romantic melodrama was the first major production for director Jules Dassin -- who was promptly demoted back to the MGM "B" department when the picture tanked at the box office. Joan Crawford stars as Frenchwoman Michele de la Becque Read More

The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe

Actors: John Shepperd, Shepperd Strudwick, Linda Darnell, Jane Darwell, Virginia Gilmore, Mary Howard

Synopsis: John Shepperd, later known as Shepperd Strudwick, stars as the tragic Edgar Allan Poe in this low-budget biopic. Adopted as a child, Poe grows into a directionless adult, disgracing himself and his foster family through his inability (or unwillingness) to conform to the status quo of 19th century Read More

Tennessee Johnson

Actors: Van Heflin, Ruth Hussey, Lionel Barrymore, Marjorie Main, Regis Toomey

Synopsis: The tumultuous presidency of 17th-president Andrew Johnson is chronicled in this biopic. The story begins with Johnson's boyhood and covers his early life. During the Civil War, Johnson stays a staunch Unionist and upon Lincoln's reelection in 1864, becomes his Vice President. After Lincoln's Read More

Ten Gentlemen from West Point

Actors: George Montgomery, Maureen O'Hara, John Sutton, Laird Cregar, Victor Francen

Synopsis: This historical drama tells the story of the first class to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In the early 19th Century, Congress appropriated the money to build the school, but opponents who believed it to be an illegitimate expansion of the powers of the federal government Read More

Tales of Manhattan

Actors: Charles Boyer, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton

Synopsis: Tales of Manhattan is a sumptuous multipart film centered around a formal tailcoat. The coat is specially designed for stage actor Charles Boyer, who wears it during a rendezvous with his lady friend (Rita Hayworth). The lady's husband (Thomas Mitchell) shoots Boyer, thus the tailcoat is damaged Read More

Roxie Hart

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, George Montgomery, Lynne Overman, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: Based on the Ben Hecht/Charlie McArthur play Chicago, Roxie Hart is a short-but-sweet satire of highly publicized court trials. Ginger Rogers plays showgirl Roxie Hart, whose no-good husband kills a man and insists that Roxie take the blame, since juries seldom send a woman to the chair. She Read More

Ride 'Em Cowboy

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dick Foran, Anne Gwynne, Johnny Mack Brown

Synopsis: Bud Abbott & Lou Costello invade the wild west in Ride 'Em Cowboy. The boys play Duke and Willoughby, a couple of rodeo peanut vendors who get mixed up in the travails of western novelist Bob Mitchell (Dick Foran). Ostensibly a true Son of the Frontier, Bob has actually never been west of Brooklyn Read More

The Omaha Trail

Actors: James Craig, Pamela Blake, Dean Jagger, Edward Ellis, Chill Wills

Synopsis: Having done just fine at the box office with 1942's Apache Trail, MGM turned out another "pocket" western, The Omaha Trail. The story boils down to a battle of wits and sixguns between hero Pat Candel (James Craig) and villain Pipestone Ross (Dean Jagger). The latter is a wagon-train entrepreneur Read More

Time to Kill

Actors: Lloyd Nolan, Heather Angel, Doris Merrick, Ralph Byrd, Richard Lane

Synopsis: Like most of 20th Century-Fox's "Michael Shayne"detective series, Time to Kill was based on a source other than Brett Halliday's Shayne stories. In this case, the inspiration was The High Window, a "Philip Marlowe" mystery novel by Raymond Chandler. Substituting for Marlowe, of course, is flippant Read More

Border Vigilantes

Actors: Wally Wales, William "Hopalong" Boyd, Andy Clyde, Russell Hayden, Frances Gifford, Victor Jory

Synopsis: Border Vigilantes was the 34th entry in the "Hopalong Cassidy" western series, with 32 more still on the way. William Boyd stars once more as black-clad champion of justice Hopalong Cassidy, while Andy Clyde and Russell Hayden tag along as California Carson and Lucky Jenkins. This time our heroes Read More

Doomed Caravan

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, Russell Hayden, Andy Clyde, Morris Ankrum

Synopsis: This Hopalong Cassidy western finds Hoppy (William Boyd), Lucky (Russell Hayden) and California (Andy Clyde) trying to save Minna Gombell's wagon-freighting line. Bad guys Morris Ankrum and Trevor Bardette (five points to anyone who can tell these mustachioed miscreants apart) plan to sabotage Read More

In Old Colorado

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, Russell Hayden, Andy Clyde, Maggie Hayes, Morris Ankrum

Synopsis: The cast and crew of Paramount's "Hopalong Cassidy" Westerns returned once again to Lone Pine's famous Alabama Hills for this above-average entry in the long-running series. Ma Woods (Sarah Padden) is about to lose her ranch due to the machinations of the not so neighborly George Davidson (Stanley Read More

This Woman Is Mine

Actors: Franchot Tone, John Carroll, Walter Brennan, Carol Bruce, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: One would never know it from the title, but This Woman is Mine is a virile seafaring yarn dealing with the northern fur trade. Based on a sprawling novel by Gilbert W. Gabriel, the film takes place during a trading expedition from New York to Oregon, bankrolled by John Jacob Astor (played by Sig Read More

Pirates on Horseback

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, Russell Hayden, Andy Clyde, Eleanor Stewart, Morris Ankrum

Synopsis: Producer Harry Sherman once again brought the "Hopalong Cassidy" unit to picturesque Lone Pine, CA, and the result was yet another tidy little sagebrush oater about the search for a missing gold mine. California Carlson (Andy Clyde) learns that his only remaining relative, Ben Pendleton (Britt Read More

The Roundup

Actors: Richard Dix, Patricia Morison, Preston S. Foster, Don Wilson, Ruth Donnelly

Synopsis: Originally written as a stage vehicle for corpulent character actor Macklyn Arbuckle, Ernest Day's The Roundup was first filmed in 1920 with Fatty Arbuckle (no relation) in the lead. By the time the film was remade in 1941, Arbuckle's character, a roly-poly frontier sheriff named Slim (!), was Read More

The Bandit Trail

Actors: Tim Holt, Ray Whitley, Janet Waldo, Lee "Lasses" White, Morris Ankrum

Synopsis: In one of his best early Westerns, Tim Holt avenges the accidental shooting of his father by robbing the Cedar Fork bank, who owes him 20,000 dollars. With his uncle Red Haggerty (Morris Ankrum) and old friend, Whopper (Lee White), in tow, Tim then plans to take on the bank in Remington. The Read More

Road Agent

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

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

Wide Open Town

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, Russell Hayden, Andy Clyde, Evelyn Brent, Victor Jory

Synopsis: A superior B-Western in every way, this Hopalong Cassidy series entry features an especially compelling performance by former silent screen star Evelyn Brent. Along with his sidekicks, Lucky (Russell Hayden) and California (Andy Clyde), Hoppy (William Boyd) is searching for the gang that killed a Read More

I Wake Up Screaming

Actors: Betty Grable, Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Laird Cregar, William Gargan, Elisha Cook, Jr.

Synopsis: Well-known New York sports promoter Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature) is the prime suspect in the murder of Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis), a successful model and would-be actress. Questioned relentlessly by the police, and particularly by hulking detective squad commander Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar) Read More

The Light of Western Stars

Actors: Victor Jory, Jo Ann Sayers, Russell Hayden, Morris Ankrum, Noah Beery, Jr.

Synopsis: Previous filmed three times (most recently in 1930), the 1940 Paramount production Light of Western Stars was the latest in the studio's "Zane Grey" series. Victor Jory earns a rare top-billing slot as Gene Stewart, a hard-drinking Westerner who is reformed through the love of Boston debutante Read More

Three Men from Texas

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, Russell Hayden, Andy Clyde, Morris Ankrum, Morgan Wallace

Synopsis: The three men of the title in this superior B-Western are Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd), Lucky Jenkins (Russell Hayden), and, making his series debut, grizzled old California Carlson (Andy Clyde). Carlson is the braggart cook of the Gardner outfit, a gang preying on defenseless ranchers, but Read More

Cherokee Strip

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

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

Buck Benny Rides Again

Actors: Jack Benny, Ellen Drew, Andy Devine, Phil Harris

Synopsis: To fully appreciate Buck Benny Rides Again, one must have some familiarity with Jack Benny's radio programs of the 1939-40 season. During this period, Jack's broadcast costars included bandleader Phil Harris, announcer Don Wilson, singer Dennis Day and comedians Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Andy Devine Read More

The Showdown

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, Russell Hayden, Britt Wood, Morris Ankrum, Jan Clayton

Synopsis: The Showdown was the second 1940 entry in Paramount's "Hopalong Cassidy" western series. William Boyd (who else?) stars as Hoppy, while his sidekicks on this trip are Russell Hayden as Lucky Jenkins and Britt Wood as Speedy. When his rancher friend dies of a heart attack after being swindled by a Read More

Knights of the Range

Actors: Russell Hayden, Victor Jory, Jean Parker, Morris Ankrum, Britt Wood

Synopsis: Paramount's "Zane Grey" series continued rolling into the 1940s with Knights of the Range. Taking a break from the studio's Hopalong Cassidy pictures, Russell Hayden stars as Renn Frayne, a college-educated youth who finds more than he bargained for when he heads westward. After a terrifying Read More

Borderland

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, James Ellison, George "Gabby" Hayes, Charlene Wyatt

Synopsis: An above-average "Hopalong Cassidy" series entry, Borderland has Hoppy (William Boyd) going undercover as a bandit in a tough Mexican border town in order to trap a notorious bandit known only as The Fox. Not even sidekicks Johnny Nelson (James Ellison) and Windy (George "Gabby" Hayes) are in on Read More

Rustler's Valley

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, George "Gabby" Hayes, Russell Hayden, Muriel Evans

Synopsis: After several overlong "Hopalong Cassidy" westerns, Rustler's Valley brings things back under control with a short-and-sweet running time of 58 minutes. William Boyd, George "Gabby" Hayes and Russell Hayden are back respectively as Hoppy, Windy and Lucky. This time, a powerful railroad tycoon Read More

North of the Rio Grande

Actors: George "Gabby" Hayes

Synopsis: Superior locations, above-average direction, better than usual lighting and competent acting were the ingredients that made producer Harry Sherman's Hopalong Cassidy vehicles perhaps the finest series of B-Westerns of its time. The fifth in the series, North of the Rio Grande introduced former Read More

Hills of Old Wyoming

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, George "Gabby" Hayes, Russell Hayden, Gail Sheridan

Synopsis: Hills of Old Wyoming was the 10th entry in the "Hopalong Cassidy" series, and at 79 minutes one of the longest of the batch (beaten out only by the 82-minute Borderland). William Boyd and George "Gabby" Hayes are back as Hoppy and Windy, but handsome sidekick Johnny Nelson (James Ellison) has been Read More

Trail Dust

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, James Ellison, George "Gabby" Hayes, Gwyn Shipman

Synopsis: Trail Dust was the eighth entry in the 66-film "Hopalong Cassidy" series. William Boyd, of course, is Hoppy, while his sidekicks Johnny and Windy are portrayed respectively by James Ellison and Gabby Hayes. This time the story is motivated by a huge cattle drive, some of which is lifted from such Read More

Hopalong Cassidy Returns

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, George "Gabby" Hayes, Gail Sheridan, Evelyn Brent

Synopsis: The seventh of the "Hopalong Cassidy" westerns, Hopalong Cassidy Returns stars, as always, William Boyd as the black-stetsoned hero. This one is a surprisingly sadistic item, in which a mysterious predator forces various ranchers off their land through rather direct means. In the opening scene, a Read More

Stand up and Cheer

Actors: Warner Baxter, Madge Evans, James Dunn, John Boles

Synopsis: Based on an idea by Will Rogers, the story concerns the efforts by the President of the United States to get the public's mind off the Depression. To this end, he appoints Broadway impresario Lawrence Cromwell (Warner Baxter) to the new cabinet position of "Secretary of Amusement." Wasting no Read More