Roscoe AtesFilmography

The Silent Call

Actors: Roger Mobley, David McLean, Gail Russell, Joe Besser, Jack Younger

Synopsis: Director John A. Bushelman makes a departure from his usual western and action films to guide this respectable, canine-centered, family film about a big dog by the name of Pete with definite separation anxiety. When the impoverished Brancato family takes off from their Nevada home to look for a Read More

The Errand Boy

Actors: Jerry Lewis, Brian Donlevy, Howard McNear, Dick Wesson, Robert Ivers, Pat Dahl

Synopsis: The second of Jerry Lewis' directorial endeavors, The Errand Boy, like its predecessor The Bellboy, is essentially a series of "spot gags," some hilarious, others only moderately amusing. The gossamer-thin plot finds Morty Tashman (Lewis) being hired by the CEO of "Paramutuel Pictures" (Brian Donlevy Read More

The Ladies' Man

Actors: Jerry Lewis, Helen Traubel, Kathleen Freeman, Hope Holiday

Synopsis: Comedian Jerry Lewis began directing movies in 1960, and this often unkind satire on the nature of American womanhood is one of his early efforts in that regard. The rubber-legged, rubber-faced Lewis plays Herbert, a man who is despondent over the break-up of his romance. While looking for a job Read More

The Untouchables: Augie

Synopsis: Having been on the side of the law as one of the original "Untouchables" in the series' two-part pilot film, Keenan Wynn returns in the despicably villainous role of Augie "The Banker" Ciamino. Terrorizing his fellow Italian immigrants into submission, Ciamino forces them to set up small stills in Read More

Maverick: Hadley's Hunters

Synopsis: Bart (Jack Kelly) is framed for crimes he didn't commit by sadistic sheriff Horace Hadley (Edgar Buchanan) and his equally odious deputy Jones (played by future Oscar winner George Kennedy). The two crooked lawmen specialize in hunting down and murdering innocent men, then claiming that their Read More

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Little Man Who Was There

Synopsis: A formerly rough-and-tumble Western mining town has lived in peace and tranquility ever since the arrival of gentle giants Jamie and Ben McMahon (Arch Johnson, Read Morgan). All this changes when an odd-looking little man (Norman Lloyd) shows up in town, promptly challenging the McMahon brothers' Read More

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Outlaw in Town

Synopsis: On a cold and blizzardy night, a man named Lorca (Ricardo Montalban) saunters into the Last Chance Saloon in the Western town of Buffalo Bend. Upon realizing that a wanted poster for Lorca hangs on the saloon's wall, the patrons of the bar hold a raffle to see who will turn the outlaw in and Read More

Maverick: Gunshy

Synopsis: This is Maverick's celebrated spoof of Gunsmoke, emulating its more serious "role model" right down to the pre-credits showdown--with Bret Maverick (James Garner) at the wrong end of the six-shooter. The story is narrated by Marshal Mort Dooley (Ben Gage), who in is never-ending efforts to keep Read More

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Road Hog

Maverick: Two Beggars on Horseback

Synopsis: In order to play in a high-stakes poker game, Bret (James Garner) and Bart (Jack Kelly) enter a pair of certified checks, each worth $10,000. Only after they've thrown the checks into the pot are the Mavericks informed by beautiful Jessamy Longacre (Patricia Barry) that the bank which issued the Read More

Maverick: Two Tickets to Ten Strike

Synopsis: En route from Tucson to the town of Ten Strike, Bret (James Garner) makes the acquaintance of Frankie French (Connie Stevens), a former saloon dancer. Frankie has been summoned to Ten Strike by a mysterious benefactor whom she has never met. Upon her arrival in town, Frankie discovers that her Read More

The Sheepman

Actors: Glenn Ford, Shirley MacLaine, Leslie Nielsen, Mickey Shaughnessy, Edgar Buchanan

Synopsis: The Sheepman was touted as a comedy by some of MGM's publicity people. It really isn't, but this western does have its lighthearted moments. Glenn Ford stars as a hard-bitten sheep farmer, running up against the opposition of cattle ranchers. Shirley MacLaine is a no-nonsense frontier girl who Read More

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Jokester

Synopsis: Practical joker Bradley (Albert Salmi) chooses as his next victim Pop Henderson (Roscoe Ames), the nearsighted, hearing-impaired attendant at the local morgue. Sneaking onto a slab, Bradley pretends to be a corpse -- and when he "comes to life," the terrified Henderson nearly jumps out of his Read More

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: And the Desert Shall Blossom

Synopsis: Tom (William Demarest) and Ben (Roscoe Ates) are a pair of old coots living in the Nevada desert. The local sheriff (Ben Johnson) shows up at their place with an eviction notice, but he agrees to let them stay on their property if they can get a dead rosebush to bloom within the next 30 days. Not Read More

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Post Mortem

Synopsis: After the death of her first husband, Judy (Joanna Moore) marries Steve (Steve Forrest), the man who sold her the insurance policy on her late hubby's life. When Judy and Steve quickly run out of money, Judy pins her hopes on a sweepstakes ticket that husband number one purchased just before his Read More

The Big Caper

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Mary Costa, James Gregory, Robert H. Harris, Roxanne Arlen

Synopsis: Obviously inspired by such films as The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing, The Big Caper takes place in a small town with a large bank. James Gregory plays the leader of a gang of thieves who intends to knock over the bank--but not without meticulous pre-planning. In the months prior to the holdup Read More

Short Cut to Hell

Actors: Robert Ivers, Georgann Johnson, William Bishop, Jacques Aubuchon, Peter Baldwin

Synopsis: As a favor to an old friend, producer Alex Gordon, James Cagney turned director for the first and only time in his career with Short Cut to Hell. The film is a remake of the 1942 Veronica Lake-Alan Ladd starrer This Gun For Hire. Robert Ivers plays Kyle, a hired killer who is double-crossed by his Read More

The Kettles in the Ozarks

Actors: Marjorie Main, Arthur Hunnicutt, Una Merkel, Ted de Corsia, Olive Sturgess

Synopsis: The Kettles in the Ozarks was the eighth of Universal's "Ma and Pa Kettle" series--minus "Pa" (actor Percy Kilbride had left the series). Carrying on without the Kettle paterfamilias, Ma Kettle (Marjorie Main) and her large brood of children head for the Ozarks to visit her brother-in-law Sedge (Arthur Hunnicutt Read More

Come Next Spring

Actors: Ann Sheridan, Steve Cochran, Walter Brennan, Sherry Jackson, Richard Eyer

Synopsis: In this upbeat drama, a reformed father returns to the Arkansas farm of his estranged family after having spent too many years living in the fast lane. Included in the family are his mute daughter and his baby son, whom he'd never seen. The father is determined to set things right and immediately Read More

The Birds and the Bees

Actors: George Gobel, Mitzi Gaynor, David Niven, Reginald Gardiner, Fred Clark

Synopsis: This comedy is a remake of 1941's The Lady Eve, and tells the story of the vegetarian son of a prominent meat packer who is sailing back from an African safari when he meets and falls in love with a con-artist's lovely daughter. Posing as a military officer, the card-sharp and his boys have come Read More

Lucy Gallant

Actors: Edith Head, Jane Wyman, Charlton Heston, Claire Trevor, Thelma Ritter, William Demarest

Synopsis: An unusually matronly Jane Wyman plays the title character in Lucy Gallant. Adapted from a novel by Margaret Cousins, the story concerns the efforts by Lucy Gallant to make the wide-open spaces of Texas a mecca for High Fashion. Jilted at the altar, Lucy retreats to a booming oil town, where she Read More

Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Fred Clark, Lynn Bari, "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom, Mack Sennett, Hank Mann

Synopsis: The best thing that can be said about Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops is that it's better than the team's previous outing Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Set in 1912, the film casts Bud Abbott and Lou Costello as a couple of New Yorkers who are swindled out of their Read More

The Gabby Hayes Show: Episode 3

The Stranger Wore a Gun

Actors: Randolph Scott, Claire Trevor, Joan Weldon, George Macready, Alfonso Bedoya

Synopsis: Randolph Scott makes his 3-D debut in the stereoscopic western Stranger Wore a Gun. This time, Scott plays Jeff Travis, a former spy for Quantrill's Raiders. When he heads to Arizona to start life anew, Travis finds that his reputation has preceded him: crooked Jules Mourret (George Macready) Read More

Those Redheads from Seattle

Actors: Rhonda Fleming, Gene Barry, Agnes Moorehead, Guy Mitchell, Teresa Brewer

Synopsis: Paramount's Pine-Thomas production unit takes the plunge into the 3-D craze in Those Redheads from Seattle. The titular carrot-tops are played by Rhonda Fleming, Teresa Brewer and Cynthia and Kay Bell, as members of a singing-sister act. Arriving in the Yukon during the Gold Rush days in the Read More

The Blazing Forest

Actors: John Payne, William Demarest, Agnes Moorehead, Richard Arlen, Susan Morrow

Synopsis: Library footage from the 1940 Paramount feature The Forest Rangers is used sparingly but effectively in the 1952 Pine-Thomas production The Blazing Forest. John Payne plays troubleshooting logger Kelly Hanson, who is hired by timber baroness Jessie Crain (Agnes Moorehead). Hanson is promised a Read More

Honeychile

Actors: Judy Canova, Eddie Foy, Jr., Walter Catlett, Claire Carleton

Synopsis: After a lengthy absence from the screen, Judy Canova returned in the raucous musical Honeychile. The plot had been utilized in several previous Republic films, but was good for yet another go-round here. Canova plays Judy, a would-be songwriter who sends one of her tunes to a big-city composer. Read More

Hills of Oklahoma

Actors: Rex Allen, Elisabeth Fraser, Elizabeth Risdon, Robert Karnes, Fuzzy Knight

Synopsis: In his second starring vehicle, singing cowboy Rex Allen plays the head of a frontier cattlemen's association. The villain is dishonest meat packer Charles Stevens (Robert Emmet Keane), who has been trying to fix cattle prices to his advantage. When Rex decides to do business with another firm, it Read More

Father's Wild Game

Synopsis: In this entry in the "Henry Latham" comedy series, the parsimonious Henry protests the rising cost of meat and decides to take up hunting for wild game. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Thunder in the Pines

Actors: George Reeves, Ralph Byrd, Greg McClure, Michael Whalen, Denise Darcel

Synopsis: Future "Superman" George Reeves and former "Dick Tracy" Ralph Byrd co-star in Thunder in the Pines. The stars play a pair of eternally bickering loggers in Tall Timber country. Both vie for the attentions of Gallic charmer Yvette (Denise Darcel), who promises to wed the logger who cuts down the Read More

The Tioga Kid

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Jennifer Holt, Dennis Moore, Lee Bennett

Synopsis: PRC/Eagle-Lion's Eddie Dean western series came to an end with The Tioga Kid. Dean plays a dual role, as an upright Texas ranger and a desperate outlaw. The "bad" Dean joins a gang of horse rustlers who've been making life miserable for rancher Jennifer Holt. It's up to the "good" Dean to save Read More

Tornado Range

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Jennifer Holt, George Cheseboro, Brad Slaven

Synopsis: Tornado Range is one of five Eddie Dean westerns originally produced by PRC in 1947 but released the following year by Eagle-Lion. Cast as a troubleshooter for the U.S. Land Office, Dean is assigned to settle a deadly range war. Sure enough, the warring homesteaders and cattlemen are being whipped Read More

Check Your Guns

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Nancy Gates, George Cheseboro

Synopsis: PRC's singing cowboy Eddie Dean once again brings law and order to a corrupt town in this average Western co-starring Roscoe Ates and Nancy Gates. When Red Gap's old sheriff (Edward Cassidy) is shot in cold blood by Ace (Mikel Conrad), a member of Brad Taggert's gang, the new lawman, Eddie, orders Read More

The Hawk of Powder River

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Jennifer Holt, June Carlson, Eddie Parker

Synopsis: Arguably Eddie Dean's best Western -- and certainly the balladeer's most unusual -- The Hawk of Powder River features busy B-Western heroine Jennifer Holt as Vivian, the "Hawk" of the title and the murderous leader of a gang of outlaws. When a local newspaper editor begins a crusade against the Read More

The Westward Trail

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Phyllis Planchard, Steve Drake

Synopsis: Singing cowboy Eddie Dean and sidekick Soapy (Roscoe Ates) come to the aid of novice cattle rancher Ann Howard (Phyllis Planchard) and her juvenile delinquent brother Tom (Steve Drake). Unhappy about the move West from Chicago, the latter forges Ann's signature on the deed to their ranch, which he Read More

Black Hills

Actors: Eddie Dean, The Plainsmen, Eddie Parker, Shirley Patterson, Lane Bradford, Steve Clark, Terry Frost, Tex Palmer, Steve Drake

Synopsis: Eddie Dean and sidekick Roscoe Ates come to the aid of a young rancher in this low-budget singing Western from PRC. Discovering that Hadley (Steve Clark) hides a gold-encrusted cave on his property, villainous saloon owner Kirby (Terry Frost) kills the elderly rancher and seals the cave. But when Read More

Inner Sanctum

Synopsis: Based on the radio show of the same title, a young woman meets a gypsy who reads her fortune and predicts a terrible fate for the young woman. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

West to Glory

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Dolores Castle, Gregg Barton

Synopsis: Eddie Dean and his pal Soapy Jones (Roscoe Ates) are assigned by the U.S. marshal to safeguard the invaluable Mexican Lopez diamond, which Don Lopez (Harry Vejar) insists on displaying on a worthy lady at every festive occasion. Due to a drought, the don and his neighbors are planning to move Read More

Shadow Valley

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Jennifer Holt, George Cheseboro, Eddie Parker

Synopsis: At least 10 percent of the 58-minute Eddie Dean western Shadow Valley is comprised of stock shots from earlier Dean oaters. This time, the star plays as U.S. marshal who comes to the rescue of the standard damsel in distress (Jennifer Holt, sister of Tim and daughter of Jack). The double-dyed Read More

Range Beyond the Blue

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Helen Mowery, Bob Duncan, Ted Adams

Synopsis: Its title notwithstanding, the PRC western Range Beyond the Blue was lensed in glorious black-and-white. Singing cowboy Eddie Dean and his sidekick Soapy (Roscoe Ates) enter into the thick of things when they thwart a stagecoach holdup. Our heroes take it upon themselves to champion the cause of Read More

Wild Country

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Peggy Wynn, Douglas Fowley, I. Stanford Jolley

Synopsis: The country in this low-budget Eddie Dean Western from PRC isn't so much wild as it is familiar. Dean is assigned to bring in escaped convict Rif Caxton (I. Stanford Jolley), whose trademark is a polka dot hatband. The bandit is holed up in Silver Springs, where he frames Sheriff Bill Devery Read More

Down Missouri Way

Actors: Martha O'Driscoll, John Carradine, Eddie Dean, William Wright, Roscoe Ates

Synopsis: A Hollywood movie company descends on the Ozarks in this pleasant, if low-budget, musical from PRC undoubtedly inspired by the concurrent success of Broadway's Oklahoma! Despairing of the ill-tempered behavior of Shirley, a scientifically raised mule, Dr. Jane Colwell (Martha O'Driscoll) returns Read More

Driftin' River

Synopsis: A virtual remake of the 1943 "Trail Blazers" western Wild Horse Stampede, this unspectacular but pleasant Eddie Dean oater once again featured a lawless town worrying about the coming of the railroad. Assigned by Army Major Hammond (Forrest Stanley) to inspect 500 heads of horses for sale by J. C. Read More

Colorado Serenade

Actors: Eddie Dean, David Sharpe, Roscoe Ates, Mary Kenyon, Forrest Taylor

Synopsis: Inexpensive Cinecolor adds little to this standard Eddie Dean music western from bottom-of-the-barrel company PRC. Dean, as always, plays himself, a rancher taking up the fight against power hungry saloon operator Duke Dillon (Dennis Moore) and his secret boss and foster-father Dad Dillon (Warner Read More

Stars over Texas

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Shirley Patterson, Lee Bennett, Lee Roberts

Synopsis: Eddie Dean, PRC's low-budget answer to Gene Autry, starred in this lethargic singing western which benefited from Dean performing his own title-tune, "Fifteen Hundred and One Miles to Heaven" and "Sands of the Old Rio Grande", the last mentioned co-written with B-Western supporting actor Glenn Read More

Wild West

Actors: Eddie Dean, Lee Bennett, John Bridges, Roscoe Ates, Jean Carlin, Louise Currie

Synopsis: Filmed in less than glorious two-strip Cinecolor, this average Eddie Dean western benefited from Dean performing "Ride on the Tide of a Song", "Journey's End"and "I Can Tell by the Stars". The story surrounding all this warbling, however, was the standard one of a gang of thugs interfering with Read More

The Tumbleweed Trail

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Shirley Patterson, John McGovern, Bob Duncan

Synopsis: A nasty rancher orders his men to kill his own half-brother for a piece of valuable ranch land in this low-budget PRC oater starring singing cowboy Eddie Dean. Bill Ryan (Kermit Maynard) is indeed cowardly ambushed by Brad Barton's (Bob Duncan) henchmen, and the following day, Barton and his Read More

Can't Help Singing

Actors: Deanna Durbin, Robert Paige, Akim Tamiroff, David Bruce, Leonid Kinskey

Synopsis: Deanna Durbin's first Technicolor feature is a lavish musical western, replete with a Jerome Kern-E. Y. Harburg score. Set in the mid-19th century, the story finds Caroline (Durbin), daughter of a wealthy senator, bound and determined to wed dashing cavalry officer Lawlor (Robert Paige). When the Read More

The Great Moment

Actors: Joel McCrea, Betty Field, Harry Carey, William Demarest, Louis Jean Heydt, Franklin Pangborn

Synopsis: After producing, writing and directing one hit film after another, Preston Sturges finally misfired with the biopic The Great Moment. Sturges was always fascinated with the saga of W.T.G. Morton, the 19th century Boston dentist who, after inventing the first truly effective anesthesia, was forced Read More

The Palm Beach Story

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee, William Demarest

Synopsis: As for the opening reels, the principal motivating factor is money. After a deliberately confusing pre-credit sequence (not explained until the film's punch line), Tom Jeffers (Joel McCrea) and Gerry Jeffers (Claudette Colbert) are married. "And so they lived happily ever after," exults a title Read More

The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine

Synopsis: A remake of Return of Jimmy Valentine (1936), Republic Pictures' Affairs of Jimmy Valentine is a sequel of sorts to the oft-filmed O. Henry story Alias Jimmy Valentine. In the original tale, an incognito safecracker blew his cover by rescuing a little girl from a safe, prompting a detective who'd Read More

She Knew All the Answers

Actors: Joan Bennett, Franchot Tone, John Hubbard, Eve Arden, William Tracy

Synopsis: In this romantic comedy, a blue-blooded girl falls in love with a wealthy rake who wants to settle down and marry her. Unfortunately, the young woman's guardian and personal stockbroker refuses to sanction the match. This enrages the girl who decides to prove that she doesn't need a guardian by Read More

One Foot in Heaven

Actors: Fredric March, Martha Scott, Beulah Bondi, Gene Lockhart, Elisabeth Fraser

Synopsis: Author Hartzell Spence's popular biography of his preacher father was the source for One Foot in Heaven. Fredric March stars as Methodist cleric William Spence, whose calling requires him to move his family from parish to parish on a near-monthly basis. The children resent the fact that they're Read More

Mountain Moonlight

Synopsis: In this corny comedy, the Weaver Brothers learn that in 1790, their distant forebears loaned the government some cash. The government did not pay it back, and now, by their computations, they are owed a substantial amount from interest on the principal. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Sullivan's Travels

Actors: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Robert Warwick, Porter Hall

Synopsis: In Preston Sturges' classic comedy of Depression-era America, filmmaker John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea), fed up with directing profitable comedies like "Ants in Your Plants of 1939," is consumed with the desire to make a serious social statement in his upcoming film, "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" Read More

I'll Sell My Life

Synopsis: When a young man is in trouble, his sister puts herself in danger to save him. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Ziegfeld Girl

Actors: James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner, Tony Martin

Synopsis: All that MGM's Ziegfeld Girl lacks is Technicolor; otherwise, the film has talent and "sock" entertainment value in abundance. The story focuses on three showbiz hopefuls-Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner-and the efforts to attain the lofty status of "Ziegfeld Girl." Garland is compelled Read More

Reg'lar Fellers

Actors: Sarah Padden, Roscoe Ates, Maren Mayo, Netta Packer, Jack C. Smith

Synopsis: Based on the long-running comic strip by Gene Byrne, PRC's Reg'lar Fellers was intended as the first of a series of 6-reel comedies built around the talents of juvenile performers Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and Billy Lee. The plot is set in motion by Hetty Carter (Sarah Padden), a wealthy dowager who Read More

Bad Men of Missouri

Actors: Dennis Morgan, Jane Wyman, Wayne Morris, Arthur Kennedy, Victor Jory

Synopsis: Rather than play famous outlaw Cole Younger in this film, Warner Bros. contract star Humphrey Bogart chose suspension. Ronald Reagan was considered, and so were James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and George Raft, but, happily, the role eventually went to the more age-appropriate Dennis Morgan, a Read More

Robin Hood of the Pecos

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

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

Chad Hanna

Actors: Henry Fonda, Dorothy Lamour, Linda Darnell, Guy Kibbee, Jane Darwell

Synopsis: Henry Fonda plays Chad Hanna, a New York country bumpkin of the mid-nineteenth century who joins a travelling circus. He falls in love with beauteous bareback rider Dorothy Lamour, but she spurns him. Chad Hanna then finds himself attracted to another runaway, country girl Linda Darnell. Though Read More

Rancho Grande

Actors: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, June Storey, Mary Lee, Dick Hogan

Synopsis: East meets west in this musical western starring singing cowboy Gene Autry. After the death of its owner, the financially troubled Rancho Grande is left to Kay Dodge (June Storey) and her siblings Patsy (Mary Lee) and Tom, (Dick Hogan), three wealthy young socialites from the East who are as Read More

Cowboy from Sundown

Actors: Tex Ritter, Roscoe Ates, Carleton Young, George Pembroke

Synopsis: Hoof and mouth disease reared its ugly head in this unusual Tex Ritter singing Western from Monogram. Ritter played Tex Rocketts, the sheriff of Sundown who is forced to quarantine the valley's cattle to prevent the spread of the disease. The desperate ranchers, all of whom are in debt to banker Read More

Captain Caution

Actors: Victor Mature, Louise Platt, Leo Carrillo, Bruce Cabot, Robert H. Barrat

Synopsis: Set during the war of 1812, Hal Roach's Captain Caution is an unusual swashbuckler in that the "hero" is actually the heroine. Louise Platt plays Corunna, the daughter of Captain Dorman (Robert Barrat), skipper of the American vessel The Olive Branch. When Dorman is killed in battle, Corunna Read More

I Want a Divorce

Actors: Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Frank Fay, Jessie Ralph

Synopsis: Ironically, the marriage between Dick Powell and Joan Blondell was beginning to fall apart at the time they co-starred in Paramount's I Want a Divorce. The film manages to sustain two plotlines, with newlyweds Alan and Geraldine MacNally (Powell and Blondell) beginning to have second thoughts Read More

Untamed

Actors: Ray Milland, Patricia Morison, Akim Tamiroff, William Frawley, Jane Darwell

Synopsis: A courageous doctor braves a fierce blizzard in the Canadian wilderness to save a remote community from a deadly epidemic. He has come North to visit and ends up stealing a wife from her husband. When the epidemic hits, he and the wife begin their arduous journey. At one point, they are stranded. Read More

Three Texas Steers

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

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

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

Wild Bill Hickok [Serial]

Synopsis: Co-directed by former supporting player Mack V. Wright and Sam Nelson, The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok is considered by connoisseurs of the genre the best serial Columbia Pictures ever made. The star, former supporting actor Gordon Elliott (born Nance) changed his first name to Bill for Read More

God's Country and the Woman

Actors: George Brent, Beverly Roberts, Barton MacLane, Robert H. Barrat, Alan Hale

Synopsis: Rivalry, romance, and brotherly love in logging camps are chronicled in this drama. The trouble begins when the brother of a lumber company owner arrives from Paris to work for him. Upon seeing the beautiful owner of the rival logging camp, the newly arrived brother immediately defects to begin Read More

Fair Exchange

Synopsis: A criminologist, who wishes to discourage his son from a career as detective, organizes a picture theft which the son manages to solve, proving that there truly was a burglary. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

The People's Enemy

Actors: Preston S. Foster, Lila Lee, Melvyn Douglas, Shirley Grey, Roscoe Ates

Synopsis: Preston S. Foster is the "hero" of The People's Enemy only in the sense that his is the largest male role. Foster plays a detestable gangster who works his way up to millionaire status. To gain a veneer of respectability, he marries lovely Lila Lee. But when the going gets rough, he deserts both Read More

Woman in the Dark

Actors: Fay Wray, Ralph Bellamy, Melvyn Douglas, Roscoe Ates, Reed Brown, Jr.

Synopsis: This drama was adapted from a minor story by Dashiell Hammett and chronicles the attempts of an ex-con to stay on the straight and narrow. It's difficult for he is volatile and tends to get into fistfights when riled. It is his explosive temper that got him put away for three years after he Read More

She Made Her Bed

Actors: Richard Arlen, Sally Eilers, Robert Armstrong, Grace Bradley, Roscoe Ates

Synopsis: This drama is set within a carnival and centers on a young woman who falls in love but is unable to act upon her feelings because she is married. Her husband, the owner of the carnival, is a real louse. The whole mess comes to a head one day when a tiger escapes and gets into the house of the Read More

The Merry Wives of Reno

Actors: Margaret Lindsay, Donald Woods, Guy Kibbee, Glenda Farrell, Hugh Herbert

Synopsis: The Merry Wives of Reno are Madge (Margaret Lindsay), Bunny (Glenda Farrell) and Lois (Ruth Donnelly). Madge is a comparative newlywed who heads to the "divorce capital" of Reno, Nevada after a spat with her young husband Frank (Donald Woods). Likewise in Reno is Bunny (Glenda Farrell), who has a Read More

What! No Beer?

Actors: Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, Roscoe Ates, Phyllis Barry, John Miljan

Synopsis: In this comedy, Jimmy Potts (Jimmy Durante) and Elmer J. Butts (Buster Keaton, Jr.) come up with a scheme to start up a beer brewery with the hope that Prohibition will soon be over. However, things don't work out exactly as they planned, and they end up in a mess of trouble. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Read More

The Cheyenne Kid

Synopsis: This western features a case of mistaken identity after a friendly cowboy is thought to be the dreaded outlaw "Denver Ed." Now the cowpoke must prove his innocence before he and his gal can find peace and happiness. Mayhem ensues, but justice prevails. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Alice in Wonderland

Actors: Charlotte Henry, Richard Arlen, Roscoe Ates, William Austin, Billy Barty

Synopsis: This star-laden version of Lewis Carroll's novel combines elements of both the title novel and Carroll's sequel, Through the Looking Glass. In England of the 19th century, young Alice finds that the mirror over the library fireplace opens into a strange world. She has odd adventures and changes Read More

Lucky Devils

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, William Gargan, Bruce Cabot, William Bakewell, Creighton Chaney, Dorothy Wilson

Synopsis: Though the story isn't much, this actioner does offer a neat behind-the-scenes look at the travails of Hollywood stuntmen as it chronicles the romance between a stunt man and an extra. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Past of Mary Holmes

Actors: Helen MacKellar, Eric Linden, Jean Arthur, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, Ivan Simpson

Synopsis: A former opera star loses her voice, her career evaporates, and she takes to drinking heavily and blaming her son for her situation. In order to get revenge on her son, and to get her name back in the newspapers to try to resurrect her career, she tells the authorities that her son is responsible Read More

Scarlet River

Actors: Billy Butts, Betty Furness, Tom Keene

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

Golden Harvest

Actors: Richard Arlen, Chester Morris, Genevieve Tobin, Roscoe Ates, Julie Haydon

Synopsis: A play by Nina Wilcox Putnam was the source for the empire-building drama Golden Harvest. Chester Morris stars as ambitious grain trader Chris Martin, who through fair and foul means corners the wheat market and becomes a millionaire. Outgrowing his humble farm beginnings, Chris makes a bid for Read More

King Kong

Actors: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Frank Reicher, Sam Hardy, Noble Johnson

Synopsis: "How would you like to star opposite the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood?" Enticed by these words, brunette leading lady Fay Wray dyed her hair blonde and accepted the role of Ann Darrow in King Kong -- and stayed with the project even after learning that her "leading man" was a 50-foot Read More

Young Bride

Actors: Helen Twelvetrees, Eric Linden, Arline Judge, Cliff Edwards, Roscoe Ates

Synopsis: Based on Veneer, a 1929 Broadway flop by Hugh Stange, this sentimental domestic drama came to the screens in early 1932, first as Love Starved, then under the less inflammatory title of Young Bride. The love-starved young bride is Allie Smith (Helen Twelvetrees), who, after a whirlwind romance Read More

Freaks

Actors: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates, Harry Earles, Henry Victor

Synopsis: The genesis of MGM's Freaks was a magazine piece by Ted Robbins titled Spurs. The story involved a terrible revenge enacted by a mean-spirited circus midget upon his normal-sized wife. In adapting Spurs for the screen, writers Willis Goldbeck, Leon Gordon, Edgar Allan Wolf, and Al Boasberg Read More

Hold 'em Jail

Actors: Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Edna May Oliver, Roscoe Ates, Edgar Kennedy

Synopsis: The most intriguing aspect of the 1932 Bert Wheeler-Robert Woolsey romp Hold 'Em Jail was that it was co-scripted by legendary humorist and frequent Marx Bros. contributor S. J. Perelman. The film bears a slight resemblance to the like-vintage Marx/Perelman collaboration Horse Feathers, in that Read More

Ladies of the Jury

Actors: Edna May Oliver, Ken Murray, Roscoe Ates, Kitty Kelly, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams

Synopsis: Edna May Oliver portrays a society dowager called for jury duty on a murder trial wherein a pretty young woman is accused of killing her older husband. She takes her job quite seriously, and soon is playing both "prosecutor" and "DA" with judge and witnesses alike. In this unorthodox but highly 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

Rainbow Trail

Actors: George O'Brien, Cecilia Parker, Minna Gombell, Roscoe Ates, J.M. Kerrigan

Synopsis: A sequel to the 1931 George O'Brien western Riders of the Purple Sage, The Rainbow Trail picks up where the earlier film left off -- sort of. In Riders, fugitive from justice Jim Lassiter (O'Brien) and his sweetheart Jane Withersteen (Marguerite Churchill) escaped to the "lost valley," sealing Read More

Renegades of the West

Synopsis: A vengeful cowpoke rides out for revenge against the cattle rustlers who killed his pa in this western. Along the way, he finds and adopts a cuddly little baby. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Roadhouse Murder

Actors: Eric Linden, Bruce Cabot, Phyllis Clare, Roscoe Ates

Synopsis: An eager cub reporter visits a roadhouse, stumbles across a corpse and decides to drum up a little notoriety for himself by pretending to make it look as if he were the killer. He then plans to write a series of articles chronicling his experiences with the courts. Well, it seemed like a good idea Read More

Politics

Actors: Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, Roscoe Ates, Karen Morley, William Bakewell

Synopsis: In this comedy, a female mayoral candidate promises to rid the town of gangsters. She joined the race in the first place when her daughter got involved with a young mobster who has been framed for a murder. With her manager's assistance, the candidate rallies all the women in town and gets them to Read More

The Champ

Actors: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich, Roscoe Ates, Edward S. Brophy

Synopsis: Wallace Beery won an Academy Award for his tour de force performance as a washed-up boxer. The bibulous Beery travels from one tank-town bout to another in the company of his faithful son Jackie Cooper and his stuttering manager Roscoe Ates. Hoping for a comeback in Tijuana, Beery is approached by Read More

Cracked Nuts

Actors: Edna May Oliver, Dorothy Lee, Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey

Synopsis: Ostensibly a "team" vehicle for Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, Cracked Nuts is half over before Bert and Bob even get together! The first scenes belong to Wheeler, cast as spendthrift millionaire Wendell Graham, who is in love with Betty Harrington (Dorothy Lee). Betty's aunt Minnie (Edna May Oliver Read More

Too Many Cooks

Actors: Bert Wheeler, Dorothy Lee, Roscoe Ates, Robert McWade

Synopsis: When RKO Radio decided to split up the studio's moneymaking comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, in hopes of earning twice as much at the box-office, the results were sad indeed. Bert Wheeler's solo venture, Too Many Cooks, is marginally better than Bob Woolsey's Everything's Rosie but Read More

The Big Shot

Actors: Eddie Quillan, Maureen O'Sullivan, Roscoe Ates, Belle Bennett

Synopsis: The Big Shot is Ray (Eddie Quillan), a go-getting but incredibly naïve real estate speculator. Duped into purchasing some worthless swamp land, Ray is kept in the dark by the villains when the land turns out to be harboring a profitable sulphur spring. On the verge of selling back the property at Read More

A Free Soul

Actors: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, Clark Gable, James Gleason

Synopsis: In this Academy Award-winning film, Stephen Ashe (Lionel Barrymore) is a hotshot Californian lawyer from a well-to-do family, whose main failing is his indulgence in alcohol. After winning a case for mobster Ace Wilfong (Clark Gable), Stephen brings his client along to a party at his parents' Read More

The Great Lover

Actors: Adolphe Menjou, Irene Dunne, Ernest Torrence, Neil Hamilton, Olga Baclanova

Synopsis: No relation to the 1949 Bob Hope comedy of the same name, The Great Lover stars that master of sartorial splendor, Adolphe Menjou. Menjou plays a famed opera singer, better known for his sexual proclivities than his theatrical performances. He sets his sights on the opera company's ingenue, novice Read More

The Big House

Actors: Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Robert Montgomery, Leila Hyams, Lewis Stone

Synopsis: Not the first of the prison pictures, but the one that truly put the genre on the map. Playboy Kent (Robert Montgomery), driving drunk, kills a couple of pedestrians and is sentenced to a 10-year manslaughter term. His cellmate is forger Morgan (Chester Morris), a tough but essentially decent con; Read More

The Lone Star Ranger

Actors: George O'Brien, Sue Carol, Russell Simpson, Warren Hymer, Elizabeth Patterson

Synopsis: Lone Star Ranger was a superior entry in western star George O'Brien's Zane Grey series for Fox Studios. Lensed on location in Utah's Monument Valley (long before it was "adopted" by John Ford), the film was adapted for the screen by Zane Grey from a novel by Max Brand, which had previously done Read More

Cimarron

Actors: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor, Nance O'Neil, William Collier, Jr.

Synopsis: Cimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture--and, until Dances with Wolves in 1990, the only one. The film begins on April 22, 1889, the opening day of the great Oklahoma Land Rush on the Cherokee Strip. Boisterous Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his land claim Read More

Caught Short

Actors: Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, Anita Page, Charles Morton

Synopsis: Sparring landladies provide the focus of this comedy. The two women are constantly competing to take in the most boarders at their respective homes. Though outwardly jealous rivals, the women are actually best friends. The competition gets more intense when one woman's daughter falls for the Read More

Billy the Kid

Actors: Johnny Mack Brown, Wallace Beery, Kay Johnson, Karl Dane, Wyndham Standing

Synopsis: The tall and virile Johnny Mack Brown portrays the short and dyspeptic outlaw William Bonney, a.k.a. Billy the Kid. Wallace Beery is more effectively cast as Pat Garrett, the sheriff who's sworn to bring in Billy dead or alive despite his grudging friendship for the young killer. Hardly the Read More

City Girl

Actors: Charles Farrell, David Torrence

Synopsis: Director F.W. Murnau began City Girl as a silent film, hoping to match the artistic triumph of his earlier Sunrise. Murnau was frustrated by two elements: Fox's decision to hastily convert the film into a talkie, and his inability to secure the services of Sunrise star Janet Gaynor. The director Read More

Love in the Rough

Actors: Robert Montgomery, Dorothy Jordan, Benny Rubin, J.C. Nugent

Synopsis: A remake of the 1927 William Haines comedy Spring Fever, Love in the Rough was designed as a musical, though virtually all the songs were cut from the final release print (we see a chorus of secretaries typing rhythmically in the opening scene, yet this obvious song cue is cut short with nary a Read More

South Sea Rose

Actors: Lenore Ulric, Charles Bickford, Kenneth MacKenna, John Farrell MacDonald, Elizabeth Patterson

Synopsis: In this comedy drama, a very early talkie, set in the splendiferous South Seas, a French lassie charms a sea captain who takes her for his wife and sets sail for his conservative New England home. There the staid locals are shocked by the captain's free-spirited bride. More trouble ensues when the Read More