Ranny Weeks Movies
Republic Pictures kept blond, good-looking orchestra leader Ranny Weeks under contract in 1937, awarding him the title role in Bill Cracks Down (1937). The studio then completely lost interest and Weeks left films after playing a miniscule bit as an ambulance driver in the serial SOS Coast Guard (1937). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Heart of the Rockies launched Republic's second season of popular "Three Mesquiteers" westerns. Returning to the fold are Robert Livingston as Stony Brooke, Ray "Crash" Corrigan as Tucson Smith and Max Terhune as Lullaby Joslin. This time our heroes play modern-day cattle ranchers who are falsely accused of killing bears on the grounds of a national park. The boys seem to have plenty of motive, inasmuch as the bears are suspected of depleting their livestock. When it turns out that the real villains are a gang of smugglers, the Mesquiteers team with the park rangers to get their man (or men). Robert Livingston was injured during production of Heart of the Rockies, forcing Republic to replace him with Ralph Byrd in the next Three Mesquiteers opus, Trigger Trio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Max "Alibi" Terhune, (more)
- 1937
Sentenced to prison for a crime they did not commit, a desperate pair of young lovers attempts to capture the culprits responsible for framing them and destroying their lives. Philip and Bonnie were two strangers with little in common, that is until they were framed for a daring daytime jewelry store heist. When the two innocents fail to convince the judge that they had nothing to do with the hold up, they are each sentenced to 18 months behind bars. But their troubles don't end the day they are paroled for good behavior, because once society has branded you a criminal, you can never go back to the way things were. Now drawn together by the pain of their horrific experience, Philip and Bonnie will risk it all to catch the culprits who ruined their lives and finally clear their good names once and for all. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marian Marsh, Gordon Oliver, (more)
In his third of four action serials, horror star Bela Lugosi played Boroff, an internationally notorious fiend who's attempting to pawn off his deadly invention, a disintegrating gas, to the highest bidder. Before the gas can be manufactured, however, Boroff must go in search of certain hard to come by ingredients and the villain is thwarted at every step by US coastguard agent Terry Kent (Ralph Byrd and crusading newspaper woman Jean Norman (Maxine Doyle. In the serial's 12th and final chapter, "The Deadly Circle," Boroff is finally destroyed by his own invention, civilization thus saved for Democracy. Down on his luck by 1937, Lugosi could only watch as Republic Pictures' screenwriters Barry Shipman and Franklyn Adreon wickedly named his character "Boroff," an obvious reference to Lugosi-rival Boris Karloff. S. O. S. Coastguard nevertheless emerged as one of the Hungarian star's better vehicles, in no small measure due to its vigorous hero, Ralph Byrd, a handsome actor perhaps better remembered from Republic's Dick Tracy serials. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Byrd, Bela Lugosi, (more)
Tons Walker (Grant Withers) is the man in charge of the steel mill built from the ground up by the late William Reardon (Pierre Watkin). The fact that Tons is barely capable of putting his shoes on properly is unimportant: he will inherit Reardon's business on the proviso that he straighten out his late employer's wastrel son Bill (Ranny Weeks). Making Tons' job tougher is the fact that Bill has designs on our hero's sweetheart Susan (Beatrice Roberts); on the other hand, Bill isn't too keen on the fact that Tons has fallen for his sweetie Elaine (Judith Allen). By and by, however, both Bill and Tons begin taking their business responsibilities seriously, emerging as inseparable pals by film's end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Grant Withers, Beatrice Roberts, (more)
