Sheila Ryan Movies

Gene Autry's second 1953 entry, On Top of Old Smoky casts Autry more or less as himself, a travelling balladeer. The story gets under way when Autry and his back-up vocalists are mistaken for a group of Texas Rangers. Not wishing to disappoint anyone, Gene agrees to help heroine Jen Larrabee (Gail Davis, later TV's "Annie Oakley") protect her toll road against villainous prospectors. The big-money scene occurs during the closing reel, wherein Gene and the bad guys duke it out atop a burning railroad trestle. Smiley Burnette co-stars as Autry's sidekick, while Burnette's wife Sheila Ryan plays a secondary role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Johnny Weissmuller is back as Jungle Jim in Columbia's Jungle Manhunt. In this outing, Jungle Jim leads a search for football hero Bob Miller (Bob Waterfield), who is lost somewhere in the foliage. Our Hero's mission is complicated by the presence of villains Bono (Ric Vallin) and Heller (Lyle Talbot), who are exploiting native labor in their efforts to create artificial diamonds. The film was partially designed as a test balloon for the movie potential of gridiron star Bob Waterfield, who demonstrates his athletic prowess in the finale, wherein he lobs a couple of hand grenades in the manner of a forward pass! The nominal heroine is played by Sheila Ryan, who would soon retire to private life as Mrs. Pat Buttram. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Filmed in a record five days, Gold Raiders was an attempt by producer Jack Schwartz to inaugurate a new western series starring old favorite George O'Brien. Adding novelty value to the proceedings are the Three Stooges: Shemp Howard, Larry Howard and Moe Howard. The action is fairly divided between O'Brien, who plays a frontier insurance investigator, and the Stooges, cast as itinerant snake-oil peddlers. The star and his comedian cohorts team up to squash a gang of thieves who've been hijacking gold-mine shipments. It is no surprise to anyone that the villain is local bigwig Sawyer (Lyle Talbot), but the plot does manage to sneak in quite a few interesting twists, including a red-herring character who turns out to be a spy for the baddies, and then turns out to be working for the good guys! For all their buffoonery, the Stooges perform heroically during the climactic shootout (even Larry)! Sheila Ryan co-stars as the granddaughter of bibulous doctor Clem Bevans, while Monte Blue enjoys a larger part than usual as the local mine owner. Gold Raiders was reissued in a shortened version (shorter even than its original 56-minute running time!) as The Three Stooges Go West. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Though the hit song "Mule Train" is most closely associated with Frankie Laine, it was Gene Autry who first sang the tune on film, in a picture titled ... what else? .... Mule Train. This time, Autry plays a federal marshal who comes to the aid of a grizzled old prospector who has been framed for murder. The villain, Sam Brady (Robert Livingston), wants to appropriate the prospector's land, and he isn't particular as to how he achieves that goal. Leading lady Sheila Ryan plays a female sheriff who is on Brady's side at first, but who later realigns herself with Autry. Ryan later became the wife of Pat Buttram, who also appears in Mule Train in his usual role as Gene Autry's comical sidekick. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Gene Autry sings "Home on the Range," "Cowboy Blues," and "Mexicali Rose," and the Cass County Boys take care of the humorous "Great Grandad" in this television Western, the second entry in Autry's 1950-1955 series. Coming across the murdered body of Gold Dust Charlie, Autry hurries to the assay office to stake a claim for the dead man's heirs. But he is too late and is instead jailed for murder. Sidekick Pat Buttram, however, does a bit of fancy talking that allows Autry to escape and hunt down the real culprit. Alan Hale Jr. and Pat Buttram's future wife, Sheila Ryan, co-star. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Despite its title, Western Pacific Agent is a contemporary crime melodrama. Kent Taylor stars as a railroad detective, assigned to track down an elusive robber-murderer. The audience knows from the outset who the culprit is (hotheaded Mickey Knox, who delivers an astonishingly vicious performance), but the plot requires the detective to methodically piece together the evidence before making his final move. Helping him solve the crime is the sister (Sheila Ryan) of a slain paymaster (Robert Lowery). The whole story is narrated in flashback by an uncredited Jason Robards Sr. One of the most brutal films of its era, Western Pacific Agent spares the audience nothing: at one point, the villain beats up his own father! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Just before its matriculation into Lippert Pictures, Screen Guild produced the fast-based boxing drama Ringside. Bantam-weight Don Barry stars as Mike, who forsakes a musical career for the boxing ring when his pugilist brother (Tom Brown) is blinded in a bout. Mike intends to confront the fighter (John Cason) who caused his brother's sightlessness, then "legally" kill the man in the ring. He is eventually talked out of this deadly strategy by his brother's girlfriend Janet (Sheila Ryan). The boxing sequences are well-lensed and tightly edited, compensation enough for the corny dialogue preceding them. Had it been made, say, 15 years earlier, Ringside might have been a suitable vehicle for James Cagney. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Reliable serial and western leading lady Adrian Booth is awarded top billing in Republic's Hideout. Hannah (Booth) and Edie (Sheila Ryan) vie for the attentions of naïve attorney George Browning (Lloyd Bridges). Our hero wises up in a hurry when he takes on a gang of jewel thieves, headed by Fogerty (Ray Collins). Comic actor Alan Carney, of the "Brown and Carney" comedy team, turns in an unexpectedly sinister performance as Collins' chief henchman. Hideout was based on a serialized Saturday Evening Post story by William Porter. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Caged Fury was the last of three Pine-Thomas productions tradeshown in Los Angeles within the same February week in 1948. The story takes place in a seedy circus, where malevolent clown Smiley (Buster Crabbe, in a truly despicable characterization) plots to further the career of aspiring lion tamer Kit Warren (Sheila Ryan). Knocking off Kit's main competition Lola Tremain (Mary Beth Hughes), Smiley pulls strings to have Kit teamed with Lola's former partner Blaney Lewis (Richard Denning). When Blaney himself falls in love with Kit, the outraged Smiley retaliates by setting fire to the circus (via stock footage from 1933's King of the Jungle, which also starred Buster Crabbe). A fascinating study in unvarnished evil, Caged Fury suffers only from its tacky production values. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

S.S. Van Dine's gentleman detective is reduced to an ordinary "hard boiled" gumshoe in this inexpensive mystery. Philo Vance (Alan Curtis) is hired by a magazine publisher, ostensibly as a technical advisor for a crime periodical. This is a cover for his "secret mission": to learn the truth behind the death of the publisher's former partner seven years earlier. When the publisher is himself killed, Vance learns that practically everyone who came in contact with the dead man had a motive. Vance gets to the bottom of things with the dubious help of his pretty secretary (Sheila Ryan). Philo Vance's Secret Mission was the fourteenth and final Hollywood film based on Van Dyne's creation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of director Anthony Mann's earlier films, Railroaded features John Ireland as Duke Martin, a seedy criminal looking to skim off of his boss' money. Instead of making the extra cash by his usual means--a small gambling operation run by beautician Clara Cahhoun (Jane Randolph)--Duke (Ireland) chooses instead to hold up the beauty parlor at gunpoint. Things go awry, however, when the cops hear Calhoun's (Randolph) assistant scream in terror. In a spray of gunfire, both a policeman and Martin's partner in crime are killed. Meanwhile, a local delivery boy is accused of killing the police officer. Detective Mike Ferguson (Hugh Beaumont) is assigned to the case, and quickly begins to butt heads with Duke, who he realizes from the start is up to no good. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

A star basketball player is assailed by gangsters who want him to throw the Big Game in this drama. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi