Ferris Taylor Movies

While waiting in a lonely bus station, Millicent Barnes (Vera Miles) is startled to discover that everyone in the station seems to know her. She is further amazed when, peering into the window of a passing bus, she spots a young woman who looks exactly like her. Figuring that Millicent is a mental case, Paul Grinstead (Martin Milner) humors her until the men in the white coats show up -- only to find out that the girl was telling the truth all along. A neat "matte shot" caps this eerie Rod Serling-scripted entry, based, believe it or not, on one of Serling's real-life experiences. First telecast February 26, 1960, "Mirror Image" was the 26th Twilight Zone episode to be filmed, but the 21st to be shown. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Siege of Red River stars Van Johnson as a Confederate officer, who "appropriates" a shipment of gatling guns from the Northern troops in the waning days of the Civil War. Posing as a medicine show entrepreneur, Johnson smuggles the guns through enemy lines in his wagon. Renegade rebel Richard Boone steals the guns in order to sell them to the Indians. Surrendering himself to Union troops, Johnson sets after Boone with Yankee reinforcements in tow before the Indians can get their hands on the weapons. After Boone is killed, a northern nurse (Joanne Dru) pleads eloquently for the Yanks to be easy on Johnson; he is allowed to escape, but not before promising to marry the nurse at war's end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While the Three Stooges are best known for their violent brand of slapstick -- and director Jules White generally played the boys' physical aspect for all it was worth -- this comic short also contains quite a few very funny lines. The Stooges are detectives, but they're more interested in their card games than they are in actually putting anyone behind bars. This infuriates their chief, who insists that they find an at-large murderer within 24 hours -- or else. They actually have a man who confesses to the crime: "I am the culprit who perpetrated this incident!" he insists. The Stooges, however, don't understand his multi-syllable confession and believe he's giving them a bunch of double-talk. The next man they bring up is a witness, an organ grinder with a monkey. Although he looks Italian, the moment he opens his mouth, he reveals a British accent. Shemp takes a call regarding a bootlegging charge that was dismissed -- "The DA says we can't make a case out of 11 bottles of whiskey." The real killer finally arrives and starts shooting up the place. The Stooges are pretty much helpless amidst the gunfire, but the monkey manages to knock the guy out cold. Because Shemp has taken a number of the gunshots, Moe tries reviving him with some whiskey. But he springs several leaks and a veritable shower pours from his chest. Moe and Larry take the hint and promptly don shower caps. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This film was made to promote the annual Easter passion play of the Lawton Congregational Church in Lawton, Oklahoma. The first half of the film presents the history of the pageant, which began in 1926. The rest of the film presents the actual pageant which takes place in the Wichita Mountains during Holy Week. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Two Flags West is set in the waning days of the Civil War. Colonel Clay Tucker (Joseph Cotten) is one of several Confederate prisoners who agree to fight alongside Union soldiers against the Indians in New Mexico. Tucker's Union commander Kenniston (Jeff Chandler) despises all "Johnny Rebs," holding them responsible for the death of his brother. Kenniston has other problems too; he is deeply in love with his sister-in-law Elena (Linda Darnell), but refuses to express his devotion out of loyalty to his dead sibling. He also hates Indians with a passion, and has endangered the safety of his fort by brutally killing a chief's son. There seems to be only one way for Kenniston to purge the demons within him, and he finds that way during a climactic Indian attack. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Another entry in Columbia's bucolic "Rusty" series, My Dog Rusty again pairs apple-cheeked Ted Donaldson with Flame the Dog. This time around, Hugh Mitchell (John Litel), father of mischievous Danny Mitchell (Donaldson) is running for mayor. Thanks to Danny's propensity for lying, the elder Mitchell is disgraced in the eyes of the community. Somehow, Danny's faithful hound Rusty (Flame) not only cinches the election for Mitchell, but also helps him to understand the underlying psychological reasons for his son's prevarications. Columbia contact actress Ann Doran does her usual fine job as Mrs. Mitchell, while Whitford Kane, former member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theater, delivers an effective performance as a philosophical blind man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Republic moved its popular star William Elliot from "B" series westerns to "A" frontier specials, a lot of the fun and excitement was lost in the process. Additionally, Republic seemed reluctant to admit the new Elliot films were westerns, as witness the title Gallant Legion, which could have been mistaken for a Sahara Desert epic. Actually Gallant Legion is one of the better Elliot big-budgeters, with Bill as one of the charter members of the Texas Rangers. The Rangers' task is to prevent greedy landgrabbers from dividing Texas into sections and setting up their own fiefdoms. Elliot's leading lady in Gallant Legion is Adrian Booth, who as "Lorna Gray" had been a Republic serial villainess a few seasons earlier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title states the case in Monogram's Don't Gamble with Strangers. It's all about a pair of crooked gamblers, Mike (Kane Richmond) and Fay (Bernardine Hayes), who pose as brother and sister to lure in suckers. After several months of penny-ante activities, Mike and Fay take over a posh gambling joint. Their downfall is assured when Fay begins exhibiting unsiblinglike jealousy over Mike's attentions to gorgeous Ruth Hamilton (Gloria Warren). Mike is shot full of holes; the police believe that Ruth did it, while the audience thinks that Fay did it, but a ballistics tests proves everyone wrong. An unexpected denouement reveals that crime does pay once in a while. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This gripping, gritty film noir begins as a mortally wounded physician staggers into the apartment of a vicious vixen, the leader of a notorious gang of thieves. Shots ring out, and the police rush to the scene. Sergeant Leonard gets there to find the doctor dead, and the woman failing fast. As she lay gasping she decides to tell the sergeant the whole terrible story that began when she got involved with a cop-killing robber who was captured and sentenced to death. Before his fateful date with the gas chamber, he lets the rest of the gang know where he hid the $40,0000 they netted from the caper; he, with her help, also arranges to ingest the doctor's newly developed drug, an antidote to cyanide, to escape his "execution." The plot works, and eventually, the gangster is back in business. He gives his girl half of the map, but unfortunately gets shot by a rival before he can give her the other half. The ruthless woman and another gang member then force the doctor to assist them with their search. They are heading off to the location, when the double-crossing she-devil kills the other gangster in a horrible manner and continues on with the doctor. They find the chest containing the loot and they get an awful surprise. The woman begins laughing hysterically as if on the verge of a full-blown break down. She shoots the doctor and then flees, thereby bringing the story up to the present. Just before she dies, the ruthless woman reveals the astonishing contents of the chest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Idea Girl in this Universal mini-musical is songplugger Pat O'Rourke (played by Julie Bishop, formerly Jacqueline Wells). Hoping to hit the big time, Pat pitches the notion of an amateur song-writing contest. Her zany publicity-seeking efforts cause nothing but grief for a group of Manhattan-based song publishers, foremost among them handsome but harried Larry Brewster (Jess Barker). As a means of enlivening the proceedings, director Will Jason utilizes a more mobile camera than was usual in quickies of this nature. Featured in the cast as a curvaceous secretary is Joan Fulton, later to metamorphose into the delightful character actress Joan Shawlee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this his second starring Western, Republic Pictures' laconic singing cowboy Monte Hale played, of all things, a cartoonist. Hale's popular strip -- "The Adventures of Outlaw, King of Stallions" -- is based on his own observations of a herd of wild horses. Learning that Outlaw is not merely a figment of a cartoonist's imagination, rodeo rider Kay North (Adrian Booth) arrives in Rainbow Valley hoping to capture the animal. Using subterfuge, the girl gains the trust of Monte and his kid sister Clarabelle (Jean Barton) while an associate (Bud Geary) kidnaps Outlaw. Monte and Clarabelle use the comic strip to alert the world of the horse's disappearance, and later Hale's sidekick, Locoweed Larson (Emmett Lynn), spots a rodeo horse looking suspiciously like Outlaw. With the news that Outlaw's absence has caused several mares to be killed by wildcats, a repentant Kay returns the animal to the wilderness. In between saving wild stallions, Hale performs Ridin' Down the Trail, by Eddie Cherkose and Cy Feuer, The Man in the Moon Is a Cowhand, by Roy Rogers, and Ghost Town Jamboree, by Glen Spencer. Formerly known as Lorna Gray, leading lady Adrian Booth would appear in eight Westerns opposite Monte Hale. Like Home on the Range, Hale's starring debut, Man from Rainbow Valley was released by Republic in the company's own color system, Magnacolor (later known as Trucolor). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a PR man saves a struggling radio station from ruin. Songs include: "Slap Polka", "Walk A Little Faster", "Moonlight Fiesta", and "Where The Prairie Meets The Sky". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Female musicians Sally Richards (Jane Frazee) and Sue Ford (Judy Clark) are Beautiful but Broke in this frantic Columbia musical comedy. Sally and Sue's violinist pal Dottie Duncan (Joan Davis) is equally broke, though not quite as beautiful. The three girls try pass themselves off as an all-girl orchestra, with the help of fast-buck theatrical agent Waldo Main (John Eldredge). Vamping for time until they can gather up a few more musicians, the girls don several disguises to fool a potential client, nightclub owner Putnam (John Dilson). Once this crisis is passed, the orchestra finds itself stranded in the middle of nowhere. The finale borrows a page from Buster Keaton when Sally, Sue and Dottie take refuge in a deserted house slated for Army target practice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide