Lynton Brent Movies

Gene Autry enjoyed considerable success with his recording of Stan Jones' haunting "Riders in the Sky". He then parlayed this success into a film, which proved to be one of Autry's best postwar efforts. The basic plot concerns Autry's efforts to clear rancher Ralph Lawson (Steve Darrell) of a trumped-up murder charge. The trumper-upper, Rock McCleary, is played by Robert Livingston, a former cowboy star who turned to character roles late in his career. The heroine is played by Gloria Henry, ten years removed from her TV fame as Alice Mitchell in Dennis the Menace. The title song is imaginatively staged by director John English, with a ghostly Tom London riding hard and fast as a montage of moody images play across the screen. So effective was this vignette that Columbia included it in the coming-attractions trailer for Riders in the Sky. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Monogram added several songs and a barn dance to this otherwise standard Johnny Mack Brown hay burner, in which the veteran cowboy star comes to the aid of a beleaguered female rancher. Just "drifting along," Steve Garner (Mack Brown) obtains the job of foreman on a spread belonging to pretty Pat McBride (Lynne Carver). Unbeknownst to Pat, local banker Jack Dailey (Douglas Fowley) not only holds the mortgage on the ranch but is also the man responsible for the death of Pat's father. Aided by old-timer Pawnee Jones (Raymond Hatton), Steve begins an investigation into Dailey's dirty dealings and barely escapes an accusation of rustling. In order to elude the law, Dailey plans to have Steve arrested for murdering one of his henchmen, Lou Woods (Steve Clark), but the scheme backfires and the sheriff (Jack Rockwell) instead apprehends Dailey and his gang. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Having briefly abandoned his standard "Nevada Jack McKenzie" characterization in Flame of the West, cowboy star Johnny Mack Brown was back as Nevada Jack in Monogram's The Lost Trail. Vowing to bring in a gang of stagecoach outlaws, Nevada redoubles his efforts when he learns that the owner of the stagecoach line is pretty Jane Burns (Jennifer Holt). Meanwhile, comic-relief Sandy (Raymond Hatton) is appointed sheriff of the town by local bigwig John Corbett (Kenneth McDonald), who hopes to deflect suspicion by turning public opinion against the new lawman. Imagine Corbett's dismay when he discovers that Sandy is actually a federal marshal, and that he's been working undercover with Nevada all along. Reviewers of The Lost Trail noted that, by 1945, former football star Johnny Mack Brown was not so much tall in the saddle as he was wide. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Range Law stars Johnny Mack Brown as "Nevada" and Raymond Hatton as "Sandy", the same characters they played in most of their mid-1940s Monogram westerns. This time, Nevada and Sandy, US marshals both, set out to collar some renegades who've been driving out the local ranchers. It's just possible that one of said ranchers is behind this land-grabbing scheme. The motive: the land is rich with silver. The formidable bad-guy lineup includes Jack Ingram, Stanley Price, and Lynton Brent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Unlike previous "Trail Blazers" entries, each of which starred three veteran western heroes, Marked Trails top-bills only two sagebrush favorites. Hoot Gibson and Bob Steele play a couple of wandering do-gooders who take on a gang of oil swindlers. Adopting a series of bewildering (but hardly impenetrable) disguises, the Ol' Hooter and Battling Bob manage to con the con-ners. But when it becomes absolutely necessary, our heroes rely on their fists to mete out justice. Just another western, Marked Trails is given distinction by the presence of perennial "hard-boiled dame" Veda Ann Borg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Johnny Mack Brown western once more teams its star with leathery Raymond Hatton. The boys are cast as U.S. marshals Nevada and Sandy, assigned to solve a series of frontier murders. The victims are all ranchers, with no apparent connection between the killings. To everyone's surprise but the audience, the mystery villain intends to scoop up all the local land for himself. Christine McIntyre, soon to become the Three Stooges' favorite leading lady, registers well in an unsympathetic role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bob Kane's 1939 Detective Comics superhero The Batman came to the screens in serial form courtesy of Columbia Pictures and producer Rudolph C. Flothow. In time-honored serial fashion, Flothow chose Lewis Wilson for the title role, a relative newcomer, but one with an amazing facial resemblance to the cartoon character. Wilson's athletic ability, however, left a lot to be desired and Douglas Croft, cast as young sidekick Robin, the Boy Wonder, looked too old for his role, especially when doubled by a hairy-legged stunt man. For censorship purposes, the serial Bruce Wayne was not a lone Gotham millionaire crusader but gainfully employed by the Unites States government. Said government is terrorized by evil Dr. Daka (J. Carroll Naish), an emissary from Emperor Hirohito complete with atom-smasher ray guns and a device that turns its wearers into zombies. (The device, placed on the skull of its victim, resembles something from a child's Erector set.) Batman and Robin are aided by lovely Linda Page (Shirley Patterson), whose uncle (Gus Glassmire) becomes one of Dr. Daka's first victims. From the Bat Cave, the three crusaders and Wayne's butler, Alfred (William Austin), venture forth to battle the forces of evil in general and a scenery-chewing Naish in particular -- travelling in a convertible and not the later so familiar batmobile. It takes them 15 chapters and a race through an amusement park to finally destroy the evil Daka and the title of the concluding chapter, "Doom of the Rising Sun," must have brought a ray of hope to a war-weary populace. The Batman was directed by Lambert Hillyer, a veteran who knew something about bats from having previously helmed Dracula's Daughter. The serial was popular enough to merit a sequel, although it would take six more years until Columbia debuted The New Adventures of Batman and Robin (1949). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Like many of Johnny Mack Brown's western vehicles of the 1942-43 season, Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground draws its title from a popular song. Brown plays Wade Benson, head of a road-building project in the wild frontier. In their efforts to sabotage Benson's efforts, the villains lure his workers into the raucous saloon owned by dance-hall girl Kay Randolph (Jennifer Holt). But when the baddies resort to murder, Kay aligns herself with Benson, saving the day for both the road project and an ancillary government mail contract. Since Johnny Mack Brown could hardly qualify as a singer (as his later attempts at carrying a tune in his Monogram films would prove), the film's title song is warbled by Jimmy Wakely. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

U.S. Marshal Johnny Mack Brown once again goes undercover in this Nevada Mckenzie series entry from Great Westerns Prod./Monogram. Masquerading as a parson and a drifter, Sandy Hopkins (Raymond Hatton) and Nevada Jack McKenzie (Mack Brown) come to the aid of the beleaguered residents of Goldville, a small ranching community being terrorized by greedy saloon keeper Ace Benton (Kenneth MacDonald) and his gang of cutthroats. Unbeknownst to the citizenry, the railroad is planning to build tracks through town and Benton is attempting to secure the land by scaring off the settlers. Caught by the gang, Nevada manages to talk his way out by pretending to be an outlaw himself. Benton quickly becomes suspicious, but is eventually felled by his own greed. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In the first entry in PRC's Texas Ranger series, Tex Wyatt (Dave "Tex" O'Brien) and Panhandle Perkins (Guy Wilkerson) are recruits assigned by Tex's stern father, Captain Wyatt (Forrest Taylor), to look into a series of cattle rustlings. Despite strict orders not to arrest anyone, Tex goes after nasty Pete Dawson (Bud Osborne) and is kicked off the force for disobedience. He joins the rustlers instead, working as a spy for Panhandle and ranger sergeant Jim Steele (James Newill). The three of them manage to catch the leader of the rustlers (I. Stanford Jolley), and Tex is reinstated as a ranger. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this, one of the last episodes of the Lone Rider series, the hero must prove himself innocent after his charged with the murder of a prison guard. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this western, a frontier detective disguised as an entertainer performs for the leader of an outlaw gang. At the same time, he learns the whereabouts of the outlaws' hideout. Unfortunately, his true identity is revealed and he must escape if he is to bring the gang to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this western, brave Roy Rogers and his pals take on high-tech big city gangsters who fight their battles with airplanes and tommy guns. The trouble begins as Rogers is taking three important investors to see some land. At the same time, a crime lord endeavors to kidnap the investors and leave poor Rogers to take the fall. Guns blaze and somewhere in the midst of it all, old Rogers sets himself down and sings some songs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide