John T. Neville Movies

This threadbare PRC production plays like an Aztec variant on the studio's earlier Devil Bat, with PRC favorite George Zucco assaying the Bela Lugosi role. Zucco plays mad archaeologist Andrew Forbes, who stumbles upon the nest of a monstrous winged serpent -- the apparent source for the myth of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl -- while on a dig in Mexico. After the creature seeks out and kills his wife to recover one of its missing feathers, Forbes learns that he can eliminate his enemies (and protect a cache of plundered Aztec treasure) by planting one such plume on their person and letting Quetzalcoatl do the rest. Like most PRC quickies, this one is painfully cheap but quaintly entertaining; credited director Sherman Scott is actually prolific B-movie journeyman Sam Newfield. The Quetzalcoatl myth would be more cleverly mined by horror auteur Larry Cohen 35 years later in his low-budget monster-fest Q. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The second of two PRC vehicles for veteran featured player Frank Jenks (the first was Shake Hands with Murder), Rogues' Gallery casts Jenks as Eddie, a wisecracking photojournalist. Teaming up with intrepid girl reporter Patsy (Robin Raymond), Eddie sets out to get an exclusive interview with Reynolds (H. B. Warner), inventor of a new listening device. Before they know what's happening, our hero and heroine are knee-deep in murder. As it turns out, Eddie had only to look over his shoulder to determine the killer's identity. As PRC films go, Rogues' Gallery is bright and snappy entertainment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

W.C. Fields heads to Esoteric studios to pitch a story idea to producer Franklin Pangborn. The producer wants to make a conventional romantic musical starring Fields' niece, teen-aged soprano Gloria Jean, but "The Great Man" has other ideas. As Pangborn sits in dumbfounded silence, Fields unravels an incoherent farrago which begins with him travelling to a Russian colony in Mexico--by way of an airliner with an open observation platform. Fields dives from the plane when his precious flask of gin falls overboard; he lands safely at the mountaintop mansion of the formidable Mrs. Hemoglobin (Margaret Dumont). Playing a kissing game with Hemoglobin's beauteous daughter (Susan Miller), who has never seen a man before, Fields decides to make a quick exit when Mama wants to get in on the game too. Reunited with Gloria Jean in the Russian colony, Fields learns that Mrs. Hemoglobin is worth millions, so he climbs back up the mountain, ignoring such obstacles as a displaced African gorilla. Disposing of his rival Leon Errol, Fields is about to wed Mrs. Hemoglobin, but is talked out of it at the last moment by Gloria Jean. At this point in the narrative, producer Pangborn can stand no more. He tells Fields to take his nonsensical screenplay and vacate the premises. After a brief episode at a soda fountain ("This scene was supposed to be in a saloon, but the censors made us cut it out"), Fields drives off to new adventures with his niece--but not before a zany slapstick car-chase finale, prompted by Fields' mistaken belief that he's rushing a corpulent middle-aged lady to the maternity hospital. W. C. Fields' original screenplay for Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (written under the fanciful pseudonym of Otis Criblecoblis) made a lot more sense than what ended up on screen, but Fields' extended absences from the studio, coupled with Universal's desire to reshape the film into a vehicle for their new star Gloria Jean, necessitated a complete restructuring of the plot. While hardly Fields' best or most representative film, Sucker is an excellent example of the sort of nonsensical "nut" humor in vogue in 1941 thanks to Olsen and Johnson's Hellzapoppin'. And, occasionally, the film stands still long enough to allow W. C. Fields to mutter a priceless aside or toss off a perfectly timed double-take. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A talented South American singer heads for New York to keep her innocent brother from being convicted of arson in this tuneful mystery. She convinces her boyfriend, a news reporter to help her investigate and bring the real culprit to justice. They figure out that the real suspect is a shady club owner, who may have torched some of his other establishments. To find out for sure, the singer gets a job in his newest club and soon finds herself in serious danger. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Gang Bullets was one of a myriad of late-1930s Monogram crime pictures, bearing such interchangable titles as I Am a Criminal, Convict's Code and Federal Bullets. Morgan Wallace plays a Capone-like racketeer named Anderson, who after being chased out of one town by the authorities immediately sets up shop in another. Unable to get any tangible evidence against Anderson, DA Wayne (Charles Trowbridge) orders his assistant Carter (Robert Kent) to dig up some dirt on the gangster boss. To do this, Carter pretends to turned crooked, joining Anderson's gang in order to accumulate evidence. Alas, Carter's girl friend Patricia (Anne Nagel) knows nothing of her boyfriend's subterfuge, and she suspects the worst. With such formidable henchmen as John Merton and Carleton Young at his beck and call, it's something of a surprise when Anderson comes a-cropper in the last reel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, an innocent wife has no idea that her husband makes his living by hijacking trucks. When she finds out that she has been implicated in the crimes, she takes off with a chauffeur. Later she falls for a handsome artist and by the end of the story, after some tragedy occurs, she ends up clearing her name. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Barefoot Boy is a throwback to the sort of bucolic family fare in which Monogram Pictures specialized in the early 1930s. Loosely inspired by the John Greenleaf Whittier poem of the same name, the film stars Jackie Moran as Billy Whittaker, a country lad whose idyllic lifestyle is thrown into confusion upon the arrival of arrogant reform-school graduate Kenneth Hale (Bradley Metcalf). Not only does Kenneth tear down everything that Billy holds dear, but he also has the audacity to make a play for Billy's sweetheart Pige Blaine (Marcia Mae Jones). Eventually Kenneth reforms his ways and becomes a "regular guy", but not without a bit of bare-knuckle persuasion from Billy and a brief escapade involving a gang of out-of-town bond swindlers. The film was directed by Karl Brown, a former cinematographer with an unerring eye for gorgeous exterior shots. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

There are those western fans who feel that cowboy star Tom Keene did better work at low-budget Crescent Pictures than he ever had at mighty RKO Radio. Set in the years following the Civil War, Glory Trail casts Keene as John Morgan, a former Confederate captain presently employed to protect railroad workers from Indian attacks. John is in love with Lucy Strong (Joan Barclay), but her father (E. H. Calvert), a Yankee colonel, hates "Johnny Rebs" with a passion. Suffice to say that John proves himself a worthy son-in-law through a series of conspicuous acts of bravery. The villainy is provided by bull-necked Walter Long, former D. W. Griffith player and comic foil for Laurel & Hardy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a newsboy and a reporter join forces to stop the racketeer who has been bilking lottery winners. The crook also runs the local sleazy bar where the newsboy's sister sings. The young lad gets involved when gangsters kill his grandpa and try to steal his winning lottery ticket. The boy has the ticket and in the end, he and the reporter must fight the gangsters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Puritan Pictures seldom turned out a film that looked most expensive than it really was. The studio's Million to One appears to have been made on a budget of eight dollars and a box lunch, but that doesn't lessen its entertainment value one bit. Herman Brix (later known as Bruce Bennett) stars as Johnny Kent, a hot-shot Olympic athlete who lets success go to his head. After a dizzying cycle of wine, women and song, Johnny is no good to anyone, least of all himself. He wises up in time to qualify for a decathlon competition with his arch-rival Hale (Reed Howes). Oldtimers Monte Blue and Kenneth Harlan play key supporting roles, while the ingenue is a pretty but antiseptic newcomer named Joan Burfield. By the time Million to One made it to New York (nearly three years after it was made), Ms. Burfield was billing herself as Joan Fontaine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A jockey is thrown off the track after it is discovered that gangsters drugged his horse. This drama follows his attempts to redeem himself. First he and his buddy get jobs working on a horse-breeding farm. There he finds himself attracted to the farmer's pretty daughter. The farmer is unhappy with this, but is even more unhappy when he learns that the rider has secretly been training a promising young horse and has entered him in the Big Race without permission. Just before the start of the race, the gangsters try to drug the horse again, but this time the jockey is ready for them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In his final Western for Poverty Row company Puritan Pictures, Tim McCoy played a Texas Ranger going undercover in order to flush out a certain Big George (J. Frank Glendon), the leader of a gang of heroin smugglers. Pretending to have been kicked out of the ranger corps, Tim follows henchmen Pedro Moreno (Pedro Regas) and The Texas Kid (Frank Melton) to the "Flying A Ranch." The Kid proved to be Jimmy Allen, the wayward brother of ranch owner Mary Allen (Frances Grant). With the assistance of sheepherder José Ramos (Julian Rivero), who is Tim's liaison with ranger captain John Hughes (Karl Hackett), Tim infiltrates Big George's smuggling ring which operates out of the Blue Cat Cantina. In a final battle with Big George and his gang, Moreno, Captain Hughes, and Jimmy are all mortally wounded, the latter begging his sister to forgive him for his past crimes. Unaware of his real identity, Ranger Smoky (Jack Rockwell) arrests Tim as the sole survivor of the gang, but a letter from Hughes vindicates the lawman. Although Tim is a free man, Smoky playfully locks Mary up in the cell with him. His Puritan contract coming to an end, McCoy signed with William Pizor, perhaps Hollywood's shoddiest entrepreneur. Pizor almost immediately reneged on the deal and McCoy sued. The case was finally settled in McCoy's favor in 1939, but the Pizor contract kept the popular cowboy hero off the screen for the remainder of 1936 and all of 1937. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide