Richard Talmadge Movies
Hollywood actor Richard Talmadge was born Ricardo Metezzeti in Munich. He came to Hollywood in the 1910s where he worked as a stunt double for Douglas Fairbanks. He became a star in his own right in the early '20s, usually appearing in minor comedies and action-dramas. Talmadge frequently created and performed his own highly athletic action sequences and stunts. He created his own production company in 1923. Talmadge stopped appearing in films with the advent of sound because of his thick German accent, and began working behind the scenes as an assistant director. His experience as an action hero came to good use and he became a prominent director of stunt sequences. As a director, he assisted on over 70 films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1956
The redoubtable John Carpenter strikes again with the ultra-low-budget I Killed Wild Bill Hickok. Carpenter serves as the film's producer and screenwriter, and also heads the cast, pseudonymously billed as John Forbes. Everybody knows that Wild Bill Hickok (here played by Tom Brown) was shot in the back while playing poker, but Carpenter/Forbes boldly forges ahead with a wholly fictional scenario, wherein Wild Bill meets his Waterloo in a High Noon-style gun battle with one "Johnny Rebel" (played, naturally, by Carpenter). Though the film's cast (Helen Westcott, Virginia Gibson, Denver Pyle) is more impressive than usual for a John Carpenter production, the film betrays its cheapness through its heavy reliance upon mismatched stock footage. Warming the director's chair is ace stuntman Richard Talmadge, who despite his vast experience isn't quite in the John Ford or Lesley Selander league. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Westcott, Tom Brown, (more)
Project Moonbase is a "feature film" cobbled together from several episodes of the unsold TV science fiction series "Ring Around the Moon." Set in the future -- 1970, that is -- the film takes place on a huge space station, where a group of pilots and scientists draw up plans to establish a U.S. military base on the moon. This project is nearly stymied by foreign spy Dr. Wernher (Larry Johns), who is exposed when he cannot answer a few simple questions about the Brooklyn Dodgers (it's that kind of film). The story comes to an abrupt conclusion when female colonel Breiteis (Donna Martell) -- pronounced "Bright Eyes"! -- and male major Moore (Ross Ford) are married on the surface of the moon, with the President of the United States (Ernestine Barrier) presiding via two-way television. Though the sets and special effects are impressive, the storyline is rather infantile. Surprisingly, Project Moonbase was co-scripted by Robert A. Heinlein. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donna Martell, Hayden Rorke, (more)
- 1950
Produced at Agoura, CA, and directed by silent film action star Richard Talmadge, this minor Western starred bandleader and early television personality Spade Cooley. Actually, Cooley had very little to do in the film other than offer name recognition to a cumbersome Western tale of a special agent (Bill Edwards) unravelling a series of rustlings on and around Cooley's dude ranch. The rustlers, as it turns out, are in league with a smuggler known only as the Phantom Raider. The contraband in question was originally slated to be dope, but vehement objections from the Breen office, the Hollywood watchdog, caused it to be changed to diamonds. At one point in the film, the Cooley ranch hands are seen practicing acrobatic feats under the leadership of director Richard Talmadge, a veteran stuntman. The act was billed as "The Six Metzetti Boys," an obvious reference to Talmadge's real name, Sylvester Metzetti. Popularly known as "The King of Western Swing," Spade Cooley created less than admirable headlines in 1961 when he was convicted of beating his estranged wife to death. He died of a heart attack in 1969 while on a leave from Vacaville prison to perform in a benefit concert. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spade Cooley, Maria Hart, (more)
- 1948
Black Eagle was based on The Passing of Black Eagle, a short story by O. Henry. William Bishop stars as Jason Bond, who stays out of trouble by the simple expedient of avoiding other people. Unfortunately, the plot dictates that Bond must come into contact with several characters, all of whom end up fleecing our hero in one way or another. Even so, Jason manages to enjoy a brief romance with pretty Ginny Long (Virginia Patton) before returning to his life of carefree vagabondage. A very minor film, The Black Eagle makes the most of its excellent supporting cast, including Gordon Jones, Trevor Bardette, Will Wright and stuntman extraordinaire Richard Talmadge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Bishop, Virginia Patton, (more)
Filmed (in 16 mm) at Big Bear Lake, CA, and directed by stuntmen Richard Talmadge and Harvey Parry, this minor comedy-drama featured hayseed second banana Britt Wood and newcomer John Day (aka John Daheim) as a couple of travelers stranded at a mountain resort. After rescuing a group of girls from a runaway carriage, Steve (Day) and Speedy (Wood) are hired as drivers by Tom Barton (Edward Kane), the owner of the Grey Mountain Lodge. The place, however, is soon overrun by a gang of payroll robbers, the leader of whom, Gerald (Eddie Parker), is Tom's nephew. The police are called when a necklace is reported stolen during a party and Officer Kelsey (Fred Kelsey) suspects Tom to be the culprit. The real thief, of course, is Gerald, who attempts to flee in the gang's airplane. Happily, Steve and Speedy are in hot pursuit in the lodge's food delivery truck and the gang is rounded up. Detour to Danger was the third and final of three low-budget films produced by Jack Seaman and Richard Talmadge and released on states' rights. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Day, Nancy Brinckman, (more)
- 1943
Hitler's Madman is based on an all-too-real wartime atrocity. John Carradine portrays Heydrich, the vicious SS officer put in charge of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Heydrich is killed by the Czech underground, prompting the Nazis to plan a horrible retaliation. The Gestapo selects the Czech village of Lidice for annihilation: They kill all the male villagers, throw the women and children into concentration camps, and torch Lidice into nonexistence. The victims of Nazi tyranny become martyrs to the underground cause, ending the film on a note of triumph. Based on a narrative poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Hitler's Madman was produced by the "poverty row" PRC studio, but was sold to MGM and given a class-A presentation at choice theatres throughout the U.S. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Morison, John Carradine, (more)
- 1943
Substantially, Lupe Velez' Columbia vehicle Redhead from Manhattan was the same as her previous RKO starrers-boisterous, unsubtle, and immensely profitable. La Lupe plays a dual role, as twin sisters named Rita and Elaine. Escaping from a torpedoed ship, Rita shows up in New York, where she takes the place of her Broadway-star sister Elaine, who's having problems with her marriage and needs to make a short but quick getaway. Naturally, neither Elaine's husband (Gerald Mohr) nor Rita's saxophone-player boyfriend (Michael Duane) are aware of the switch. Anyone who can't figure out what happens next should be drummed out of the theater in disgrace. And as always, a little of Lupe Velez goes a long, long way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lupe Velez, Michael Duane, (more)
- 1942
When a young woman inherits $1 million she finds herself the target of a criminals who wants her money too! ~ All Movie Guide
- 1937
Paramount's answer to Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) also involved mutiny and romance on the high seas. Gary Cooper stars as Nuggin Taylor, first mate on a slave ship in 1842. Ironically, Nuggin is an abolitionist. When a mutiny overthrows the ship's skipper and leaves him in charge, he frees his cargo. Back in England, charges against Nuggin and his fellow shipmate Powdah (George Raft) are dropped. Nuggin is approached by British intelligence agents and asked to embark on a secret information-gathering mission that could end the slave trade. Nuggin agrees and Powdah accompanies him on a ship bound for America, where both men fall in love, Nuggin with Margaret (Frances Dee) and Powdah with Babsie (Olympa Bradna). However, their adventures are far from over. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, George Raft, (more)
Speed Reporter affords the viewer an undistilled opportunity to watch legendary stuntman Richard Talmadge in action. So what matter that the film is the cheapest of low-budget B productions? Typifying the pinchpenny budget are the scenes involving criminal mastermind Rychard Cramer: the villain's "luxurious" offices look like someone's broom closet. Talmadge's most eyepopping stunt is a leap from a third-story roof onto a moving truck. Speed Reporter was released to television under the title Deadline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Talmadge, Luana Walters, (more)
- 1935
Little more than stock footage from the 1934 serial Pirate Treasure, this low-budget action adventure stars stunt man Richard Talmadge as Dick Nelson, a sailor leading an expedition to an uncharted island where a treasure is supposed to be stored. En route, the vessel suffers a mutiny and eventually explodes, leaving two groups of survivors washed up on shore. Dick's group, which also includes the captain (Charles K. French) and his daughter (Alberta Vaughn), is the first to encounter the treasure but is almost defeated by an opposing faction led by nasty Bull Dennis (George Walsh). Although a Regal Pictures Corp. production, Live Wire was filmed at Universal using standing sets. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Saved from electrocution by the sudden appearance of a trap door operated by the traitorous Lord Argo (Wheeler Oakman), Gene Autry overhears the Muranian conspirators plan to destroy the universe by means of several hideous weapons invented by Rab (Warner P. Richmond). After subduing both Rab and Gaspar (Stanley Blystone), Gene is able to contact Frankie (Frankie Darro) at the Radio Ranch. Believing that Gaspar has betrayed her, Queen Tika (Dorothy Christy) orders the Junior Riders to be destroyed by a guided radium bomb. Gene bravely fights his way to the surface armament tower and manages to change the bomb's trajectory away from the kids. Unfortunately, the device makes a u-turn instead and explodes the armament tower. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1935
On Queen Tika's orders, a lifeless Gene Autry) is brought to Murania's Radium Reviving Room, the queen (Dorothy Christy) hoping that the crooner may disclose the identity of the traitor among her officers. But before the reconstituted Autry can spill the beans, Lord Argo (Wheeler Oakman) destroys Murania's main power line and the entire city is thrust into darkness. Escaping Argo's henchmen in the ensuing confusion, our hero battles his way to the surface elevator -- playfully getting slapped on the butt by one of the top-hatted worker robots along the way -- but as chapter seven reaches its conclusion, Autry finds himself cornered once again by Queen Tika's Thunder Guard. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1935
In his first starring role, Gene Autry must perform daily on Radio Ranch or forfeit his contract. Meanwhile, local kids Frankie (Frankie Darro) and Betsy Baxter (Betsy Ross King) establish a group of Junior Thunder Riders to emulate a mysterious band of horsemen that seems to vanish into thin air. In reality, the real Thunder Riders disappear 25,000 ft. below the earth's surface to the "Scientific City of Murania," an underground empire lorded over by Queen Tika (Dorothy Christy), a blonde Amazonian who constantly compares her superior society with that of the pitiful world above. But Gene's broadcasts draw too many curious onlookers, among them Professor Beetson (J. Frank Glendon) and a group of crooked scientists who will stop at nothing, including murder, to get their hands on Murania's wealth of radium. While Queen Tika is busy preventing an insurrection lead by the evil Lord High Chancellor (Wheeler Oakman), the scientists do their level best to keep Gene from performing his daily broadcast, which includes such favorite Autry tunes as "That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine" and "I'm Getting a Moon's Eye View of the World". Comic sidekicks Smiley Burnette and William Moore add to the overall fun with their rendition of I'm Oscar, I'm Pete" and other comical selections. The Phantom Empire has been credited with inspiring not only Republic Pictures' similar Undersea Kingdom (1936) but also Universal's superior Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials and was remade as part of the short-lived 1979 television series Cliffhangers. No less than two reedited feature versions of The Phantom Empire were released in 1940, Men With Steel Faces, distributed by Times Pictures, and Radio Ranch, distributed by Nat Levine and carrying the now defunct Mascot label. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1935
Both Frankie (Frankie Darro) and Betsy (Betsy Ross King) survive the airplane crash no worse for wear but are quickly picked up by the Muranian Thunder Riders. Brought before Queen Tika (Dorothy Christy), the kids ridicule Murania in general and the queen in particular and are condemned to spend the remainder of their lives in "the lower dungeons." Happily, the Muranian guards are easily fooled and our young friends manage to evade their captors. An increasingly desperate Queen Tika orders the removal of the electric eye that operates the entrance to Murania, thus preventing Gene Autry) from reaching Frankie and Betsy. Henceforth, the entrance can only be opened from inside the control room, which is guarded by a dangerous radium beam. In order to escape Murania, Frankie breaks the beam and all hell breaks lose. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1935
Although the Thunder Riders sever his rope, Gene Autry manages to grab hold of a tree limb, climb to safety and return to Radio Ranch in time to join Oscar (Smiley Burnette) and Pete (William Moore) for a hearty rendition of Burnette's "I'm Oscar; I'm Pete". The Ranch performers then reenact a stage robbery for the listening audience but nasty Professor Beetson (J. Frank Glendon) has tampered with Gene's rifle and the crooner's partner, Baxter, is killed. Accused by Beetson of murder, Gene manages to escape but is followed from the air by the sheriff. Queen Tika of Murania (Dorothy Christy) watches everything on her surface television and orders the Thunder Riders to capture Autry and shoot down the plane carrying the sheriff and stowaways Frankie (Frankie Darro) and Betsy (Betsy Ross King). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1935
Both Frankie (Frankie Darro) and Betsy (Betsy Ross King) manage to parachute to safety. Meanwhile, 25,000 feet below the surface, in Murania, Queen Tika (Dorothy Christy) sentences the captain of the Thunder Riders (Ray Bernard, later known as Ray "Crash" Corrigan) to death in The Lightning Chamber for failing to catch Gene Autry and thus prevent the continuation of the Radio Ranch, whose popularity threatens to expose the secret underground empire. But the captain, Ord, is spared by Argo (Wheeler Oakman), Murania's Lord High Chancellor, who is secretly planning to overthrow the queen. Back at the ranch, an incognito Gene comes across the rifle that killed his partner, Baxter, but Professor Beetson (J. Frank Glendon) and his thugs are right behind. Discovering too late that his getaway car is missing the brakes, Gene crashes over a steep cliff. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1935
Seconds before his automobile crashes over a cliff, Gene Autry is saved by Frankie (Frankie Darro), Betsy (Betsy Ross King) and the Junior Thunder Riders. Still wanted for the murder of his Radio Ranch partner, Gene is forced to broadcast from Frankie's secret laboratory in the barn. Meanwhile, down below in Murania Queen Tika (Dorothy Christy) is troubled by the rebellious Lord Argo (Wheeler Oakman), who is eager to blow up Radio Ranch once and for all. Finishing his broadcast with a rendition of "Uncle Henry", Gene manages to escape before Professor Beetson (J. Frank Glendon) and his men break down the door to the laboratory but spilled gunpowder creates an explosion in the getaway tunnel. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1935
Gene Autry, Frankie (Frankie Darro) and Betsy (Betsy Ross King) all escape the tunnel explosion courtesy of the Junior Thunder Riders, who manage to unlock the secret exit. Planning to broadcast from a shack in the desert, the fugitive Autry is surprised by a Muranian lieutenant (George Magrill), whom he manages to subdue. Impersonating his captive, Gene is brought down to Murania to face Queen Tika (Dorothy Christy), who is displeased that her emissary let "Autry" slip away. Unmasked, a bemused Gene opines that Murania's dead air "is more suitable to rats and moles" than surface people. Taking great umbrage to such heresy, the Queen sentences the intruder to the electrical death chamber, where he is to be executed by a charge of 200,000 volts. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1935
In the opening chapter of the Mascot serial The Phantom Empire, a stagecoach is held up for its content -- musical instruments. One of the "outlaws," a bashful young man, removes a fake mustache to address his radio audience: "Yes folks, it's Gene Autry making another raid on your time with his 'Radio Riders,' broadcasting from Radio Ranch." After a rendition of Smiley Burnette's "Uncle Noah's Ark", the airwaves are given over to teenagers Frankie (Frankie Darro) and Betsy Baxter (Betsy Ross King), who relay the story of how they founded the "Thunder Riders' Club" for kids. Out riding in the desert one day, Frankie and Betsy spotted a group of strangely garbed horsemen who seemingly disappeared without a trace. Using old buckets as headgear, the kids' reenact the encounter and invite boys and girls to form their own groups and come visit a real radio show being produced. Unbeknownst to Gene and his radio performers, however, there is radium in them thar hills, and not only that; the ranch may also be situated on top of a secret treasure trove, the underground world of Murania, a "Scientific City" inhabited 100,000 years ago by people fleeing an ice age glacier. Professors Beetson (J. Frank Glendon) and Cooper (Edward Peil, Sr.) are after both the radium and the treasure and the former make a couple of unsuccessful attempts at Autry's life. The villains trace the radium to a place known as The Garden of Life, a development that greatly endangers the lives of the Muranian people 25,000 feet below. Their ruler, Queen Tika (Dorothy Christy), decrees the entrance to the Garden of Life be destroyed for good and the capture of Gene Autry, less the area be overrun by radio fans. Alerted to danger by the sound of the Thunder Riders, Frankie and Betsy discover a lost Gene in the desert. "Say, we have a broadcast at 2 o'clock," the rustic crooner exclaims. "If we miss it, we'll lose our contract!" Climbing down from the Garden of Life plateau, Gene, Frankie and Betsy can only watch as their rope is torn asunder by the Riders. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1935
Gene Autry is saved in the nick of time by Frankie Frankie Darro, who smartly pulls him off the conveyor belt. Murania is now under the evil regency of the former chancellor, Argo (Wheeler Oakman), and Gene's attempt to rescue the dethroned Queen Tika (Dorothy Christy) causes him once again to be knocked unconscious, this time right in the path of Murania's newest weapon, a disintegrating atom-smashing machine. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1935
Despite the deadly radium beam, Frankie Baxter (Frankie Darro) manages to pull the lever that opens the surface entrance to Murania, allowing Gene Autry and sidekicks Oscar (Smiley Burnette) and Pete (William Moore) entry to the underground empire. Queen Tika (Dorothy Christy) finally learns of Count Argo's treachery from Gene but the warning comes too late: Argo (Wheeler Oakman) is about to assume control over the entire palace and most of the empire. Knocked unconscious in the ensuing mayhem, Gene lands on a moving conveyor belt and is in grave danger of being incinerated by one of the Muranian worker robots. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1935
In the final chapter of The Phantom Empire, Gene Autry is saved by Oscar (Smiley Burnette) and Pete (William Moore), who manage to drag him away from Murania's feared disintegrating atom-smashing machine. In the control room, Queen Tika (Dorothy Christy) can only watch as a bumbling Lord Argo (Wheeler Oakman) turns the out-of-control atom-smasher on himself and Murania. Deciding to die with her people in the melting Murania rather than live in the undesirable surface world, Tika allows Gene and his friends to escape the underground kingdom. Back in his own domain, Gene tricks Professor Beetson (J. Frank Gledon) into revealing that he, and not Gene, killed Frankie's (Frankie Darro) and Betsy's Betsy Ross King) father. With Radio Ranch safe from usurpers, Autry and his friends perform "Uncle Noah" to end a rather eventful broadcast season. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
A daredevil pilot saves the inventor of a new airplane from a gang of thieves in this stunt-oriented melodrama starring Richard Talmadge. When F.S. Reynolds (William Humphrey) refuses to sell his newest airplane, crooked businessman Cardigan (Robert Frazer) has one of his henchmen (Rafael Storm) steal both the blueprints and the plane itself. Intrepid pilot Hal Fister (Talmadge) and his sidekick, Berty (Eddie Davis), trail the villains to Chinatown where Hal is captured. During his incarceration, the hero learns that Cardigan has hidden the plane in the desert, and after being rescued by Berty, he heads to the wilderness. After several scrapes with death, the villains are finally captured and Hal wins the hand of the inventor's grateful daughter (Gertrude Messinger). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Talmadge, Gertrude Messinger, (more)
- 1935
Not to be confused with the prominent British film Never Too Late to Mend, which was released in the U.S. in 1937 as Never Too Late, this minor action-adventure from low-budget Reliable Pictures Corp. starred former silent-era stunt man Richard Talmadge and vaudeville performer Thelma White. Talmadge plays a detective on the trail of a gang of jewel thieves headed by the swarthy Paul Ellis. White, meanwhile, gets caught up in the crime, but is in reality only trying to protect her sister (Mildred Harris), the indiscreet wife of the local police commissioner (Robert Frazer). The jewels change hands several times, but the bad guys are finally caught after an exciting rooftop chase. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Talmadge, Thelma White, (more)
