Sunset Carson Movies
At the height of his screen career (1945-1946) American Western star Sunset Carson ranked an impressive eighth in a national B-Western popularity poll, beating out most of the old-timers who had been around since the silent days. Handsome and boasting quite a following among female audience members -- a rarity in the field of action adventures -- Carson, alas, was also perhaps the era's least impressive thespian and his time in the sun proved brief. Born Winifred Maurice Harrison, the future star claimed to have been named "All Around Champion Cowboy of South America" in 1942, but like the earlier Tom Mix, Carson was no stranger to exaggerations. He was billed plain Michael Harrison in his first two films, the all-star Stage Door Canteen (1943) -- in which he figured prominently in the wrap-around story -- and Janie (1944). Signed by genre specialist Republic Pictures, the youngster was given a new moniker, Sunset Carson, and co-starred with former Gene Autry protégé Smiley Burnette in four well-received low-budget Westerns. Despite his lack of acting prowess, Carson looked great on a horse and was awarded his own series, beginning with Sheriff of Cimarron (1945), directed by stunt expert Yakima Canutt. The Sunset Carson vehicles benefited from generally good production values, pretty leading ladies who could also act (Linda Stirling and Peggy Stewart), and such solid character villains as Roy Barcroft and Kenne Duncan. Carson's uneasiness with dialogue, however, did not bode well for longevity and he was summarily fired by company boss Herbert I. Yates after reportedly showing up at a studio function inebriated and with an underage girl on his arm. There would be a very low-budget series released by a company known as Yucca Productions ("Yucca is right!" as Western film historian Don Miller once put it), but Carson was basically a finished man in Hollywood after leaving Republic. He would turn up in a couple of barely released low-budget films -- including the wretched sci-fi opus Alien Outlaw (1985) which also featured his successor at Republic, Lash LaRue -- and was a frequent guest at B-Western fairs. But Carson is today perhaps best remembered as the host of Six Gun Heroes, a series of B-Western revivals broadcast in the early '80s by a South Carolina public television station. A great deal heavier and still having trouble delivering lines, Carson was nevertheless the real McCoy and the show remained successful for years. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1977
In this exploitation drama, an angry young man tries to maintain a peaceful demeanor, but finds it difficult because he must constantly defend himself from racially inspired attacks (one of his parents was a Native American). He soon finds himself in trouble and placed on a brutal chain gang. When he learns the ruthless warden is planning to massacre inmates, the hero escapes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don "Red" Barry
John Wayne stars as Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke, whose devotion to duty has cost him his marriage to his beloved Kathleen (Maureen O'Hara). Yorke gets word that his son, Jeff (Claude Jarman Jr.) -- whom he hasn't seen in 15 years -- has been dropped as a cadet from West Point, and that he lied about his age to enlist in the cavalry, in an effort to redeem himself. By chance, the boy is then assigned to his father's post. Once more, as a function of his duty as a cavalry officer, Yorke must sacrifice his love of family -- he cannot show any preferential treatment to the boy, or exhibit any sign of love and affection. But Jeff is too strong to be injured by his father's actions, and already enough of a man that he is befriended by two older recruits, troopers Tyree (Ben Johnson) and Boone (Harry Carey Jr.), who watch out for him while taking him in as a virtual equal. Yorke's resolve is further tested when his estranged wife, Kathleen, arrives at the post, the better to look after her son -- and possibly to buy back the boy's enlistment, which Yorke, as commanding officer in a remote post with a critical shortage of men, can't and won't permit. After an attack by the Apaches, Yorke orders the post's women and children to be moved to safety, and Jeff is assigned as part of the troop conducting the caravan, despite his wish to participate in the planned action against the Apaches. The caravan is attacked, and the wagon with the children is taken by the Apaches to their encampment in a deserted village across the Rio Grande in Mexico. Yorke has been given permission by General Sheridan (J. Carrol Naish) to take his men into Mexico in pursuit of the Apaches, but the punitive expedition is now a rescue mission, as the Indians' night-time vengeance dance is the prelude to certain slaughter of the children at daybreak. As part of the mission, it's up to Tyree, the slyest man in the troop, to infiltrate the enemy camp, and he chooses Jeff and Boone as the two men he wants with him on this dangerous mission. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
Produced in 1947 by Oliver Drake and Walt Mattox's Yucca Pictures Corp., the extremely low-budget Battling Marshal starred former Republic cowboy Sunset Carson in the twilight of his screen career. Carson, his horse, Cactus Jr. (who received co-star billing), and sidekick Lee Roberts arrive in Quarzville, a town suffering under a smallpox scare. But as Sunset and friends learn, the nonexistent epidemic is the invention of crooked lawyer John Martin (Pat Gleason) and a local mining engineer turned "doctor" (Richard Bartell). The villains have created the false scare in order to take over the Jeffers ranch, where they have discovered a gold vein. Aligning himself with old man Jeffers' adopted grandchildren (Al Terry and Pat Starling), Sunset not only brings the villains to justice but also finds time to warble "A Bird in a Gilded Cage" by Harry von Tilzer. Produced in 16 mm and away from the usual Gower Gulch circles, the four Yucca Carson oaters were released between 1948 and 1950 by Astor Pictures, a sort of graveyard for the final independent B-Westerns. For all intent and purposes, Battling Marshal brought the curtain down on Sunset Carson's screen career. Late in life, Carson co-produced and hosted a series of B-Western revivals for a South Carolina public television station. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1948
His Pony Express job having come to an end due to the new telegraph, rider Sunset Carson joins telegraph operator Martha Taylor (Pat Starling) and her brother, Tom (Al Terry), who are being terrorized by a competitor in this ultra low-budget effort from Walt Mattox' Yucca Pictures Corp. As it turns out, Martha's superintendent, Dawson (Stephen Keyes), is in cahoots with Spade Gilbert (Pat Gleason), a local rancher conspiring to reroute the telegraph line through his own property. When Martha's crew run out of poles, Sunset and Tom ride to protect a new shipment from Gilbert's henchmen, Trigger (Lee Roberts) and Pete (Forrest Matthews). Defeating the outlaws and returning with the shipment, Sunset warns Martha that she is harboring a traitor and that Dawson is the most obvious candidate. A search of Gilbert's ranch reveals the rancher's plans to take over the contract and that Dawson and his men are about to attack the work site. Riding hell bent for leather, Sunset and Tom arrive just in time to defeat the Dawson gang and reveal the foreman as a murderer. Filmed in 16 mm Kodachrome color at least a year prior to its April 1948 release, Deadline was the third of four low-budget Westerns that Carson would make for Yucca. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Filmed back-to-back with three other Sunset Carson vehicles in 1947, this Yucca Pictures Western starred the former Republic cowboy as a Texas Ranger chasing a gang of rustlers into the notorious outlaw territory of Three Corners. Attempting to sabotage the proposed annexation of the territory, desperado Bart Dawson (Stephen Keyes) and his men ambush Sunset and his young trainee Jed (Al Terry). The villains, who have been terrorizing pretty trading post operator Helen Bennett (Patricia Starling), are eventually defeated by the rangers in a violent gun battle and the planned annexation takes place on schedule. For all intents and purposes, the handsome but wooden Sunset Carson ended his screen career with this series of extremely low-budget Westerns, originally filmed in 16mm and released by that dumping ground of Poverty Row flotsam, Astor Pictures. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Filmed in 16 mm Kodachrome and produced by Gower Gulch company Yucca Pictures Corp., this no-budget Western featured former Republic star Sunset Carson as a rancher who comes across a wayward youngster, the Kansas Kid (Al Terry), about to drink from a poisoned spring. Unbeknownst to Sunset, the Kid is actually Bob Ward (misspelled "Wade" in the film's credits!), and he is carrying a letter implicating Carson in the death of his father. While attempting to discover the truth, Bob Ward proves himself a born prize-fighter, besting Sunset's crooked partner, Sam Webster (Bob Cason), in the ring. As it turns out, the Kid is in possession of yet another, unopened, letter that exonerates Sunset in the father's death, shifting instead the blame to Webster and his henchman, Murdock (Stephen Keyes). Produced and directed by Oliver Drake, Sunset Carson Rides Again was one of four Yucca Westerns Carson did at the tail end of his career. As film historian Don Miller so succinctly put it, "Yucca indeed!" ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1946
In this western, a stagecoach driver learns that his little brother is working for a corrupt, rival stage line. The good brother does all he can to save the bad one from a life of crime. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1946
In this Western, an outlaw tries to escape from a gang of robbers after they refuse to assist a gang member wounded during a stagecoach caper. He and the wounded outlaw leave and try to steal a stagecoach as their ex-gang robs it. The sheriff's daughter observes the incident. Believing that the two outlaws were trying to save the stage, she takes them into town where the "heroes" are given jobs working for the stage. The wounded crook really does want to go straight, but his partner is only interested in waiting for the perfect caper so he can retire in style. As he is guarding an office, his old gang busts in. Soon the truth about his past is revealed. For revenge he shows the posse the location of the robbers' hideout. He then captures the leader, which results in a pardon for he and his partner. The protagonist then marries the sheriff's daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sunset Carson, Marie Harmon, (more)
- 1946
As usual, the title of this Sunset Carson western from Republic Pictures means absolutely nothing. William Bonney is nowhere to be found, nor is he mentioned. Instead, Carson plays "Sunset Carson," aka "The Kid," a ranger only pretending to be an outlaw in order to infiltrate the notorious Marshall gang. But after investigating the murder of a fellow ranger, Sunset sides with pretty "gang leader" Ann Marshall (Peggy Stewart) against the real culprit, Matt Conroy (Roy Barcroft), a nasty banker attempting to take over Ann's spread by railroading employer Peewee (Russ Whiteman). Although no actor, handsome Sunset Carson looked great on a horse, had a way with a fist and didn't bump into anything along the way. Like all the Republic cowboys, Carson was of course helped immeasurably by the studio's roster of stalwart supporting players, especially Barcroft, Tom London (here playing a friend instead of a foe for a change) and Peggy Stewart. The latter, who was to appear as Carson's leading lady no less than eight times, helped the former rodeo rider become a better thespian "by having him count the dots between his lines." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1946
In this western, a cowpoke gets in an argument; a scuffle ensues leaving the cowboy to believe that he killed his opponent. He is so wracked with guilt that he travels to the ranch of the dead man's sister, gives himself a new name and begins helping her. Rustlers come; he stops them. Trouble ensues after she learns his true identity. A scuffle ensues. She wings him with a gun; he disarms her. Later she hears the real murderer bragging about his crime during a fight with the hero. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1946
In this western, a postal inspector becomes determined to discover the truth after a series of robberies involving mysteriously disappearing stagecoaches occur. A female Pinkerton agent assists him, and together, they drain a nearby lake, find a missing stagecoach and solve the mystery. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1945
A range feud once again took center stage in this average Sunset Carson B-western from assembly-line studio Republic. Believing that his father Andy (Eddy Waller) has been killed by the neighboring Sterling clan, Carson, to his relief, learns that the old man was only wounded in the attack. But as Andy relates the story of how the feud had begun, he is shot dead through the window by an unknown assailant. At first, Sunset mistakenly believes that the killer is Melinda Sterling (Peggy Stewart), daughter of Andy's worst enemy (and onetime rejected girlfriend), Harriet Sterling (Mira McKinney). The real murderer, of course, is a cattle rustler (Wade Crosby), an outsider who, as one character puts it, is "playing both families for suckers." Under the advice of Sheriff Edwards (Tom London), the warring families agree to put an end to hostilities in order for Sunset and Melinda to catch the real enemy. One of Republic's most popular leading ladies (and certainly the most overworked), Stewart was Carson's most frequent co-star, appearing in eight Westerns with the former rodeo champion. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sunset Carson, Peggy Stewart, (more)
- 1945
In this western, a wagonmaster stops a greedy newspaper editor from buying up an entire territory. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1945
Directed by one of the finest stuntmen in American cinema, Yakima Canutt, this western follows legendary hero Sunset Carson as he gallops into Cimarron to find his brother and get revenge against the crooks who had him framed and sent to prison for rustling cows. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1945
That veteran reprobate Roy Barcroft plays yet another outlaw in The Cherokee Flash, a perfectly acceptable B-Western from Republic Pictures, but Barcroft's title character reforms this time and even adopts a young orphan. Years later, the Cherokee Flash, now known as Jeff Carson, is visited by former gang members who promptly blackmail him into doing their bidding. Carson refuses, of course, but lands in jail anyway, much to the consternation of now-grown foster son Sunset (Sunset Carson) and grizzled sidekick Utah (Tom London). The sheriff (Bud Geary), however, is working for Mr. Big who, unbeknownst to the Carsons, is Jeff's lawyer, Mark Butler (John Merton). Happily, the new doctor in town (Frank Jaquet) and his pretty daughter (Linda Stirling) discover evidence that will clear Jeff once and for all. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1945
Sunset Carson plays a wandering cavalier who rides into the Badlands (hence the title). Heroine Peggy Stewart is bedeviled by bandits who've been raiding the livestock of her ranch. Carson plays his cards close to the vest for 45 minutes, then goes after the baddies in the film's last reel. Also in the cast is Monte Hale, not far removed from his own Republic series. Bandits of the Badlands is kept on the move by director Tommy Carr, who manages to convey the illusion that Sunset Carson has genuine acting ability. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1945
The first of actor Sunset Carson and director Thomas Carr's collaborations, Santa Fe Saddlemates is about a U.S. marshal (Carson) attempting to break a diamond smuggling ring at the U.S./Mexican border. Accompanied by a female reporter (Linda Stirling), Carson has to pose as a bandit in order to infiltrate the criminals' inner-circle. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1945
The standard Roy Rogers musical western Bells of Rosarita is enlivened by a cute last-reel gimmick. Rogers is appropriately cast as a cowboy star who invariably rescues the heroine from the villain in his movie vehicles. But when Sue Farnum (Dale Evans) is cheated out of her inheritance by the duplicitous business partner (Grant Withers) of her deceased father, Roy finds out with startling suddeness that Real Life isn't like the movies. In order to rescue this genuine damsel in distress, Rogers enlists the aid of his fellow Republic sagebrush stars Wild Bill Elliot, Allan Lane, Don "Red" Barry, Robert Livingston, and Sunset Carson-each astride his own "celebrity" horse. So well-received was the climactic "hero rally" in Bells of Rosarita that the device was repeated again and again by Republic, most memorably in the 1950 Rogers starrer Trail of Robin Hood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
- 1944
Code of the Prairie was among the first of cowboy star Sunset Carson's vehicles for Republic Pictures. There is nothing extraordinary about the plot, in which Carson, wrongly accused of a crime, vanquishes the villains with a spectacular (and undoubled) display of fisticuffs. What is unusual is the billing. Comedy relief Smiley Burnette is actually billed above nominal leading man Sunset Carson, proof positive of Burnette's enormous popularity with western fans. Burnette's top-dog status in the Carson series would continue until 1945, when he left Republic to join Charles Starrett at Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1944
Republic Pictures' newest cowboy hero, the handsome Sunset Carson (formerly Michael Harrison) took second-billing to his comic sidekick, Smiley Burnette, in this typical '40s oater. The bucolic Burnette crooned his own composition, "It's My Lazy Day", as Frog Millhouse who, with his young colleague, Carson, battles smugglers up and down the border to Mexico. Their most dangerous foe is New Orleans (Weldon Heyburn), a gun-runner hired to smuggle half a million dollars in gold bullion across the border from Mexico. The customer is a certain Mr. Fontaine (Addison Richards), a master criminal opposed to the annexation of Texas into the U.S. Luckily, the rangers have a spy (Francis McDonald) in the enemy camp. Republic didn't offer much in the way of budget on their newest star but at least surrounded Carson with a strong supporting cast. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1944
Janie, adapted from the Broadway play by Josephine Bentham and Herschel Williams, was one of a 1940s cycle of stage-to-film comedies about teenagers. Joyce Reynolds stars as Janie, a typical teen whose life is turned topsy turvy by the installation of a military base near her home town. Edward Arnold and Ann Harding, exasperated and understanding respectively, play Janie's parents. Robert Hutton is the soldier and Richard Erdman the hometown boy who vie for Janie's attentions. The film is cloying at times, but survives as a reasonably accurate representation of teenage life in the war years, right down to the "coded slang" used to throw parents off the track. Janie ends with the Army marching out and the Marines marching in, leaving the door wide open for a sequel, which appeared in 1946 under the title Janie Gets Married. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hutton, Edward Arnold, (more)
- 1944
In this convoluted western, a sickly cowboy sidekick gets into a terrible fix when he is mistaken for a notorious bank robber and tossed in the clink. There is a huge bounty on the villain's head, and the sheriff happily anticipates the arrival of that bounty on the next stage, unaware that the real crook is waiting in ambush to steal the money. Meanwhile the sidekick's heroic compadre convinces the sheriff that he has the wrong man. Unfortunately, the robbery takes place before they can free the sidekick. The sheriff and the hero ride off to capture the crook. Unfortunately, by this time, the villain has snuck into the jail and has exchanged places with his doppleganger so when the sheriff and the hero bring the outlaw into prison they once again have the wrong man. The hero is then left to try to figure out which of the look-a-likes is really his partner and save him before hanging day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This star-studded musical drama was largely financed by Theatre Guild, with all proceeds going to various wartime fundraising concerns. Most of the story takes place at the Stage Door Canteen, a Manhattan-based home away from home for soldiers, sailors and marines (the real-life Canteen on 44th street was too busy to lend itself to filming, thus the interiors were recreated in Hollywood). Within the walls of this non-profit establishment, servicemen are entertained by top musical, comedy and dramatic acts, and waited on by such Broadway luminaries as Lunt and Fontanne, Katharine Hepburn, Jane Cowl, Katherine Cornell, Tallulah Bankhead, Helen Hayes, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Sam Jaffe and Paul Muni. Though the plotline-one of the Canteen servers, a girl named Eileen (Cheryl Walker) falls in love with one of the visiting soldiers (William Terry), despite the establishment's strict "no dating" rules-is merely an excuse to link together a series of specialty acts, it is superbly and touchingly directed by Frank Borzage. Not all of the film has weathered the years too well: particularly hard to take is Gracie Fields' cheery ditty about "killing Japs!" For the most part, however, the film works, and the guest performers-including comedians Ray Bolger, Harpo Marx, George Jessel and Ed Wynn, and singers Ethel Waters and Kenny Baker-are in fine fettle. If nothing else, Stage Door Canteen offers the only appearance on film of the great Katherine Cornell, who offers a vignette of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. Incidentally, the actor playing "Texas", Michael Harrison, later gained fame as cowboy star Sunset Carson. Originally released at 132 minutes, Stage Door Canteen is now generally available in the 93-minute TV version. The six big bands that appear and perform in the film are those of Kay Kyser, Count Basie, Xavier Cugat, Guy Lombardo, Benny Goodman and Freddie Martin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cheryl Walker, William Terry, (more)
- 1938
The locale is slightly different in the Charles Starrett western Call of the Rockies, but the familiar Starrett formula remains the same. Starrett plays Clint Buckley, who defends female rancher Ann Bradford (Iris Meredith) against mortgage-holding villain Matt Stark (Dick Curtis). The bad guy retaliates by framing Clint for murder, but our hero sets things right in a bone-shattering fistic battle royal. Donald "Slim" Grayson and the Sons of the Pioneers wander in and out of the action to render a trio of pleasant sagebrush ballads. In addition to Iris Meredith and Dick Curtis, Call of the Rockies features such Starrett-series perennials as Edward LeSaint, Edmund Cobb, and George Cheseboro. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Starrett, Donald Grayson, (more)
