Edward Cassidy Movies
Steely-eyed, mustachioed Edward Cassidy (or plain Ed Cassidy) bore a striking resemblance to Theodore Roosevelt, whom he played three times onscreen, including a brief appearance in the MGM musical Take Me out to the Ball Game (1949). But the McGill University graduate was more at home in B-Westerns and serials, of which he did an impressive total of 218. Cassidy could occasionally be found on the wrong side of the law, but more often than not, he would portray the heroine's (or hero's) beleaguered father, the stern sheriff, or a troubled rancher. Retiring after his 1957 appearance in the television series Circus Boy, the veteran supporting player died from undisclosed causes at the Motion Picture House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1930
This M.F. Hoffman production released through Grand National featured Ken Maynard as Friendly Fields, a mama's boy whose hat is stolen by lookalike bandit Blackie Burke (also Maynard). Obtaining a job on Patty Blair's (Lona Andre) ranch, Friendly scares the girl's enemies into submission by playing up his resemblance to Blackie. Patty gets a bit worried when she begins to believe that he really is Blackie, but the cowboy continues his masquerade until his true identity is revealed by his mother (Grace Wood). By then, however, all the wrongs have been righted and Friendly and Lona agree to meet the future together. Maynard, who fancied himself a crooner, sings -- badly -- "Oh! Susannah" by Stephen Foster, accompanied by fellow Grand National cowboy hero Tex Ritter's backing group. Producer Hoffman quickly had enough of the difficult and often tardy Maynard and sold his contract to the Alexander brothers, low-budget producers who also released through Grand National. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson, Ken Maynard, (more)
- 1935
Toll of the Desert transcends its "B"-picture origins with a plotline that would have done Zane Grey proud. In one of his few starring roles, Fred Kohler Jr. plays hero Bill Carson. Apparently orphaned at the age of 4, Bill grows up to become a scrupulous honest, upright sheriff. In this capacity, he brings notorious outlaw Tom Collins (Roger Williams) to justice, never dreaming that the villain is his own father. Rather than compromise his son's integrity, Collins never reveals his true identity -- not even as he's being led to the gallows. Heroine Betty Mack, late of the Hal Roach Charlie Chase comedies, gets to sing a song or two. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Kohler, Jr., Betty Mack, (more)
- 1935
Neither the best nor worst of Hoot Gibson's westerns for producer Walter Futter, Feud of the West lies somewhere in between. The old Hooter plays a rodeo performer named Whitey, performing some remarkable riding and roping stunts before the plot proper gets under way. Said plot concerns a reclusive hermit named Wild Horse Henderson (Nelson McDowell), a heroine named Molly (Joan Barclay) whose parentage is in doubt, and, of course, the titular feud between ranchers and rustlers. The "mystery" villain of the piece is better hidden than usual, managing to fool even a few veteran whodunit buffs. As always, Hoot Gibson seldom resorts to gunplay when he can solve problems with a quick quip or quicker fists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson, Joan Barclay, (more)
- 1935
In his second of nine very low-budget Westerns for poverty row company Spectrum, former silent screen cowboy Bill Cody found himself upstaged by no less than two boy actors -- his own ten-year-old son Bill, Jr. and freckled boy rider Buzz Barton -- and an Arabian horse, Chico. The muddled story -- something about a prospector and his young partner helping a lawman capture a gang of smugglers, was provided by actress Zara Tazil who would appear in Cody's third Western for Spectrum, Six Gun Justice (1935). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Filmed simultaneously with Alias John Law, this rather complicated Western from low-budget Supreme Pictures featured wiry Bob Steele as Jim Hale, a young cowboy summoned by his stepfather Ed (Charles K. French) to assume his share of the family ranch. When Jim and his elderly sidekick Fuzz (Buck Connors) arrive, they find themselves in the middle of a range war between the Greens and the Bradys. After helping lovely Helen Green (Roberta Gale) and her foreman Pat (Edward Cassidy) get their herd through a pass controlled by the Brady gang, Jim learns that Ed Brady (Steve Clark) has taken Olliver prisoner and substituted one of his own men (Earl Dwire). Caught by Brady's men and locked up with the real Olliver, Jim and Fuzz manage to escape and notify the sheriff (Jack Rockwell). Brady makes a desperate getaway attempt, but is caught by Jim and brought to justice. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Fred Kohler Jr. is The Pecos Kid in this low-budget horse opera. When his family is murdered by the minions of a greedy land baron, the Kid vows revenge. Armed with pearl-handled pistols, he endeavors to reclaim the deed to his family estate, originally granted by the King of Spain. Though tall in the saddle and handy with his fists, Fred Kohler Jr., like his more famous father, had a sinister edge about him. He was more suited to the brutish villainies of such characters as Scrub White in John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Cowboy star Johnny Mack Brown made eight westerns for A.W. Hackel's Supreme Pictures during the 1935-36. Courageous Avenger, like most of the Brown Supremes, was directed by Robert N. Bradbury, then concurrently working on Hackel's Bob Steele series (Bradbury was, of course, Steele's father). In this one, Brown borrows Steele's favorite plotline: searching for his father's murderer. He dukes it out with rustler Warner Richmond, then enjoys a fadeout clinch with Helen Erikson. It all transpires in an economical (in every sense of the word) 58 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Starring the supposed offspring of legendary canine Rin-Tin-Tin, this listless Western, "based on a story by james Oliver Curwood," also featured former silent screen cowboy Bob Custer, as laconic and pedestrian a personality as ever. Custer played Ted Saunders an undercover agent attempting to catch the villains who murdered and robbed the owner of a stagecoach line. The only witness to the crime is the dead man's faithful dog, Rannah (Rin-Tin-Tin, Jr., who becomes the next target of the killers. Nearing the end of his career, Custer basically stood back and led the dog do his thing. The two had met before, in the Mascot serial The Law of the Wild (1934) which, despite its miniscule budget, was a near masterpiece in comparison to the dreadful The Vengeance of Rannah. Rinty, Jr. returned the following year opposite Rex Lease in The Silver Trail, the final release of Poverty Row company Reliable Pictures Corp. Both films were directed by "Franklin Shamray" and "Henri Samuels," producers Bernard B. Ray and Harry S. Webb, respectively. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Former pony express riders John Blair (John Wayne) and Larry Adams (Lane Chandler) don't buy the Brooklyn Bridge in this Republic Western, but the two greenhorns instead purchase a dilapidated stage line to a ghost town. While the unscrupulous seller, "Honest Cal" Drake (Douglas Cosgrove), count his loot, John and Larry learn that Crescent City is inhabited by Rocky (Lew Kelly), who claims to be mayor, postmaster, and sheriff, and Dr. William Forsythe (Sam Flint), a fellow victim of the duplicitous Drake. But despite its current condition, Crescent City has rich potential, especially if the newcomers can obtain a $25,000 government mail subsidy, the winner of which will be determined by a stagecoach race between nearby Buchanan City and Sacramento. Winds of the Wasteland was filmed on location in the Sierra Mountains and in the Sacramento Valley. Watch for future Universal star Jon Hall as one of John Wayne's pony express colleagues. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Phyllis Fraser, (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)
- 1936
Produced for around 10,000 dollars by Gower Gulch entrepreneur Arthur Alexander, this the fourth of six Rex Bell Westerns was distributed through the newly founded Grand National exchanges. Jim Dean (Bell) and Dad Baxter (John Elliott) are postal inspectors assigned to investigate a series of gold shipment robberies from the mines near Goldflat. They quickly discover that the brains behind the robberies is Goldflat bank president Travis (Forrest Taylor, whose last name was misspelled "Tailor" in the onscreen credits). Travis is in league with young telegraph operator Billy Sawyer (George Ball), who warns his girlfriend, Laura Long (Joan Barclay), not to arrive on a certain stage earmarked for an attack. Laura never receives the message but Jim and Dad manage to get the passengers, including the girl, off the stage before the planned heist. Dad is later murdered by Travis' henchmen, Cole (Roger Williams) and Johnson (Charles King), and Billy is mortally wounded in the final shootout. Before he expires, Billy makes Jim promise not to tell Laura about his involvement. A handsome and personable former Fox star, Rex Bell was the husband of silent screen icon Clara Bow. He left films to successfully run for the office of lieutenant governor of Nevada. Men of the Plains was written by Robert Emmett Tansey who also functioned as Robert F. Hill's assistant director. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rex Bell, Joan Barclay, (more)
Directed under the pseudonym "Raymond Samuels" by Harry S. Webb, this cheap Western starred former silent screen cowboy Bob Custer. Custer plays Marshal Bruce Manning, whose fiancee, Ann Morgan (Victoria Vinton), begs him to interfere when her brother Clay (Eddie Phillips), a cattle rancher, is accused of killing a homesteader (Wally Wales). But Manning, who wants to prevent a war between the cattle ranchers and the "nesters," takes Clay into protective custody. Ann's father (Edward Cassidy) shoots Bruce in the shoulder, and Ann herself is abducted by the dead homesteader's mother, Ma Potter (Vane Calvert). Morgan rallies his men to free Ann but mistakenly shoots his own son. Dying, Clay admits to having killed an unarmed man. Mourning their respective sons, Ma Potter and Morgan agree to share the land. Ambush Valley was the first of three very low-budget Custer westerns produced by small-time Reliable Pictures. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1936
In this crime drama, a G-man goes on vacation and ends up pursing a crook disguised as an honest lawyer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Nugent, Maxine Doyle, (more)
- 1936
Bob Steele was directed by his father Robert N. Bradbury in Brand of the Outlaws. Can it be that Our Hero has turned outlaw himself? It sure seems that way, given the fact that Bob comes to the aid of a gang of rustlers. But fear not: Steele is merely working undercover, in search of (you guessed it) the murderer of his father. Quality-wise Brand of the Outlaws is a big step up from his earlier efforts for A. W. Hackel's Supreme Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Johnny Mack Brown goes in search of a treasure map tattooed on the chest of a man who once betrayed his father in this average western from low-budget Supreme Pictures. Bruce Reynolds happens on the scene just as his quarry, Grandpa Jenkins (George Hayes), is being attacked by one of his former partners. To preserve his secret, the dying Jenkins allows the sheriff (Jack Rockwell) to arrest Bruce for murder. Our hero, however, makes a daring escape and hightails it to the Valley of the Lawless where he easily persuades gang leader Garlow (Frank Hagney) that he, too, is a desperado. Accepted into the gang, Bruce is awarded the nickname of "Tiger" but the arrival of Grandpa Jenkins' heirs, son Amos (Frank Ball) and grandchildren Joan (Joyce Compton) and Billy (Bobby Nelson), almost blows his cover. Things go from bad to worse, especially when the sheriff's lovesick son, Cliff Graves (Denny Meadows), accuses Bruce of killing Amos for the map to the treasure, a despicable act actually committed by one of Garlow's men. The outlaws are eventually defeated but in the mistaken belief that Joan is in love with Cliff, Bruce lets himself be arrested for the murder of Amos. Joan, however, learns the truth and declares the vindicated Bruce her love. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Western favorite Bob Steele stars as Sundown Saunders, so named because of his remarkable ability to win at poker just at the moment when the sun goes down. Winning 640 acres of land in a pony race, Saunders leaves cards and chips behind to take charge of his property. He doesn't yet know that his is the finest grazing land in the territory -- but the villainous Taggart (Ed Cassidy) does know, and he does everything in his power to drive Saunders off the land. Even worse, Taggart is a backshooter, and Saunders had just turned his back! Sundown Saunders is an oddity in the Bob Steele canon, in that the hero's father isn't murdered. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Catherine Cotter, (more)
Written by John P. McCarthy (who also directed), Robert Emmett Tansey, and, rather incongruously, former real-life outlaw Al Jennings, this musical Western marked the screen debut of Tex Ritter, a former Broadway and radio crooner. Ritter played Tex (of course), a lawman going undercover as a bandit in order to infiltrate a gang of claim jumpers. As it turns out, the leader of the gang, Evans (Ted Adams), is using the ranch of Don Esteban del Valle (Martin Garralaga) and his daughter, Dolores (Joan Woodbury), as his headquarters, dragging the innocent rancher into a scheme to take over the local mines by any means possible, including murder. In between his detective work, Ritter finds time to sing such song as "Out on the Lone Prairie," "My Sweet Chiquita," and "You Are Reality," the latter composed by leading lady Joan Woodbury, the wife of actor Henry Wilcoxon. Ritter was discovered for films by Edward F. Finney, the former promotional director for Republic Pictures, who released the Ritter series through newcomer Grand National. Despite the crowd-pleasing presence of comic sidekick Fuzzy Knight and Ritter's horse, White Flash, Song of the Gringo proved an inauspicious opener. According to Ritter himself, Finney had his star outfitted with a hideous-looking toupee; and director John P. McCarthy, a holdover from the silent era, proved an unwise choice as well. Both hairpiece and McCarthy were gone by the second instalment, Headin' for the Rio Grande (1936), replaced by Ritter's natural receeding hairline and Robert North Bradbury, yet another veteran but at least one with an eye for pacing. Ritter, who achieved perhaps his lasting fame singing "Do Not Forsake Me" over the main titles to Fred Zinneman's High Noon (1952), was the father of 1970s television star John Ritter. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1936
An operative from the Wells Fargo company goes undercover to trap a crooked sheriff and his equally nefarious hirelings in this standard B-Western from A.W. Hackel's low-budget Supreme Pictures Corp. Former gridiron star (and onetime leading man to Greta Garbo!) Johnny Mack Brown plays Steve McLain, the witness to a stage holdup. Investigating, Steve learns that crooked Sheriff Pegg (Horace Murphy) is in cahoots with the local saloon proprietor Ace Pringle (Ted Adams). Their nefarious scheme: to rob the Wells Fargo, for whom, unbeknownst to the sheriff, Steve is working . In an effort to outsmart the criminals, Steve is ambushed by a couple of Pringle's henchmen and left to drown in the river. Our hero, however, is rescued in the nick of time by lovely Linda Forbes (Suzanne Kaaren) and survives to put a permanent halt to Sheriff Pegg's criminal activities. Undercover Man was the first of Hackel's Mack Brown westerns to be distributed by newcomer Republic Pictures. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
A homicidal hunchback known as The Fiend is stalking a theater company in this ultra low-budget whodunit ostensibly based on a short story The Great Mono Miracle by Peter B. Kyne. Looking into the mysterious goings-on, Reporter Frank Gordon (Lloyd Hughes) joins drama editor Jean Monroe (June Collyer) and intrepid, but bumbling, photographer Elmer (Al St. John) in an attempt to flush out the murderer. One of the actors, Reardon (Jack Mulhall), makes himself the prime suspect by behaving highly suspicious, but he, too, is murdered. The Fiend, as Elmer learns the hard way, is someone else entirely, someone who holds a deep-rooted grudge against the company. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Released by A.W. Hackel's Supreme Pictures Corp., this low-budget Western stars Johnny Mack Brown as Jim Blake, a cowpuncher who happens upon Harve Tarlton (John Merton), a wanted killer left for dead in the desert. After making Harve a partner in his prospecting business, Blake begins a romance with Helen Carter (Lucille Browne), the daughter of the hotel proprietor (Horace Murphy) in nearby Patchy Creek. Helen, however, is engaged to Lanning (Charles King), a nasty gambler who has been threatening her father. Using Harve's thieving skills, Lanning enjoys a lucrative business separating the local prospectors from their gold but is eventually driven out of town by Blake. Elected marshal by a grateful citizenry, Blake marries Helen, but refuses to listen when she warns him against Harve and continues to blithely deposit gold nuggets in the Carter safe. While Jim and the townsmen are fighting a gang of outlaws, Harve robs the safe and then asks Helen to run away with him. Hoping to prove Harve's duplicity once and for all, she agrees and they head for the badlands with Jim in hot pursuit. There is a final confrontation and Helen gets in the way of a bullet meant for Jim. Happily, she survives and is soon reunited with Jim, who has been forced to kill Harve in self-defense. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Wallace Ford and Barbara Pepper have a field day playing Poverty Row versions of William Powell and Myrna Loy in this amusingly silly whodunit. Honeymooners Jimmy and Marjorie Flavin find that their Red Rock Tavern hostelry is not only home to a jewel smuggling gang but the site of a double murder. Since both the victims were seemingly bitten to death, the most obvious suspect is Silver Wolf, the part-wolf police dog owner by wheelchair-bound hotel proprietor Jamison (John Elliott) and his wife (Clara Kimball Young). But nothing is quite as it appears at first and the Flavins are quickly enmeshed in a conundrum worthy of -- well, Nick and Nora Charles. Produced by Mercury Pictures for release by Sam Katzman's Puritan Pictures Corp., Rogue's Tavern was filmed on standing sets at the former RKO Pathé studios. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Ford, Barbara Pepper, (more)
- 1936
An average low-budget Western from short-lived Puritan Pictures, Roarin' Guns starred Tim McCoy as Tim Corwin, an agent for the Cattlemen's Association assigned to look into a range war between settlers and powerful cattle baron Walton (Wheeler Oakman). Tim befriends Bob Morgan (John Elliott), a farm hand whose employer and niece, May Carter (Rosalinda Price), is due to arrive from the East. While teaching Bob's son, Buddy (Tommy Bupp), how to use a gun, Tim becomes a target of one of Walton's henchmen, Jerry (Rex Lease). In the ensuing scuffle, Bob is killed and Walton accuses Tim of the deed. When May arrives, she is told that Tim killed her uncle. With the assistance of little Buddy, Tim eventually manages to convince the girl of his innocence. But the sheriff (Ed Cassidy) is another matter and it takes the concerted efforts of all three to capture Walton. Roarin' Guns was arguably the weakest of the ten McCoy-Puritan Westerns; his next release, Aces and Eights, on the other hand, was the finest entry in the series. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim McCoy, Rosalinda Price, (more)
- 1937
Bob Steele -- or, as he was known in the trade papers, "Our Bob" -- stars as Tom Shaw, the courageous foreman of the ranch owned by Betty Duncan (Lois January). A group of mysterious riders, apparently determined to drive every cattle rancher out of the territory, has launched a bloody campaign of terror, leaving behind a handful of spent shells and a red-stained rope as a warning to the ranchers. The leader of the terrorists is Rattler Haynes (Lew Meehan), but Tom suspects that Rattler takes his orders from a never-seen "Mister Big." With a little diligence and plenty of fisticuffs, our hero outmaneuvers the villains and wins the girl. Based on a story by Johnston McCulley (of The Mark of Zorro fame), The Red Rope was one of the best Bob Steele westerns ever made. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Lois January, (more)
- 1937
Weather-beaten western star Harry Carey is consistently better than his material in the cheapie shoot-em-up Aces Wild. Astride his wonder horse Sonny, Cheyenne Harey (Carey) comes to the rescue of heroine Martha (Gertrude Messenger), the owner of a valuable gold mine. The villains try to buy Cheyenne off, but he's not about to be dissuaded from his purpose. Two veterans of Columbia's 2-reel comedy mills show up in important roles: Theodore Lorch as the mustachioed heavy, and second-echelon comic Phil Dunham as a crusading newspaper editor. Also on hand is black comedian Fred Toones, who spent most of his career saddled with the demeaning cognomen "Snowflake." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Carey, Gertrude Messinger, (more)
