Maria [Movita] Castaneda Movies
- 1955
Longtime B-western favorites Tex Ritter and Ray "Crash" Corrigan are among the supporting players of the Columbia oater Apache Ambush. Star of the proceedings is Bill Williams, cast as Indian scout James Kingston. In the last days of the Civil War, President Lincoln (James Griffith) selects Kingston and two other men -- cattle driver O'Roarke (Ray Teal) and "reconstructed" Confederate major McGuire (Don C. Harvey) -- to help speed along a major cattle shipment from Texas to the Northern states. One of the obstacles facing the three men is Mexican fanatic Joaquin Jironza (Alex Montoya), who wants to get his hands on the Henry Repeating Rifles which Kingston and his confreres carry with them. Undermining the good guys is embittered ex-rebel Lee Parker (Richard Jaeckel), who is in cahoots with Jironza. So much happens in the first five reels that the titular Indian ambush is almost anticlimactic (a warning to more sensitive viewers: neither the Apaches nor the Mexicans are shown in a particularly sympathetic light). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Williams, Richard Jaeckel, (more)
- 1953
- NR
Clemson Reade (Cary Grant) is the kind of man who wants to marry an old-fashioned girl, one who will stay home and take care of her husband. However, he's fallen in love with Priscilla "Effie" Effington (Deborah Kerr), who has an exciting career with the State Department that she has no intention of giving up. Clemson has the poor timing of proposing marriage to Effie just as she's in the middle of trying to resolve a major political crisis with the Middle Eastern nation of Bukistan; the United States wants to stay on Bukistan's good side, thanks to their plentiful reserves of oil. Tired of waiting for Effie, Clemson decides that he needs to find a potential bride who will follow his lead instead of her own, and he soon meets Princess Tarji (Betta Saint John), daughter of the King of Bukistan, who has spent her life learning to faithfully serve her man. Clemson half-seriously sends a telegram proposing marriage to Tarji, which touches off a political tempest in a teapot when Tarji responds by visiting the United States. The State Department decides that someone should look after Tarji while she's in America, and who should be given the assignment but Effie; to Clemson's chagrin, Effie uses her time with Tarji to enlighten her about the more liberated status of women in the West. By the way, don't bother looking for Bukistan in your atlas, the country doesn't really exist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, (more)
- 1953
Set in the southernmost regions of Texas, Ride, Vaquero stars Robert Taylor as a steely-eyed gunman named Rio. In league with Mexican bandit Jose Esqueda (Anthony Quinn), Rio participates in the sacking of Brownsville. Only one man seems to have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the villains: homesteader King Cameron (Howard Keel), who's already been burned out of one home by Esqueda and doesn't intend to allow it to happen again. Cameron's wife Cordelia (Ava Gardner) stands by her husband, which of course puts her in harm's way when Rio sets his romantic sights upon her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, (more)
- 1952
Wild Horse Ambush was the last of four Republic westerns starring juvenile actors Michael Chapin and Eilene Janssen. Once again, Chapin plays Red, the grandson of venerable sheriff Tom White (James Bell), while Judy (Eilene Janssen) is Red's friend and confidante. And once again, the two kids join forces in bringing an adult criminal to justice. This time, the miscreant is a counterfeiter (Roy Barcroft), who is employing a fiendish complex and clever method to smuggle "funny money" across the Mexican border. The intention of this western series was to offer the kiddie fans a pair of protagonists with which they could identify; the experiment didn't work, and Republic went back to grown-up cowboy stars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Chapin, Eilene Janssen, (more)
- 1951
- NR
Allegedly based on a Rudyard Kipling novel, this draws most of its inspiration from the 1939 film made of Kipling's narrative poem Gunga Din. Stewart Granger, Robert Newton and Cyril Cusack play three boisterous English soldiers stationed on the Northern India frontier. Walter Pidgeon and David Niven are the threesome's superior officers, who are aggravated by the soldiers' drunken exploits but who appreciate how valuable they are to the regiment. The soldiers three become heroes once more when they thwart a native uprising. Producer Pandro S. Berman, coincidentally, had been in charge of production at RKO when Gunga Din was filmed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stewart Granger, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1951
Saddle Legion stars RKO Radio's resident cowboy hero Tim Holt. As in most of his postwar vehicles, Holt is teamed with Irish-Mexican laugh-spinner Chito Rafferty (Richard Martin). This time, Dave (Holt) and Chito come to the aid of their boss, rancher Fred Warren (Cliff Clark). It seems that crooked cattle inspector Regan (Robert Livington) has falsely claimed that Warren's livestock is infected with disease, the better to steal the cows and bulls for himself and sell them for a tidy profit south of the Border. Our Heroes strive to foil Regan with the help of lady doctor Ann Rollins (Dorothy Malone). Featured in the cast of Saddle Legion is Mexican actress Movita, better known as the first wife of Marlon Brando. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Holt, Dorothy Malone, (more)
Wagon Master, splendidly directed by John Ford, is a superlative western. The film is the outwardly simple tale of a Mormon wagon train headed for Utah. Along the way, the group, led by Elder Wiggs (Ward Bond) hook up with two horse traders Travis Blue (Ben Johnson) and Sandy Owens (Harry Carey Jr), the members of a traveling medicine show and a tribe of Navajo Indians. The group is threatened by a gang, known as the Clegg family, who have robbed an express office and murdered the clerk. This wonderful film emphasizes the virtues of solidarity, sacrifice and tolerance, and shows John Ford at his most masterful, in total control of the production from the casting to the bit players to the grandeur and scope of the visual compositions. The film, with its breathtaking scenery, brilliant performances by a cast of character actors, and an engaging sense of humor, is a superlative example of the American western. Wagonmaster inspired the television series Wagon Train and was also shown in a computer-colorized version ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr., (more)
Errol Flynn is top-billed in Kim, but the title character is played by Dean Stockwell. The son of an Irish sergeant, young Kim wanders through the streets and hills of Colonial India, disguised as a native boy. Kim's adventures include an episode with a horse trader (Errol Flynn) who is actually a British secret agent; a sojourn with a holy lama (Paul Lukas) on a mysterious quest; and involvement with a plan to rid the Khyber Pass of Czarist Russian agitators. Kim had been in the planning stages since 1938 (those considered for the title role included Freddie Bartholomew and Mickey Rooney), but the property's catch-as-catch-can storyline, coupled with the changing political climate in postwar India, delayed production until 1949. While a great deal of Kim was filmed on location in India, some of the more complicated exterior sequences were lensed in Lone Pine, California. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Dean Stockwell, (more)
Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston give standout performances in this dark, psychological western, which Martin Scorsese has compared to the work of Dostoevsky. T.C. Jeffords (Huston) is a cunning and highly successful ranch owner who has announced his engagement to a wealthy socialite, Flo Burnett (Judith Anderson). This news is not warmly received by his daughter Vance (Stanwyck); she had a romance of her own with gambler Rip Darrow (Wendell Corey) foiled by her father, and Vance does not care for her light-headed stepmother-to-be. Vance is driven into a violent rage by T.C.'s Machiavellian actions, and when he kills a good friend of Vance's (a ranch hand he believes was helping Mexicans squat on his land), she swears revenge on her father and joins forces with Darrow to see that violent justice is done. The Furies proved to be Walter Huston's last film; he died within a few months of its release. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, (more)
- 1950
Former juvenile star William Henry is the all-grown-up hero of Federal Man. Henry is cast as a government agent who dogs the trail of illegal narcotics peddlers. This requires several trips south of the US-Mexico border and back again. Scenes of startlingly vivid violence are counterpointed with prosaic shots of the scientific paraphernalia used by modern-day crime fighters ("modern," of course, by 1950 standards). Though leading lady Pamela Blake is ill-served by her bland dialogue, veteran utility player George Eldredge enjoys one of the largest assignments of his career as the slimy gang leader. Like many crime films of the era, Federal Man adopts a documentary approach to its scripted scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Henry, Pamela Blake, (more)
- 1950
Back in the 1930s, '40s and '50s, artist George Petty was famous for his "Petty Girl" illustrations; lovingly detailed renderings of ripe young damsels wearing next to nothing, and sometimes not even that. In The Petty Girl, George Petty is portrayed by Robert Cummings, while Joan Caulfield co-stars as strait-laced college professor Victoria Braymore. The plot contrives to have Petty abandon his nubile creations in favor of avant-garde art, all because he's been told to do so by his new patroness (Audrey Long). Somewhere along the way, Petty and the prim Miss Braymore find themselves in a compromising situation at a Greenwich Village nightclub. Thus it is only a matter of time before Petty goes back to the sort of artwork he does best, and Miss Braymore loosens her inhibitions -- and everything else -- to serve as Petty's latest model. Incredibly, this amusing exercise in old-fashioned male chauvinism was based on a story by novelist Mary McCarthy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Cummings, Joan Caulfield, (more)
- 1949
Tim Holt's second RKO western for 1949 was Mysterious Desperado. Once more teamed with Richard Martin as his saddle pal Chito, Tim rides into a sleepy California town, where Chito hopes to claim his uncle's estate. Tim decides to stick around and investigate when it turns out that Uncle was murdered. The number-one suspect is the victim's son (Edward Norris), but if this were true, the movie would be over in 15 minutes. A clue: when in doubt, always look towards the Evil Land Developers. Director Leslie Selander also contributed to the screenplay of Mysterious Desperado. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Holt, Richard Martin, (more)
- 1949
Infused with religious themes, this crime drama is considered a minor example of film noir. Set in Los Angeles, it tells the grim story of vengeful embezzler Nick Cherney, who plots murderous revenge after he is fired from Johnny Torno's freight company. He gets it by killing Johnny's brother Jess, a chaplain who has just returned from the war. Johnny arrives at the hotel room of his brother Jess and finds him dying. Just before Jess expires he tells Johnny that the identity of his killer can be found in his Bible. Though every hotel room has a Bible, the one belonging in his brother's is missing. Though his girl friend, the priest and the police warn against a private investigation, Johnny ignores their advice and goes looking for that Good Book. His girl friend goes along with him. Before they go, they leave Warni Hazard in charge of the freight company. Nick Cherney shows up and takes off after Hazard who flees until finding safety beneath the tires of an enormous trailer. Nick sees him cowering there and in the film's most shocking sequence, coolly kicks one of the jacks holding up the trailer and while Hazard is crushed, Nick calmly takes a drag on his cigarette. Meanwhile, Johnny and his gal finally find the Bible and see that Jess had underlined a couple of verses that seem to suggest that Johnny leave the matter of revenge in God's hands. Johnny pays no heed to the message until the story's grim climax. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Raft, Virginia Mayo, (more)
The first of John Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy", Fort Apache stars John Wayne as captain Kirby York and Henry Fonda as Custer clone Lt. Col. Owen Thursday. Resentful of his loss in rank and transfer to the West after serving gallantly in the Civil War, the vainglorious Thursday insists upon imposing rigid authority on rough-and-tumble Fort Apache. He is particularly anxious to do battle with the local Indians, despite York's admonitions that the trouble around the fort is being fomented not by the so-called savages but by corrupt white Indian agents. Thursday nonetheless ends up in a climactic set-to with Indian chief Cochise. He and his men are needlessly slaughtered, but the Eastern press builds "Thursday's Charge" into an incident of conspicuous valor--and York, ever loyal to the cavalry, is not about to tell the whole truth. The bare bones of Fort Apache's plotline are fleshed out with several subplots, including the romance between Thursday's daughter Philadelphia (Shirley Temple) and Lt. Mickey O'Rourke (John Agar), the son of Fort Apache veteran Sgt. Michael O'Rourke (Ward Bond). There's also plenty of time for the expected drunken-brawl humor of Victor McLaglen. Not in the least politically correct, Fort Apache is a classic of its kind, and together with Rio Grande (1950) the best of the John Ford/John Wayne Cavalry films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Henry Fonda, (more)
- 1942
Tower of Terror is set in a lonely lighthouse on a tiny German-controlled island. Demented lighthouse keeper Kristan (Wilfred Lawson) is terrified that someday, somehow, the world will know that he murdered his wife 16 years earlier. Though he openly discourages visitors, Kristan is forced to play host for an odd assortment of strangers: A British secret agent (Michael Rennie),a German naval officer (John Longden) and a beautiful concentration-camp escapee (Movita). The latter so closely resembles Kristan's late wife that the old man goes completely round the bend, ordering the poor girl to dress in his wife's clothes and ultimately attempting to do her in as well. This juicy slice of Grand Guignol was produced in England by Pathe in 1941 and released in the US by Monogram the following year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wilfred Lawson, Movita, (more)
- 1939
Based on a story by Jack London, this film follows the adventures of young Michael Vance (John Carroll) as he travels with his faithful dog to check out the value of a family mine. As they travel north, John meets a beautiful Indian girl (Movita) and his canine companion joins up with a pack of wolves. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Carroll, Movita, (more)
- 1939
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
- Starring:
- Warren Hull, Alan Baldwin, (more)
- 1938
Mexican actress Movita, Franchot Tone's vis-a-vis in Mutiny on the Bounty (and, much later, Mrs. Marlon Brando) stars in the Monogram western Rose of the Rio Grande The story, based on a novel by Johnston (Zorro) McCulley, concerns a group of aristocratic vigilantes, who go about trying to restore their prominence in Mexico by killing anyone who stands in their way. The cast is full of Hollywood Hispanics, including Don Alvarado, Antonio Moreno, Gino Corrado (the villain), Martin Garralaga and Duncan Renaldo (who incidentally was born in Rumania!) Several profane outtakes of Rose of the Rio Grande exist: in one of the funniest, leading man John Carroll, unable to untie the ropes that bind Movita to a chair, begins grumbling "What did the guy do with these...God...damn...." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Movita, John Carroll, (more)
- 1937
Mexican actress Movita, who rose to fame as one of the native girls in the Oscar-winning Mutiny on the Bounty, heads the cast of Monogram's Paradise Isle. On a remote South Sea Island, sun-kissed maiden Ila (Movita) finds white man Richard Kennedy (Warren Hull) washed up on shore. Once a celebrated painter, Kennedy has been stricken blind, and was on his way to a European eye specialist when his ship was destroyed in an explosion. Confused, disillusioned and embittered, Kennedy is nursed back to health by Ila, who tries her best to restore his will to live. Complicating her efforts are her jealous native boyfriend Tono (George Pilita) and scurrilous pearl trader Hoener (William B. Davidson). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Hull
- 1937
- NR
Framed in a flashback related by doctor Thomas Mitchell, The Hurricane is in essence the story of a struggle between individual freedom and colonial oppression. Jon Hall plays Terangi, a tempestuous native of the French-controlled island of Manakoora. After marrying childhood sweetheart Marama (Dorothy Lamour, saronged as usual), Terangi takes a job on a ship. While docked in Tahiti, Teragni is goaded into a fight by a white man-an offense punishable by a stiff prison term. French governor DeLaage (Raymond Massey) has nothing personal against the native, but he is dedicated to upholding the strict letter of the law. Even the appeals made on behalf of Terangi by doctor Mitchell, priest C. Aubrey Smith, ship's captain Jerome Cowan and the governor's own wife (Mary Astor) fail to weaken DeLaage's resolve to do his duty. Thus begins a chain of events that entangles the freedom-loving Terangi in the impenetable web of white "justice". Time and again Terangi escapes from prison, only to be recaptured and sentenced to longer and longer terms. Finally managing to make his way back to Manakoora -- and killing a prison guard in the process -- Terangi continues to be doggedly pursued by DeLaage. Just as Terangi is about to sail off to parts unknown in an outrigger canoe with Marama and their child, the hurricane begins. At the risk of his own life, and his freedom, Terangi rescue DeLaage's wife and several other storm refugees. Largely the handiwork of art director James Basevi, the hurricane of The Hurricane was not directed by the film's official helmsman John Ford, but by an uncredited Stuart Heisler -- a fact readily acknowledged by Ford. Adapted by Dudley Nichols and Oliver H. P. Garrett from a novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, The Hurricane was poorly remade in 1979 with Jason Robards and Mia Farrow in the Raymond Massey and Mary Astor roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Lamour, Jon Hall, (more)
- 1936
Set in the scenic South Seas, this high-seas adventure centers on a sailor who creates all kinds of trouble when he tells a whopper about having found a great Spanish treasure. Soon he finds himself and his girlfriend pursued by a colorful assortment of treasure-seeking pirates. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Houston, Marian Nixon, (more)
The 1932 publication of Charles Nordhoff and James Norton Hall's Mutiny on the Bounty sparked a revival of interest in the titular 1789 ship mutiny, and this 1935 MGM movie version won the Oscar for Best Picture. Clark Gable stars as Fletcher Christian, first mate of the infamous HMS Bounty, skippered by Captain William Bligh (Charles Laughton), the cruelest taskmaster on the Seven Seas. Bligh's villainy knows no bounds: he is even willing to flog a dead man if it will strengthen his hold over the crew. Christian despises Bligh and is sailing on the Bounty under protest. During the journey back to England, Bligh's cruelties become more than Christian can bear; and after the captain indirectly causes the death of the ship's doctor, the crew stages a mutiny, with Christian in charge. Bligh and a handful of officers loyal to him are set adrift in an open boat. Through sheer force of will, he guides the tiny vessel on a 49-day, 4000-mile journey to the Dutch East Indies without losing a man. Historians differ on whether Captain Bligh was truly such a monster or Christian such a paragon of virtue (some believe that the mutiny was largely inspired by Christian's lust for the Tahitian girls). The movie struck gold at the box office, and, in addition to the Best Picture Oscar, Gable, Laughton, and Franchot Tone as one of the Bounty's crew were all nominated for Best Actor (they all lost to Victor McLaglan in The Informer). The film was remade in 1962 and adapted into the "revisionist" 1984 feature The Bounty with Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian and Anthony Hopkins as Captain Bligh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, (more)
The top-billed stars in the extravagant RKO musical Flying Down to Rio are Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond. Forget all that: this is the movie that first teamed Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. We're supposed to care about the romantic triangle between aviator/bandleader Raymond, Brazilian heiress Del Rio and her wealthy fiance Raul Roulien, but the moment Fred and Ginger dance to a minute's worth of "The Carioca", the film is theirs forever. Other musical highlights include Rogers' opening piece "Music Makes Me" and tenor Roulien's lush rendition of "Orchids in the Moonlight". Then there's the title number. The plot has it that Del Rio' uncle has been prohibited from having a floor show at his lavish hotel because of a Rio city ordinance. Astaire and Raymond save the day by staging the climactic "Flying Down to Rio" number thousands of feet in the air, with hundreds of chorus girls shimmying and swaying while strapped to the wings of a fleet of airplanes. It is one of the most outrageously brilliant numbers in movie musical history, and one that never fails to incite a big round of applause from the audience--even audiences of the 1990s. Together with King Kong, Flying Down to Rio saved the fledgling RKO Radio studios from bankruptcy in 1933. The film was a smash everywhere it played, encouraging the studio to concoct future teamings of those two stalwart supporting players Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Del Rio, Gene Raymond, (more)
