Grant Richards Movies

Tired of living in the shadow of older brothers Adam and Hoss, Joe Cartwright demands that his father Ben give him more of a say in running the Ponderosa. Impressed, Ben hands Joe the solo responsibly of suppling timber to a mining company's construction project. As he begins this assignment, Joe is certain that he can do the job without anyone else's help-but can he? The supporting cast includes Grant Richards as Will Poavey, James Beck as Dave Donovan, Frank Gerstle as Weber, Dan Riss as Crawford and Charles Seel as Hawkins. Written by John Joseph and Thomas Thompson, "The Quest" originally aired on September 30 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In hiding ever since his gang was wiped out in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Bugs Moran (George J. Wilke) is surprised when he is visited by a dead man. Actually, Eddie O'Gara (Michael Connors) is very much alive; it's just that everyone assumed he'd been killed by his fellow hoodlums when he dropped out of sight three years ago. Though Moran dismisses O'Gara as a two-bit punk, he is most receptive when Eddie comes up with a plan to put Bugs back on top again. Meanwhile, Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) searches high and low for both Moran and O'Gara, certain that at least one of them will be mad enough at their former enemies to help the Feds smash the Chicago Underworld once and for all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Someone is trying to corner the market in illegal champagne before New Year's Eve of 1932--a last-ditch effort to turn a huge profit before the repeal of Prohibition goes into effect. The ensuing intrigues involve French champagne manufacturer Michel Vitton (Barry Morse), mob-connected restauranteur Barney Loomis (Robert Middleton) and Barney's covetous nephew Ed Wald (Michael Constantine). Cast as a deaf-mute assassin named Birdie is future Oscar winner George Kennedy), who during a confrontation scene with series star Robert Stack Ness applies so much physical force that Stack actually passes out on camera--an incident over which the two actors (good friends in real life) would invariably share a laugh in the years to come. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) raiding the Syndicate's distilleries left and right, Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon) is forced to devise a new method of distribution. Enter ex-convict Matt Bass (Telly Savalas), who'd been Nitti's boss back in the "bad old days." Bass and his partner Jason Fiddler (Milton Selzer) have devised a foolproof scheme to get the illegal booze delivered, using a vast network of underground pipes. Nitti isn't interested, so Bass proposes his scheme to a rival bootleger, Seth Otis (Michael Constantine)--and we all know what happens when anyone tries to get the better of Frank Nitti. This third-season episode was originally slated to air during Season Two. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is a competently put-together "B"-grade film starring Craig Hill as a doctor who in the process of trying to save a man badly beaten by two gangsters, identifies the culprits to the police. When their victim dies and the charge becomes murder, the doctor hightails it to the far woods where he finds a job as a clerk in a sporting-goods store. His plan is to lay low until the hoodlums forget about him. But complications arise from two different sectors. First, the doctor falls in love with a local woman and second, the murderers find out where he is hiding. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

On the verge of marrying jazz musician Eddy King (James Drury), Polly Courtland (Jo Morrows) lets out a shriek and runs out of the church. It turns out that Polly had seen George Sherwin (Grant Richards]), who was waving an envelope containing compromising photos of Polly's sister Midge (Lorrie Richards). Later confronting Polly, Sherwin promises to destroy the photos if she will give up Eddy and marry him. Inevitably, Sherwin is murdered and Eddy is charged with the crime--obliging Perry Mason (Perry Mason), who'd been a guest at the interrupted wedding, to handle his defense. Cast as nightclub singer Jonny Baker, future daytime-drama diva Constance Towers) sings "The Man I Love" and "The Thrill is Gone"; also, Barney Kessel, who composed the episode's jazzy musical score, appears as Spec Hollister. Finally, Karl Held joins the cast in the semi-regular role of Mason's legal assistant David Gideon, a character introduced (as a defendant!) in the previous episode "The Case of the Grumbling Grandfather". (Trivia note: though originally listed in TV Guide as Perry Mason's fifth-season opener, this episode was actually that season's third entry, preceded by two "leftover" episodes from Season Four). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "music box" of the title of this low-budget, routine gangster film is a submachine gun, and its owner Larry Shaw (Ronald Foster) is the focus of attention. Larry has as little concern for morality or human life as an exterminator does for cockroaches, and so he is able to climb up the ladder of organized crime with little difficulty. The setting is New York in the 1920s, when mobsters become both rich and famous and eventually dead because of Prohibition. For inexplicable reasons, Larry is married to a decent woman (Luana Patten) who one day has had enough of her husband's activities and rebels in a most significant way. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Thanks to the notorious gangland conference in Appalachian, New York, the word "Mafia" was on everyone's lips in 1959. Rushing to capitalize on this fact was the low-budget expose Inside the Mafia. Grant Richards plays a Lucky Luciano type who is about to return to the US after several years' deportation. Richards arranges for an upstate New York gangland meeting, where minor mob functionary Cameron Mitchell plans to depose big boss Ted DeCorsia. Mitchell also intends to murder Richards so that he can rule the Mafia unfettered. But Richards is still master of his own fate, and he guns down his competition during the gang conference before surrendering to the police. Inside the Mafia told the public little that wasn't already known, but the film served its purpose of cashing in on a "hot" title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This generically-titled crime caper stars Mamie Van Doren as Vegas nightclub singer Vi Victor and Lee Van Cleef as her gangster husband Mike Bennett. While Mike is stuck in prison, Vi has an affair with his former cellmate Chuck Wheeler (Gerald Mohr), who masterminds a $2 million armored car heist. Mike busts out of jail and claims the ill-gotten gains for himself. He also reclaims Vi, whose fidelity can be easily bought. Practically every member of the cast is dead by the final fade-out; it wouldn't be sporting to reveal here who survives. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When her purse is stolen, Claire Olger (Patricia Hardy) is forced to hitch a ride from Michael Greeley. Unfortunately, Greeley (John Hubbard) has been drinking--and when he plows his vehicle into a truck, killing the other driver, he runs away, leaving Claire to take the rap. In his efforts to save Claire from charges of manslaughter and grand theft auto, Perry (Raymond Burr) locates the elusive Granger--who happens to be stone cold dead. Now Perry must defend his client on a charge of first-degree murder! A second killing further complicates this episode, which is based on a 1941 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally slated for released through Grand National Pictures, Isle of Destiny was redirected to RKO Radio when Grand National folded in late 1939. June Lang stars as Virginia Allerton, a famous aviatrix who crashlands in a remote South Sea Island (a la Amelia Erhardt!) and is promptly kidnapped by gun-runner Barton (Gilbert Roland). Coming to Virginia's rescue are two-fisted US marines Stripes Thornton (William Gargan) and Milly Barnes (Wallace Ford). Also figuring into the storyline are Katherine DeMille as a sultry native with a predilection of disposing of her enemies with poison darts, and septugenarian Etienne Girardot (in his last film appearance) as Barton's semi-comic assistant. Too long by about two reels, Isle of Destiny has the advantage of eye-pleasing Cosmocolor cinematography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pity poor police captain Dugan (Harry Carey). As if he hasn't got enough trouble with the green recruits that Headquarters continues saddling him with, he also has to solve a series of high-profile jewel robberies. Enter brash rookie cop Danny Blake (Dick Foran), whose know-it-all attitude drives Dugan right up the proverbial wall. Even more irritating are Blake's newfangled "scientific" crime-solving methods, not to mention the fact that the newcomer is sweet on Dugan's pretty niece Kathleen Burke (June Lang). Eventually, of course, Blake and Dugan work side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder to catch the head of the jewel thieves in the act (to reveal his identity would spoil the fun, though it isn't hard to figure out). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide