William B. David Movies
Completed several years before its 1947 release, Scared to Death is historically important as Bela Lugosi's only color film (outside of his brief unbilled appearance in 1931's Fifty Million Frenchmen, which today exists only in black & white). Other than that, it's a dreary story of how a beautiful but treacherous young woman (Molly Lamont) literally dies of fright. Anticipating Sunset Boulevard by at least five years, the film is narrated by the deceased "heroine", meaning that suspense and surprise are hardly considerations here. It's a toss-up as to who's funnier: the film's official comedy relief, dumb detective Nat Pendleton and dumber blonde Joyce Compton, or the "odd couple" team of the caped-and-cloaked Bela Lugosi and his dress-alike dwarf companion Angelo Rossitto. For the record, Lugosi plays a sinister hypnotist named Leonide, yet another of his myriad of "red herring" roles in the 1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bela Lugosi, Douglas Fowley, (more)
Produced by Gower Gulch maverick Robert L. Lippert and filmed in not-so-glorious two-strip Cinecolor near Idyllwild, California, this Northwest Mounted melodrama starred the veteran Bob Steele as a rather surly mountie who, against his own better judgment, is persuaded to escort a patronizing Eastern girl (Joan Woodbury through the wilderness to her uncle's logging camp. Constantly bickering with her guide, the girl is carrying $20,000 in her purse, payroll money which is promptly stolen. At the logging camp, Steele runs into trouble with the local sergeant, Means (John Litel), who may not be all he appears to be, a wife-beating saloon-keeper (George Meeker, and sundry other more or less mysterious persons, most of whom were aware of Miss Woodbury's travel plans. Steele, who was nearing the end of his starring career (four Grade-Z Westerns were to come), also headlined Wildfire (1945), another Cinecolor "experiment" for Lippert's Action Pictures. Northwest Trail, however, was all but stolen by Miss Woodbury, whose feisty character made up for Steele's aging inertia. Troubled silent star Madge Bellamy made her final screen appearances as the mistreated wife of the saloon proprietor and real-life circus performer Poodles Hanneford played himself Like so many low-budget mountie melodramas, this one implied a non-existent connection to pulp writer James Oliver Curwood. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1946
The titular valley is the locale for an inordinate amount of double-crosses and betrayals. Young prospector Carroll Nye thinks he's doing a good deed when he rescues heroine Rada Rae, whom he finds wandering aimlessly in the desert. Little does Nye realize that Rae is in cahoots with claim-jumping Raymond Wells, who intends to get his hands on a valuable gold mine, the location of which is known only by our hero. Upon realizing he's been duped, Nye begins to punch out the girl (a startling scene!), but comes to regret his rash behavior when it develops that Rae has been forced to betray him under threat of death. By film's end, however, it is the villainous Wells who suffers the most. Death Valley was remade, scene-for-scene, in 1946, with Helen Gilbert and Nat Pendleton in the main roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1946
In this western comedy, the mis-adventures of a bumbling range rider are chronicled. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lowery
In this low-budget espionage adventure, an ex-FBI agent is convinced by an active agent to help him find a stolen map showing the location of invaluable uranium deposits located on a remote South Pacific island. Later the two, and a few others, end up in a hotel in Death Valley with the maps. Murder ensues as different people vie to get their hands on the valuable documents. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1946
Russell Hayden, formerly of the Hopalong Cassidy Westerns, stars in this mini-Western as "Utah" Nyes, a young rancher searching for his partner, Bill Lawton, in the Canadian Northwest. When Bill's body turns up, nasty "Nails" Nelson (Douglas Fowley), whom the murder victim had accused of stealing valuable pelts, frames Utah for the deed. When another victim of Nails' reign of terror (Guy Beach) bites the dust, Utah is again the most obvious suspect but he eventually manages to clear his name with the help of newfound ally Ivy Jenkins (I. Stanford Jolley). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Russell Hayden, Inez Cooper, (more)
- 1945
Wildfire was the first release from Screen Guild Productions, the adventuresome little independent that would eventually metamorphose into Lippert Pictures Inc. The title character is a magnificent wild horse, slated to be destroyed by a group of ranchers. It seems that Wildfire is being held responsible for luring the ranchers' own stock of horses into the hills. Bob Steele and Sterling Holloway play Happy and Alkali, two rambunctious horsetraders who rescue Wildfire from extinction. Apparently they succeed, inasmuch as 1948 brought forth a sequel, Return of Wildfire, which unlike its predecessor was lensed in Sepiatone rather than Cinecolor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Sterling Holloway, (more)
