Dick Curtis Movies
American actor Dick Curtis may have started out as an extra, and it's true that he seldom rose above the ranks of western supporting actors, but he still managed to get himself a full-page photo spread as a "typical" villain in the 1957 coffee table book The Movies. In this book, as in most of his movies, Curtis was seen squaring off in a series of bare-knuckle bouts with his perennial opponent, cowboy star Charles Starrett. Most of Curtis' career was centered at Columbia Pictures, where he scowled and skulked his way through bad guy roles in the studio's "B" pictures, westerns, serials, and two-reel comedies. Sometimes he'd get to wear a business suit instead of frontier garb, as in his role of a jury foreman in the Boris Karloff thriller The Man They Could Not Hang (1939), but even here he was unpleasant, unsympathetic, and fully deserving of an untimely end. A more lighthearted (but no less menacing) Dick Curtis can be seen in his many two-reel appearances with Charley Chase, Hugh Herbert and The Three Stooges. As Badlands Blackie in the Stooges' Three Troubledoers (1946), Curtis' acting is gloriously overbaked, and perhaps as a reward for long and faithful service to Columbia he is permitted to deliver outrageous "double takes" which manage to out-Stooge his co-stars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1930
In this lively drama, a gambler believes he has killed a man and so boards the first train out of town. Unfortunately, a crash ensues and the wounded fugitive ends up recuperating at the home of a minister who has mistaken the card sharp for a traveling evangelist. The opportunistic gambler begins playing along. Time passes and he finds himself falling in love with the preacher's lovely daughter. The gambler is doing well in his new role, but just as he settles down into his happy new life, his past exploits return to haunt him. Luckily he is exonerated and his love finds forgiveness in her heart. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Mary Lawlor, (more)
"How would you like to star opposite the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood?" Enticed by these words, brunette leading lady Fay Wray dyed her hair blonde and accepted the role of Ann Darrow in King Kong -- and stayed with the project even after learning that her "leading man" was a 50-foot ape. The film introduces us to flamboyant, foolhardy documentary filmmaker Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), who sails off to parts unknown to film his latest epic with leading lady Darrow in tow. Disembarking at Skull Island, they stumble on a ceremony in which the native dancers circle around a terrified-looking young girl, chanting, "Kong! Kong!" The chief (Noble Johnson) and witch doctor (Steve Clemente) spot Denham and company and order them to leave. But upon seeing Ann, the chief offers to buy the "golden woman" to serve as the "bride of Kong." Denham refuses, and he and the others beat a hasty retreat to their ship. Late that night, a party of native warriors sneak on board the ship and kidnap Ann. They strap her to a huge sacrificial altar just outside the gate, then summon Kong, who winds up saving Ann instead of devouring her. Kong is eventually taken back to New York, where he breaks loose on the night of his Broadway premiere, thinking that his beloved Ann is being hurt by the reporters' flash bulbs. Now at large in New York, Kong searches high and low for Ann (in another long-censored scene, he plucks a woman from her high-rise apartment, then drops her to her death when he realizes she isn't the girl he's looking for). After proving his devotion by wrecking an elevated train, Kong winds up at the top of the Empire State Building, facing off against a fleet of World War I fighter planes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, (more)
- 1934
Kermit Maynard, the talented brother of western favorite Ken Maynard, launched his own starring series for Ambassador Films with The Fighting Trooper. Maynard is cast as fledgling Royal Canadian Mountie Burke, who hopes to avenge the murder of his best friend. Disguising himself as a trapper, Burke infiltrates the hideout of the supposed murderer. Upon falling in love with the "killer's" sister (Barbara Worth), our hero endeavors to prove the fugitive's innocence. More carefully produced than most independent westerns, The Fighting Trooper kept Maynard on horseback for the most part, allowing this strapping six-footer to do what he did best. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kermit Maynard, Barbara Worth, (more)
- 1935
In this drama, Dan is a horse trainer whose winning horse is disqualified when it is discovered that the animal has been drugged. The trainer is innocent, but is still suspended for one year. During that time, he investigates the incident, reveals the perpetrator, regains his good name, and winds up winning an even bigger race. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this off-beat outdoor adventure, a courageous Mountie braves the elements and many dangers to deliver mail to remote Northwestern outposts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Ostensibly based on James Oliver Curwood's Caryl of the Mountain, but bearing little or no resemblance to the 1935 Rin-Tin-Tin Jr. vehicle bearing that title, this Northwest melodrama stars Kermit Maynard as McKenna, a mounted police officer trailing the gang that kidnapped mining engineer Mason (John Elliott). The search leads to Ghost Mountain, where McKenna and his partner, Windy (Fuzzy Knight), encounter the missing man's daughter, Jane (Billie Seward). They also confront the gang of outlaws, who are eventually defeated after a chase through a labyrinth of caves and tunnels leading into mountain itself. Trails of the Wild was filmed at Hollywood's Talisman Studios and Bronson Canyon. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kermit Maynard, Billie Seward, (more)
- 1935
In this western, a wagon train is destroyed and all but two children, a brother and sister, are slaughtered. The sister is abducted by the Indians while the boy is raised by an Anglo family. He grows up with no memory of his sister. Now a young cowboy, he is called upon to attack an outlaw gang. When he learns that the gang leader is his renegade sister, he is most surprised. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Maynard, Lucille Browne, (more)
- 1935
In this western about the adventures of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a fur trapper is robbed and killed by a local thug. Although he is caught by the Mounties and thrown in jail, his partner soon breaks him out. It turns out they are both part of a gang headed by a ruthless killer -- who is a woman! ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Ken Maynard's western series for Columbia was a mixed bag indeed, with Western Courage neither the best nor worst of the bunch. Maynard plays Ken Baxter, foreman of a dude ranch who takes it upon himself to "tame" spoiled city gal Gloria Hanley (Geneva Mitchell). Lest this seem presumptuous on Ken's part, it should be noted that our hero has the full approval of Gloria's flustered father (Charles French). Rescuing the girl from a caddish fortune-hunter (Cornelius Keefe), Ken is then obliged to save her from horse-rustling villains. Maynard's tendency to ad-lib his dialogue is kept in check in Western Courage, though he's given a wide berth to indulge his questionable singing skills. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Maynard, Geneva Mitchell, (more)
- 1935
The second of Kermit Maynard's "Mountie" actioners for Ambassador Pictures, Northern Frontier was a major improvement on the first (The Fighting Trooper), which in itself wasn't such a bad picture either. On behalf of the Feds, Royal Mountie McKenzie (Maynard) joins a gang of counterfeiters. The story becomes a bit hard to believe at this point, since McKenzie is so clean-cut and heroic that it's a wonder the villains aren't tipped off to his true identity from the get-go. Magnificently photographed in Northern California, Northern Frontier was ostensibly based on a story by James Oliver Curwood (whose name was automatically attached to practically every Mountie movie ever made!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kermit Maynard, Eleanor Hunt, (more)
- 1936
Kermit Maynard, Ken's less famous brother, plays a Mountie impersonating a killer impersonating a Mountie in this low-budget "Northwestern" produced by independent entrepreneur Maurice Conn from a screenplay "suggested" by the story The Midnight Call by James Oliver Curwood. After apprehending the notorious killer "The Raven" (Yakima Canutt), Royal Canadian Mountie Gale Farrell assumes his identity in order to investigate a feud between fur trapping families. As it turns out, the feud is kept alive by nasty casino owner Henry McClain (John Merton), who answers to supposedly kindly Dr. Martin (Hobart Bosworth). They plan to monopolize the fur trade but Gale sets a trap for the good doctor and the feud comes to an end. Maurice Conn reportedly attempted to cash in on a current vogue by releasing the film as "G-Men of the North" only to learn that Warner Bros. owned the appellation of "G-Man." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kermit Maynard, Hobart Bosworth, (more)
- 1936
An existing production still for the Kermit Maynard "northern" Phantom Patrol pretty much sums up the outcome of the plot. Smartly dressed in a Mountie uniform, Maynard holds unconscious heroine Joan Barclay in his arms. Meanwhile, villain Julian Rivero, arms to his sides and a scowl of defeat on his face, surrenders to the Royal Canadian Mounted. About the only aspect of the plotline not revealed in the still is the fact that head-baddie Harry Worth has been trying to conduct a criminal empire while disguised as a celebrated detective-story writer. Directed by silent-serial veteran Charles Hutchison, Phantom Patrol was "suggested" by a James Oliver Curwood yarn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kermit Maynard, Joan Barclay, (more)
- 1936
On the threshold of international fame as mature cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy, William Boyd made three low-budget action-melodramas for independent company Winchester Pictures, the last of which, Federal Agent, featured the prematurely graying star as Bob Woods, a G-Man looking into the death of a colleague. As Bob learns, Recard Kantos (Don Alvarado), a vicious foreign spy, and his wife, Vilma (Lenita Lane), intend to buy a newly invented explosive capable of destroying the entire world. Turning to one of Kantos' disgruntled associates, Helen Gray (Irene Ware), Bob gets the inside scoop on the spy ring but ends up its prisoner. Helen, who proves to be the daughter of the murdered agent, manages to pass a knife to Bob and there is a final confrontation between the G-Man and his dangerous prey. Federal Agent, which was filmed in 1935 and released the following year by Republic Pictures, proved William Boyd's final non-Hopalong Cassidy starring vehicle. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles A. Browne, Irene Ware, (more)
A cowboy turned G-Man looks into a series of mysterious plane crashes in this low-budget but fairly engrossing B-Western starring Tim McCoy. Masquerading as an outlaw, Tim Caverly manages to infiltrate a gang of mail thieves holed up in a ghost town. As Tim discovers, the gang leaders, Dawson (Walter Miller) and Kincaid (Wheeler Oakman), have kidnapped Professor Brent (Lloyd Ingraham), whose electrical ray gun is used to shoot down the planes. Also arriving at the hideout is Natalie (Claudia Dell), the professor's pretty daughter, who warns her father that women and children were among the victims of the latest crash. Although Dawson is suspecting Tim to be a G-Man, the villain orders Brent to shoot down an incoming government plane. There is an exchange of gunfire between Dawson and Tim, and Brent is shot attempting to shut off the ray gun. The professor survives, however, and the villains are apprehended. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim McCoy, Claudia Dell, (more)
In his final Western for Poverty Row company Puritan Pictures, Tim McCoy played a Texas Ranger going undercover in order to flush out a certain Big George (J. Frank Glendon), the leader of a gang of heroin smugglers. Pretending to have been kicked out of the ranger corps, Tim follows henchmen Pedro Moreno (Pedro Regas) and The Texas Kid (Frank Melton) to the "Flying A Ranch." The Kid proved to be Jimmy Allen, the wayward brother of ranch owner Mary Allen (Frances Grant). With the assistance of sheepherder José Ramos (Julian Rivero), who is Tim's liaison with ranger captain John Hughes (Karl Hackett), Tim infiltrates Big George's smuggling ring which operates out of the Blue Cat Cantina. In a final battle with Big George and his gang, Moreno, Captain Hughes, and Jimmy are all mortally wounded, the latter begging his sister to forgive him for his past crimes. Unaware of his real identity, Ranger Smoky (Jack Rockwell) arrests Tim as the sole survivor of the gang, but a letter from Hughes vindicates the lawman. Although Tim is a free man, Smoky playfully locks Mary up in the cell with him. His Puritan contract coming to an end, McCoy signed with William Pizor, perhaps Hollywood's shoddiest entrepreneur. Pizor almost immediately reneged on the deal and McCoy sued. The case was finally settled in McCoy's favor in 1939, but the Pizor contract kept the popular cowboy hero off the screen for the remainder of 1936 and all of 1937. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim McCoy, Karl Hackett, (more)
- 1936
In yet another unusual Western from short-lived Puritan Pictures, Tim McCoy is a Wild West performer in a Manhattan nightclub. As Tim is performing his sharpshooting tricks with sidekick Paddy Callahan (Don Barclay), wealthy Texas rancher Knute Merwin (Arthur Millett) and his daughter, Ann (Joan Woodbury), are being robbed at gunpoint. The muggers are scared away by Tim, whom a grateful Merwin hires to protect his property from nasty cattle rustler Nate Welsh (J. Frank Glendon). Arriving to Merwin's Western town by train, Tim is mistaken by Welsh for gunslinger Single Shot Smith (John Merton), who had escaped en route. While the Merwins mistakenly believe that he has double-crossed them, Tim lets himself be hired by Welsh who appoints him his first lieutenant. Naturally, the sharpshooter remains on the side of the angels, defeating Welsh and his gang and returning the Merwin ranch to its rightful owners. As usual, The Lion's Den was produced by Sigmund Neufeld and directed by his brother, Sam Newfield. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim McCoy, Joan Woodbury, (more)
- 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
- 1937
With Wild Horse Round-Up, cowboy star Kermit Maynard put his "Canadian Mountie" film series behind him to concentrate on orthodox western action. Maynard plays Jack Benson, who gallops to the aid of heroine Ruth Williams (Betty Lloyd). She cold-shoulders him, assuming that he's but one of the many villains who's been trying to force her off her property. But Jack proves his noble intent by rounding up the bad guys just in time for the railroad to make a generous offer for Ruth's spread. Wild Horse Round-Up affords Kermit Maynard ample opportunity for the spectacular riding stunts which made him famous. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kermit Maynard, Dick Jones, (more)
Acting upon the belief that he accidentally murdered his best pal, a gunman swears never to draw his weapon again. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Truly made to order, The Singing Buckaroo starred former San Francisco Opera baritone Fred Scott in his second of thirteen singing Westerns for poverty row company Spectrum. In between warbling Johnny Lange and Fred Stryker's Cobweb 'Round My Saddle, Frankly Speaking and I'm a Wild Westerner, ranch owner Scott saves pretty Victoria Winton from a couple of pursuers attempting to steal the $25,000 she carries in her purse. Sam Gifford (Roger Williams, the owner of a corporation, turns up and claims Miss Winton stole the money from him. In reality, the girl and her father (William Faversham where attempting to hide the money from the unscrupulous Gifford, intending to hand it over to the company's stockholders. With the assistance of an Indian friend (Augie Gomez), Scott not only delivers the stolen money to the rightful owners but saves Miss Winton's father from a gang of kidnappers along the way. As in the previous Scott-Spectrum Western, the comedy relief was provided by double-talk expert Cliff Nazarro. Nazarro left the series after The Singing Buckaroo, to be replaced with Al St. John (for seven entries and Harry Harvey. A rare visitor to B-Westerns, supporting actor William Faversham had been a major star of the Victorian stage, ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Scott, William Faversham, (more)
Bar Z Bad Men is a slick 1930s oater showcasing Johnny Mack Brown. Per the title, Brown signs on as ranchhand at the Bar Z. The spread is plagued by rustlers, and this plot peg builds to a well-staged cattle- stampede climax. Leading lady Lois January, whose acting ability was several steps above most western ingenues, provides spirited support for Brown. Bar Z Bad Men was produced independently by A. W. Hackel's Spectrum Productions, then released by Republic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Boothill Brigade stars Johnny Mack Brown as frontier do-gooder Lon Cardigan. Villainous land-grabber John Porter (Edward Cassidy) spends most of the early reels divesting homesteaders of the hard-earned property. All of this comes to an end when Cardigan looms into view, fists at the ready. Seldom resorting to gunplay, our hero manages to send Porter's minions scurrying, then concentrates on cleaning the main bad guy's clock. Produced by A.W. Hackel for Republic release, Boothill Brigade boasts considerably better cinematography than the usual Hackel product. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Mack Brown, Claire Rochelle, (more)
- 1937
In this western, a cowboy rides into Mesa and finds that he bears remarkable resemblance to a dead man. Actually he is the dead man, but instead of suffering a death, he suffered a blow to the head that caused amnesia five years before. After staying in the town a while, his memories begin to return. He then enlists the aide of some Texas friends to help him bring law to the wild western town. By the story's end, he has fully regained his memory and is able to reclaim his wife and ranch. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Starrett, Barbara Weeks, (more)
- 1937
Marked Woman was the most famous of the late-1930s films based on New York DA Thomas Dewey's attack on vice lord Lucky Luciano; Paid to Dance was among the least famous. All-purpose Columbia leading lady Jacqueline Wells plays Joan Bradley, a long-suffering hoofer in the seedy dime-a-dance joint controlled by racketeer Jack Miranda (Arthur Loft). Like her fellow "hostesses," Joan is expected to clip the customers for their bankrolls -- and, it is implied, offer their bodies as well as their terpsichorean skills (though we're assured that Joan is still pure of heart and every other portion of her anatomy). Crusading detective William Dennis (Don Terry) vows to save Joan and her ilk from Miranda's clutches, but it takes plenty of brains and muscle to topple the villain's criminal empire. Billed last, Ralph "Dick Tracy" Byrd has a marvelous moment when he takes on two hoodlums at once -- and wins! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Terry, Jacqueline Wells, (more)
- 1937
The Game That Kills is professional hockey, at least according to this Columbia "B"-picture. Charles Quigley stars as Ferguson, a rough-and-tumble hockey player who discovers that his chosen profession is nothing more than a racket, a plaything for game-fixing racketeers. When his brother is killed in a highly suspicious accident, Ferguson and team trainer Holland (J. Farrell McDonald) join forces to bring the killers to justice. Second-billed Rita Hayworth is decorative as Holland's daughter (and Ferguson's sweetheart, natch). The Game That Kills was the second of three hockey-themed films released in 1937, the others being Warner Bros.' King of Hockey and Universal's Idol of the Crowd. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Quigley, Rita Hayworth, (more)
