Jimmie Davis Movies

Gene Autry enjoyed considerable success with his recording of Stan Jones' haunting "Riders in the Sky". He then parlayed this success into a film, which proved to be one of Autry's best postwar efforts. The basic plot concerns Autry's efforts to clear rancher Ralph Lawson (Steve Darrell) of a trumped-up murder charge. The trumper-upper, Rock McCleary, is played by Robert Livingston, a former cowboy star who turned to character roles late in his career. The heroine is played by Gloria Henry, ten years removed from her TV fame as Alice Mitchell in Dennis the Menace. The title song is imaginatively staged by director John English, with a ghostly Tom London riding hard and fast as a montage of moody images play across the screen. So effective was this vignette that Columbia included it in the coming-attractions trailer for Riders in the Sky. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A sharecropper's son grows up to be the governor of Louisiana in this rags-to-riches bio-pic that tells the story of Jimmie Davis who was determined to get a good education and make something of himself. Not only did he become known as the singing governor, Davis was also a professor in a women's college, and a streetwise police commissioner. He sings several songs throughout the film including: "You Are My Sunshine," "Nobody's Darling but Mine," "It Makes No Difference," "There's a New Moon over My Shoulder," "Let's Be Sweethearts Again," and "You Won't Be Satisfied That Way." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Too expensive for a "B"-picture, yet not quite an A, Two Tickets to London is an acceptable vehicle for French leading lady Michele Morgan and Universal contract player Alan Curtis. The stars are cast as Jeanne, a café entertainer, and Dan Driscoll, an American naval officer unjustly imprisoned for treason. With Jeanne's help, Dan tries to make his escape -- and, hopefully, clear his name -- in fog-shrouded London. Many of the sets utilized in this film were recycled for Universal's horror epics and Sherlock Holmes films. Two Tickets to London bears a few traces of Warner Bros.' Casablanca, even unto featuring Dooley Wilson ("Play it, Sam") in a key scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the more unusual B-Westerns of the 1930s, Down the Wyoming Trail featured the spectacle of stampeding elk.Tex Ritter is assigned by Sheriff Missouri (Horace Murphy) of Elk Valley to track down Ted Becker (Charles King), a rustler who is stampeding elk across the valley to clear a path in the snow for his stolen cattle. Along the way, Tex obtains a job as ranch hand for Candy Parker (Mary Brodel) but is soon falsely accused of stealing the payroll by Blackie (Bob Terry), a disgruntled former employee. The latter kidnaps Jerry (Bobby Lawson), Candy's kid brother, leaving him to freeze to death in the snowy wilderness. Tex, meanwhile, torments Becker by convincing him that a man he once killed is still alive. Crazed with fear, Becker runs into the snow and falls to his death from a cliff. With Becker's demise, Blackie takes over, capturing Tex. Tied up next to Bobby, Tex manages to get himself free and arrives at the Parker ranch just in time to prevent Blackie from molesting Candy. Accompanied by a hillbilly group known as The Northwesterners of Radio Fame, Ritter performs In Elk Valley, by Johnny Lange and Lew Porter, Goin' Back to Texas, by Carson Robison, and It Makes No Difference Now, by Floyd Tillman and Jimmie Davis. A pert brunette, leading lady Mary Brodel was the sister of 1940s ingenue Joan Leslie. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide