William Lester Movies

Above and Beyond is the story of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, as told from the perspective of the man who flew the mission. Robert Taylor stars as Col. Paul Tibbetts, commander of the Enola Gay. Once selected for this extremely dangerous mission, Tibbetts must hand-pick a crew worthy of the task. He is also forced to keep his mission a closely guarded secret, even unto withholding all information from his loving and patient wife Lucey (Eleanor Parker). The film concentrates on the strain placed upon Tibbetts, his crew and their families in the crucial days before the "big drop". The bombing itself is handled with taste and decorum, though the horror and mixed emotions of the moment are brilliantly conveyed on the faces of Tibbetts and his men. Above and Beyond represents a rare noncomedy endeavor from the writer-director team of Melvin Frank and Norman Panama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In their last feature film, the Cisco Kid (Duncan renaldo) and Pancho (Leo Carrillo) come up against a vicious gang who is robbing stagecoaches in their likenesses. But when the latest holdup injures driver Jerry Todd (Bill Lester), the real Cisco and Pancho make sure that the youngster gets medical treatment, much to the surprise and gratitude of his intended, Nora Malloy (Jane Adams), who agrees to help set a trap for the real culprits. Filmed at Pioneertown, a popular movie location just east of Los Angeles, The Girl From San Lorenzo was the last of producer Philip N. Krasne's Cisco Kid feature films for United Artists. It was followed by the 1950-1956 television series, again produced by Krasne and starring Renaldo and Carrillo. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

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

Set virtually in its entirety in an airborne TWA Constellation (evidently the company agreed to the use of its name in exchange for free advertising), Sky Liner stars Richard Travis as FBI agent Steve Blair. At the beginning of the film, a government courier is murdered by a foreign spy during a transcontinental flight. Blair manages to collar the spy, who is then promptly murdered himself. Now Blair is forced to play detective, sifting out the guilty party (or parties) from the passenger list. Pamela Blake and Rochelle Hudson play the standard "good" and "bad" girls, while the rest of the cast is a film-buff's dream: Steven Geray, Bess Flowers, Jack Mulhall, George Meeker et. al. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A ranch foreman (Fred Humes) is falsely accused of a robbery actually committed by his look-alike cousin (also Humes), a feared villain known as the "Night Hawk." The plot thickens when the criminal Humes pretends to be his law-abiding cousin, but everything is quickly solved -- and without any expensive split-screen wizardry. Humes, a former stunt-man whose acting abilities, or lack thereof, became a decided liability in the sound era, was not the best choice to play a potentially difficult dual-role, and the film was further handicapped by employing too many comic sidekicks (five in all, including Ben Corbett, Pee Wee Holme and the obese Scotty Mattraw). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Popular stunt pilot Al Wilson is appropriately cast as the title character in Universal's The Cloud Dodger. Speeding to his own wedding, Wilson is arrested by a sharp-eyed cop and thrown in the slammer for 30 days. This is ample time for the heroine's aunt to arrange a marriage between the girl and a wealthy snob. Fortunately, Wilson is released from jail in time to hop into his trusty monoplane and rescue the heroine from an unhappy splicing. Action highlights from The Cloud Dodger showed up in many a penny-arcade "flip picture" machine of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joan Forsythe (Molly Malone) arrives in the town of Cache D'Orr, near the Canadian border, to find and claim an inheritance that was left by her late father. Furthermore, in order to find the clue to the fortune in gold, in a hidden mine, she must make contact with a Native American, Black Eagle (Jay J. Bryan). Once in Cache D'Orr, she crosses paths with Wynne Kendall (Maurice B. "Lefty" Flynn), an upper-class ne'er-do-well trying to make good in the eyes of his wealthy uncle, who is newly arrived in the wilderness, his identity a secret, trying to find out why the furs received at the trading post owned by his uncle's company have been dropping for the past couple of years. This puts him on a collision course with Ewart Garth (Joe Bonomo), the brutal and corrupt manager of the trading post. But he and Joan end up with parallel and conflicting interests, as he has posted a bounty for the head of White Fury, the magnificent stallion that leads a herd of wild horses (and recently ran off with Garth's prize brood mare); and White Fury also carries the clue to the location of Joan's legacy. Can the righteous and plucky but genteel Joan and the upright Wynne overcome the brutal Garth, even with the help of Black Eagle, and save the stallion and the herd? Originally released as a serial, The Golden Stallion had enough characters and good enough acting to hold audiences' interest for ten episodes. It was co-authored by future director/producer William A. Berke, whose career lasted another 30 years, and was among the better late silent serial produced by renowned Poverty Row mogul Nat Levine. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Hard-drinking silent screen hero Art Acord starred opposite his then-wife Louise Lorraine in this Universal oater directed by a young William Wyler. The story is something about a fake army colonel (Albert J. Smith) who blackmails Acord into doing his bidding, including smearing a rancher and his pretty daughter (Louise Lorraine. Unfortunately listed among the countless missing silent films, this Acord vehicle remains the most obscure film in director William Wyler's portfolio. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Long before such films as The Little Foxes and Detective Story, director William Wyler served his apprenticeship on low-budget westerns like Ranch Riders. Minor-league cowboy star Ted Wells comes to the rescue of heroine Lillian Gilmore when she inherits a gold mine. The villains would like to get their dirty hands on the gold, and to that end they've enlisted the aid of Gilmore's jellyfish nephew. Wells straightens the kid out in time, then concentrates on mowin' down the bad guys, one by one. It isn't likely that Wyler indulged in his habit of filming dozens of takes of each scene while putting together Ranch Riders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The stolid Jack Hoxie comes to the rescue of the Follies Bergere in this otherwise routine silent Western. The touring show's soubrette, Jeanne D'Arcy (Alma Rayford), as it turns out, is the long-lost daughter of Westerner John D'Arcy (William Malan). While she is performing at the town opera house, D'Arcy is found murdered and young Jack is accused of the heinous deed. The cowboy flees from the authorities and finds a hiding place in Jeanne's dressing room. Disguised as the show's mystic, he manages to unmask the real killer, D'Arcy's ne'er-do-well nephew, Steve Clayton (William Norton Bailey), who was about to be disinherited. This whodunit Western proved Jack Hoxie's final film for Universal. The now veteran action star faced an uncertain future in the new sound films and chose to leave films in favor of personal appearances. He returned in 1932 for what was to become his final series, six bottom-of-the-barrel Westerns produced by low-budget Majestic Film Corp. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In his second starring Western, lower-echelon cowboy Bob Custer portrayed a ranger who mistakenly believes pretty Marguerite Clayton to be in cahoots with a nasty gang of bank robbers. Miss Clayton is innocent of the charge, of course, but she does have an identical twin. A veteran Western heroine, Marguerite Clayton had starred opposite almost every Hollywood cowboy imaginable, including the very first, "Bronco" Billy Anderson. Clayton finally hung up her spurs in 1927. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Julia (Bessie Love) is a small-town girl who falls in love with George Crum (Frank Elliott) a much-older man. Though the object of her affection regards her as a nuisance, Julia tags after Crum all the way to Chicago. Just when it looks as though Julia's dream romance is about to be consummated, she discovers that her Romeo already has a Juliet-or should we say Mrs. Crum. Disillusioned, Julia returns home, where her faithful boyfriend has been waiting for the girl to wake up and smell the coffee. Based on a novel by Booth Tarkington, Gentle Julia was remade in 1936, with the script reshuffled to put the emphasis on Julia's kid-sister Florence (played in the remake by Jane Withers). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide