Sugar Dawn Movies

After several years of mediocre westerns, cowboy star Tom Keene finally managed to find a winning formula in his 1941-42 vehicles for Monogram. Lone Star Law Men stars Keene as a deputy US marshal, sworn to help his boss rout a gang of border outlaws. Our hero elects to go undercover by joining the crooks himself-an old ploy, but one that works beautifully here. For the rest of the film, Keene has quite a time staying on camera with such formidable scene-stealers as comic sidekick Frank Yaconelli and all-around heavy Charles King as competition. Like many Tom Keene oaters of the period, Lone Star Law Men gives over a goodly amount of screen time to moppet Sugar Dawn, whom Monogram was obviously grooming for bigger things (which never materialized). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, the bad guy kills a rancher and a Texas ranger so that the location of a copper mine will remain a secret. Another ranger goes undercover to catch the outlaw. The killer hires him. His assignment is to create trouble for the late rancher's daughter who has taken over the land. He cons her into to giving him the deed for the ranch. He takes it to the outlaw, but first he stops to warn the other rangers. The jig is up when the outlaw figures out the ruse and tries to escape. He is quickly captured and justice prevails. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Monogram's answer to Republic's Gene Autry, Tex Ritter was never successful in his choice of sidekicks. In Pals of the Silver Sage he had to contend with bucolic Slim Andrews, who at least was a personal friend if no bargain in the comedy department. But this time he was also saddled with one Sugar Dawn, a very resistible child actress who would reappear in The Golden Trail) (not to mention haunt Tom Keene in no less than five consecutive oaters). Ritter, Andrews and little Miss Dawn filmed Pals of the Silver Sage in picturesque Tejon Ranch near Lebec, California, but that was the really the Western's only recommendation. Orphaned Sugar Dawn is in danger of losing her ranch unless she can make the deadline for a cattle delivery. But foreman Jeff (Dawn?) (Carleton Young), who is also the girl's cousin, is in the employ of nefarious neighbor Vic Insley (Glenn Strange). Enter Tex Wright (Ritter) and his sidekick Cactus (Andrews) who concoct a scheme to trap the villains. Tex is mistaken for a rustler along the way but everything is cleared up within the allotted 52 minutes. Ritter sang Prairie Fairy Tale by Johnny Lange and Lew Porter but otherwise kept the warbling to a minimum. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide