Charles Delaney Movies

Filmed on location in the Colorado Rockies, Running Target, per its title, is a feature-length chase. When a group of convicts break out of jail, sheriff Arthur Franz vows to bring the fugitives in without gunfire or bloodshed. Unfortunately, some of the members of Franz' posse don't see things his way: bartender Richard Reeves, for example, is a staunch advocate of the "shoot first and ask questions later" brand of justice. And then there's Doris Dowling, who joins the posse ostensibly because her gas station has been held up by the convicts -- but who is secretly in love with one of the escapees. Running Target represented one of the earliest credited efforts of top cinematographer Conrad Hall, who also collaborated on the script. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of only five films directed by Academy Award-nominated editor Stuart Gilmore, this 1951 Western stars Robert Young as Dan Craig, a gambler who may be the only man who can stop a war between a tribe of Native Americans and a group of white settlers. Shortly after the U.S. Civil War, Frank Crawford (Reed Hadley), a crooked politician, concocts a scheme to pillage the vast quantities of gold present on Apache tribal land. If Crawford can incite a war, he can clear the Apaches from the area and the gold will be his. Luckily Craig steps in, and with the help of Charlie Wolf (Jack Buetel), a half-Apache, helps prevent the tribe members from playing into Crawford's plan. But when Wolf's sister is murdered, he can no longer resist the urge to rise up, leaving Craig as the only one to avert a disastrous battle. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Blonde Ransom revives a plot that dates back at least to Broadway's David Belasco era. Virginia Grey plays Vicki, the niece of irascible old scoundrel Uncle William (George Barbier). When Vicki's boyfriend Duke (Donald Cook), owner of a Broadway nightclub, needs $63000 in a hurry, Vicki fakes her own kidnapping to raise the ransom money from her uncle. Things get sticky when the phony abduction turns real, but nothing really bad ever happens in a Universal musical comedy. TV buffs might get a kick out of comedy relief Pinky Lee, performing several of his tried-and-true burlesque routines. As proof that everything old is new again, the storyline of Blonde Ransom was reworked as late as 1997 for the Alicia Silverstone vehicle Excess Baggage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two government agents are assigned to bust up a gold smuggling ring located on the Mexican border. One of the agents, a beautiful, talented singer, goes undercover as a singer in one of the Mexican clubs. Using her considerable wiles she then begins trying to seduce the ring leader. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The titular colleen is Ruby Keeler, hired to manage a dress shop by wealthy Dick Powell. Keeler is the replacement for slatternly Joan Blondell, who'd been assigned the job by Powell's philandering father (Hugh Herbert). With Powell and Keeler at the helm, it's no time at all before the musical numbers proliferate, though none of the songs have the staying power of those in such earlier Warners musicals as 42nd Street and Golddiggers of 1933. The best number, "Boulevardier from the Bronx", is familiar to modern viewers thanks to its constant use in Warner Bros. cartoons. A lesser Powell/Keeler outing, Colleen contains what many film buffs regard as the definitive performance of character comedian Hugh "Woo Woo" Herbert. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ex-cop Russell Hopton, framed for a crime he didn't commit, gets a second chance in life after enduring a train wreck. His face mashed to pulp in the disaster, Hopton undergoes plastic surgery, emerging from the gauze with a brand-new face. Heading back to New York to find out who framed him, Hopton falls in love all over again with his former girlfriend Cecilia Parker, who-like everyone else--fails to recognize him. The writer/ director team of Charles W. Lamont and Ewart Adamson seemed more comfortable with the 2-reel comedies they'd been doing at Educational Studios than they were with the feature-length convolutions of Below the Deadline. The film was produced by the dying firm of Chesterfield-Invincible, then picked up for distribution by Grand National. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of several poverty-row films which vanished from sight during the 1935-36 movie season, Beacon Productions did its best to stay afloat as long as possible with such potboilers as What Price Crime? Future cowboy hero Charles Starrett is cast as G-Man Allan Grey, hot on the trail of a gang of firearms smugglers. Going undercover, Grey poses as an aspiring prizefighter in order to gain the confidence of gang leader Douglas Worthington (Noel Madison). The plot becomes as thick as pea soup when our hero falls in love with Worthington's sister Sondra (played by Virginia Cherrill, previously the blind flower girl in Chaplin's City Lights). Despite its urban setting, much of What Price Crime was economically filmed out-of-doors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Front Page Woman was one of those bread-and-butter vehicles that forced Bette Davis to go on strike against Warner Bros., demanding more worthwhile scripts. On its own terms, the film is a briskly entertaining newspaper yarn about two warring reporters (Davis and George Brent). In their efforts to out-scoop each other, Bette and George frequently land in hot water, especially after phoning in contradictory information concerning a murder trial. In the climax, Davis and Brent are both sent to cover a spectacular fire. While competing over interviews and evidence, the two newshounds discover that they're in love with each other. Front Page Woman was remade nearly scene-for-scene as the "Torchy Blaine" B picture Blondes at Work (37). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tower Films' Big Time or Bust is strictly small time, though not bad at all within it own limits. Regis Toomey plays a vaudeville high-dive artist, deeply in love with his wife and assistant (Gloria Shea). Thanks to the financial aid of a playboy (Walter Byron), the acrobat's wife skyrockets to the "big time," while her husband remains behind. The heroine is grateful, but repulses playboy's romantic overtures, remaining ever loyal to her husband. The couple is happily united at the end, but not before the acrobat's erratic behavior nearly gets him blackballed from show business. Sam Newfield, perhaps the busiest director on Poverty Row, keeps the melodramatic excesses in Big Time or Bust at a minimum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joe E. Brown plays Elmer Kane, a rookie ballplayer with the Chicago Cubs whose ego is matched only by his appetite. Because he is not only vain but naive, Elmer's teammates take great delight in pulling practical jokes on him. Still, he is so valuable a player that the Cubs management hides the letters from his hometown sweetheart Nellie (Patricia Ellis), so that Elmer won't bolt the team and head for home. When Nellie comes to visit Elmer, she finds him in an innocent but compromising situation with a glamorous actress (Claire Dodd). She turns her back on him, and disconsolate Elmer tries to forget his troubles at a crooked gambling house. Elmer incurs an enormous gambling debt, which the casino's owner is willing to forget if Elmer will only throw the deciding World Series game. Elmer brawls with the gambler and lands in jail, where he learns of a particularly cruel practical joke that had previously been played on him. Out of spite, he refuses to play in the Big Game, and thanks to a jailhouse visit by the gamblers, it looks as though Elmer has taken a bribe. But when he shows up to play (after patching things up with Nellie), Elmer proves that he's been true-blue all along. Based on the Broadway play by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan, Elmer the Great betrays its stage origins in its static early scenes, but builds confidently to a terrific climax during a rain-soaked ball game. This enjoyable film was the second in Joe E. Brown's "baseball trilogy" (see also Fireman Save My Child and Alibi Ike). Elmer the Great was remade in 1939 as Cowboy Quarterback, with Bert Wheeler in Joe E. Brown's part and with football substituting for baseball. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Police officer Tom Malone is the only honest man left who can salvage his crooked city after his partner is killed on his motorcycle by a wealthy playboy on a careless joyride. With criminals and crooked city officials at every turn, it will take courage, duty, and decency for Tom to make right what has for so long been terribly wrong. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

The descriptive phrase "melting pot" is elucidated in the sentimental drama Hearts of Humanity. Jean Hersholt stars as a golden-hearted Jewish pawnbroker whose daughter Caludia Dell falls in love with Irish-Catholic policeman Charles Delaney. When another Irish cop is killed by a burglar, Hersholt adopts the dead man's son Jackie Searl (here taking a break from his usual "nasty kid" roles). Jackie repays the favor by proving to be more loyal and upright than even Hersholt's own son (George Humbert). Evidently, the film was supposed to end with the young Searl's death; his miraculous recovery would seem to indicate that the preview audiences had something to say about the film's denouement. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide