William Desmond

Abbott and Costello's The Naughty Nineties offers a million laughs and a nickel's worth of plot. Most of the film takes place aboard a 19th century showboat, owned by kindly Captain Sam (Henry Travers). Bud Abbott plays the showboat's leading man Dexter Broadhurst, while Lou Costello is handyman Sebastian Dinwiddie. A group of slick gamblers (Alan Curtis, Rita Johnson and Joe Sawyer) cheat Captain Sam out of his boat, turning the place into a floating gambling palace, but Dexter and Sebastian foil the villains and save the day. The film is a virtual encyclopedia of wheezy but still hilarious comedy routines, many of them devised by veteran Laurel & Hardy and Three Stooges gagman Felix Adler. The film's highlight is a full-length performance of Abbott and Costello's verbal classic "Who's on First?"-and if one listens very closely, one can hear the cameramen and crew members laughing! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this swashbuckler, a princess is raised by gypsies and becomes their queen. The trouble really begins when a count is murdered and the evil, ambitious baron who really did it blames the crime on the gypsies. The baron's messenger knows the truth and tries to prove it. When he notices that the gypsy queen is wearing a pendant bearing the slain count's crest, he reveals her true identity--the count's estranged sister and heir to the throne. The messenger then accuses the baron of the death. The baron has him thrown into the same dungeon as the gypsies and together they team up and escape. Meanwhile the gypsy girl, who has finally promised to marry the wicked baron in exchange for her clan's freedom, is kidnapped by the baron. The gallant messenger rescues her, kills the baron, and gets to marry the young queen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this western, set in Texas, the brave heroes Rod, Fuzzy, and their good-guy gang attempt to keep a band of ruthless outlaws who are trying to take over the reins of a stage coach line. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Slightly more elaborate than most Charles Starrett westerns, Down Rio Grande Way is set in the mid-19th century, when the Republic of Texas was poised to join the Union. Starrett plays Texas Ranger Steve Martin (!), who is dispatched to a "renegade" Texas country that refuses to become part of the good old USA. He discovers that the crux of the problem is a local tax collector (Norman Willis) who, with the help of a crooked newspaper editor (Davision Clark), is systematically robbing the citizens of their hard-earned cash, all the while fomenting anti-American sentiments. Britt Wood takes over from Cliff Edwards as Starrett's comical sidekick, while band singer Rose Ann Stevens makes an impressive acting debut as the heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a frontier detective disguised as an entertainer performs for the leader of an outlaw gang. At the same time, he learns the whereabouts of the outlaws' hideout. Unfortunately, his true identity is revealed and he must escape if he is to bring the gang to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this western, a mining engineer vengefully seeks out the claim jumpers that murdered his brother. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The assistant to a railroad president battles an evil empire builder in this 13 chapter adventure serial produced by Henry MacRae for Universal. The Hartford Transcontinental Railroad is advancing the line through Hell's Gate Pass when the project is stalled by an attack of marauding Indians. The raid is organized by King Carter (Harry Woods), who considers the land to be his, and a renegade half-breed known as Snakeye (Charles Stevens). During the skirmish, the railroad president's daughter, Claire Hartford (Anne Nagel), is kidnapped, and it is up to Jeff Ramsay (Dick Foran), Hartford's assistant, and his friend Tex Houston (Tom Fadden) to recover the girl. The war over the railroad line continues for 12 additional chapters until Ramsay and Carter meet face to face at the battle of Black Hawk. The Carter gang is wiped out by Ramsay and his new friend, Jim Jackson (James Craig) and a peace treaty is signed with Chief War Eagle (Chief Yowlachie). A star of Warner Bros. music Westerns in the mid '30s, Dick Foran, whose uncanny resemblance to Howdy-Doody was apparently never a handicap, is perhaps best remembered for playing Bette Davis' young suitor in The Petrified Forest (1936) and for starring opposite Abbott & Costello in Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In his third starring Western, former radio singer Tex Ritter played a minstrel performer turned tax collector! During a performance at the Tombstone, Arizona, opera house, Tex Malinson (Ritter) courageously goes up against Harry Price (Forrest Taylor) and his henchmen, who refuse to pay the price of admission. The local sheriff (Budd Buster) is so impressed that he suggests Malinson for the job of tax collector. Price, needless to say, is a major tax offender but Tex and sidekick "Grass" Hopper (Syd Saylor) manage to "convince" him to do his civic duty. In between collecting taxes from town bullies, Ritter performed his own Tombstone, Arizona and High, Wide and Handsome, as well as If Love Were Mine by Frank Sanucci. Salty Holmes, known as "The Harmonica Maestro," performed his specialty of playing two harmonicas at the same time: one with his mouth, the other with his nose, and former Broadway luminary Ethelind Terry played one of Ritter's fellow minstrels. The erstwhile operetta diva's first film since the disastrous Lord Byron of Broadway (1930), it was also to be her last. Producer Edward F. Finney headed a trek to Wilcox, Arizona, for a few scenes, but most of Arizona Days was made at the Brandeis and Garner Ranches in Chatsworth, California. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Hollywood Boulevard is a trenchant look at the underside of Tinseltown. Though the nominal hero is a disillusioned screenwriter played by Robert Cummings (whose dialogue anticipates the lines spoken by William Holden in 1950's Sunset Boulevard), the focus of the story is John Halliday as a washed-up film star. Desperately, Halliday accepts the offer from a sleazy "tell all" magazine to write his memoirs. The actor's estranged family is devastated by the resultant scandal, and out love for his daughter (Marsha Hunt), Halliday tries to break his contract. But the publisher (C. Henry Gordon) threatens to ruin Halliday's comeback attempt if he refuses to write the rest of his memoirs. In a scuffle, the publisher kills Halliday, and the blame falls on the actor's daughter. But wise guy screenwriter Cummings gets to the truth of the mystery. A slick B-plus crime melodrama, Hollywood Boulevard has the added bonus of several well-known silent film personalities (Charles Ray, Francis X. Bushman, Maurice Costello, Mae Marsh etc.) in cameo roles, as well as a guest appearance by Gary Cooper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Yet another Zorro imitation, this adventure serial starred Robert Livingston as Don Loring, whose father and brother are killed by the evil General Burr (Fred Kohler). Seeking revenge, Loring dons a black cape and mask, calls himself "The Eagle," and goes about bringing Burr and his men to justice. As a daytime cover, the hero assumes the role of a kind, simple-minded church organist, a disguise that manages to fool Burr and his collaborator, the nasty Russian Count Raspinoff (Robert Warwick), for the serial's 12 installments. Guinn "Big Boy" Williams co-starred as Salvation, the leader of a motley gang of outlaws who assist Loring in his quest, while brunette Kay Hughes added much needed feminine touch to the proceedings. Produced for Republic Pictures by genre specialist Nat Levine, the serial was co-directed by former actor Mack V. Wright and Ray Taylor. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Written by John P. McCarthy (who also directed), Robert Emmett Tansey, and, rather incongruously, former real-life outlaw Al Jennings, this musical Western marked the screen debut of Tex Ritter, a former Broadway and radio crooner. Ritter played Tex (of course), a lawman going undercover as a bandit in order to infiltrate a gang of claim jumpers. As it turns out, the leader of the gang, Evans (Ted Adams), is using the ranch of Don Esteban del Valle (Martin Garralaga) and his daughter, Dolores (Joan Woodbury), as his headquarters, dragging the innocent rancher into a scheme to take over the local mines by any means possible, including murder. In between his detective work, Ritter finds time to sing such song as "Out on the Lone Prairie," "My Sweet Chiquita," and "You Are Reality," the latter composed by leading lady Joan Woodbury, the wife of actor Henry Wilcoxon. Ritter was discovered for films by Edward F. Finney, the former promotional director for Republic Pictures, who released the Ritter series through newcomer Grand National. Despite the crowd-pleasing presence of comic sidekick Fuzzy Knight and Ritter's horse, White Flash, Song of the Gringo proved an inauspicious opener. According to Ritter himself, Finney had his star outfitted with a hideous-looking toupee; and director John P. McCarthy, a holdover from the silent era, proved an unwise choice as well. Both hairpiece and McCarthy were gone by the second instalment, Headin' for the Rio Grande (1936), replaced by Ritter's natural receeding hairline and Robert North Bradbury, yet another veteran but at least one with an eye for pacing. Ritter, who achieved perhaps his lasting fame singing "Do Not Forsake Me" over the main titles to Fred Zinneman's High Noon (1952), was the father of 1970s television star John Ritter. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This western tells the story of a brave Army captain assigned to escort an important official's daughter through Indian country. Unfortunately, a pair of wicked buffalo hunters have been trying to upset the Cheyenne by breaking the treaty the woman's father created; they are hunting the massive beasts. The woman gets entangled with the crooks after her guide is tossed in the poky and the fed-up Cheyenne begin waging war. Fortunately, the hero manages to escape and mount his trick horse to stop the villains and restore peace. Look for super-athlete Jim Thorpe as the Cheyenne leader. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide