Charlie Murray, Jr. Movies

Down Memory Lane is a pastiche film comprised of old comedy footage from the Mack Sennett studios. The vintage clips are tied together by a thin continuity wherein TV host Steve Allen hopes to boost his ratings by screening excerpts from Sennett's silent and talkie two-reel comedies. Among the films represented are The Singing Boxer with Donald Novis, Blue of the Night with Bing Crosby, and The Dentist with W.C. Fields. Mack Sennett himself shows up at the end for an explosive punch line to this chaotic collection of comedy clips. Down Memory Lane is a mess, but a funny mess; auteur theorists are advised not to search for a thematic connection between this film and director Phil Karlson's later "cult" classics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Brickley (Robert Montgomery) believes in PT boats, and as a lowly U.S. Navy lieutenant stationed in the Philippines, that makes him a radical thinker. "Your boats maneuver beautifully," an admiral (Charles Trowbridge) tells him, "but if I'm going into combat, I prefer something a little more substantial." The gently delivered but stinging dismissal stirs the resentment of Lt. "Rusty" Ryan (John Wayne), who tartly tells Brickley that he wants to be transferred to destroyers. The Pearl Harbor bombing makes transfer impossible, especially with the Japanese preparing to invade the islands. So Brickley and Ryan go to work, first as message carriers between the Philippines and Corregidor, then, finally, as ship hunters. They record some successes, but it's a doomed effort: The Americans are hopelessly outnumbered by the Japanese, and with almost all of the Pacific Fleet destroyed at Pearl Harbor, they know help won't arrive to save them. As the Japanese push the U.S. forces back, Brickley and Ryan and their crews hop from island to island, scrounging supplies and taking casualties but keeping up the fight. Just as it appears that they will be forced to fight on Corregidor against the Japanese, they get rescued; they're ordered home to promote their PT-boat successes, and they take the last plane out, hoping to return and avenge their defeats. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide

Filmed at Corriganville, actor Ray "Crash" Corrigan's movie ranch in Simi Valley, Sonora Stagecoach was the last of Monogram's eight ramshackle "Trail Blazers" Western. The series had already suffered the loss of veteran star Ken Maynard -- who had become too difficult and costly -- and both Hoot Gibson and Bob Steele were nearing the end of their starring careers. This time, the "Trail Blazers," Gibson, Steele and Maynard's odd replacement, Chief Thundercloud), are escorting prisoner Rocky Camron (aka Gene Alsace) to trial in Sonora. Sheriff Hampton (Henry Hall) warns the three marshals that a gang of outlaws may attempt to assassinate Camron, whom the sheriff believes to be innocent. And sure enough, Blackie Reed (Charles King) and his gang do their best to get to the prisoner, who is given a gun in order to defend himself. Rocky, as it appears, was framed for the murder of two deputies, a deed actually committed by Blackie on behalf of stagecoach office manager Paul Kenton (Glenn Strange) and his banker brother, Joe (Karl Hackett). With the help of Betty Miles), Rocky's girlfriend and Weasel (Charles Murray, Jr.), a henchman turned state's evidence, the "Trail Blazers" clear Rocky of all charges and arrest both Blackie and his backers. Gibson and Steele went on to appear together in three additional Monogram Westerns -- Marked Trails, Trigger Law and Utah Kid (all 1944) -- but although they are often designated as "Trail Blazers" Westerns today, they were never produced or advertised as such. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The second entry in Monogram's low-budget "Trail Blazers" B-Western series, The Law Rides Again marked the final directorial effort of Alan J. Neitz (alias Alan James), a veteran genre specialist whose career dated back to 1916. Aging lawmen Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson are this time assigned to determine why an Indian tribe is breaking their treaty with the United States government. Aligning themselves with a notorious criminal (Jack LaRue), Ken and Hoot discover that the tribe is being cheated out of their government sanctioned cattle by a crooked Indian agent (Kenneth Harlan) and his Indian co-cohort (Chief Many Treatise. Filmed on the cheap at Corriganville, actor Ray "Crash" Corrigan's movie ranch in Simi Valley, California, The Law Rides Again's only novelty was stunt-rider Betty Miles) playing a female stage driver. Chief Thundercloud, here playing the Indian chief, would later replace the increasingly difficult Ken Maynard in the final two "Trail Blazers" entries, Outlaw Trail and Sonora Stagecoach (both 1944). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this British WW II comedy, two music publishers are left to their own devices when their wives sign up for the Auxiliary Territorial Service. To be near them, the bored fellows dress up in women's uniforms and end up capturing a band of fifth columnists. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide