William A. Berke Movies
A graduate of Los Angeles Polytechnic High School, William A. Berke entered the burgeoning film industry as an office boy for L-KO comedies and later functioned as assistant to the cameraman then cameraman for the same company. He continued his career behind the camera with Pathé, Fox, Paramount, and, finally, FBO, a purveyor of inexpensive Westerns. An eye infection summarily ended Berke's aspirations as a cinematographer, however, and instead he became an assistant to C.C. Burr, the producer of the popular Torchy comedies. In the 1930s, Berke became one of the most prolific producer-directors of low-budget Westerns, directing under such pseudonyms as Lester Williams and William Hall, before signing on as an associate producer with newcomer Republic Pictures in 1937. He remained with the San Fernando Valley B-Western factory until 1941, then functioned as producer-director at Columbia Pictures. After a short stint directing training films for the Signal Corps., Berke returned to mainstream movie-making as a producer and/or director on a host of low-budget ventures for Monogram and its successor, Allied Artists, taking time out to produce the 1949 television series The Goldbergs. More television would follow -- including directorial duties on the Gene Autry and Annie Oakley shows -- but Berke's forte would become cheap jungle melodramas, a trait he shared with the even more notorious "Jungle Sam" Sam Katzman. His son, Lester William Berke, also entered the film industry, mostly as a writer. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Juvenile delinquents run afoul of big-league dope dealers in this low-budget crime thriller. Frankie (Robert Arthur) is a hotheaded teenager whose impulsive streak has led him to the State Honor Farm for wayward boys. Frankie engineers an escape with the help of his curvaceous girlfriend, Donna (Jan Brooks), but he makes the mistake of bringing along fellow delinquent Switch (Steve Rowland), who's behind bars for attacking his father with a knife. Switch doesn't make a secret of his attraction to Donna, which slowly infuriates Frankie, and things become no more comfortable when their car breaks down and they're forced to hitchhike. The three teenagers catch a ride with Rivas (John Goddard) and his wife, Madge (Carol Ohmart), but this isn't the stroke of good fortune it might seem. Rivas is a ruthless criminal who has killed a narcotics agent en route from Mexico while smuggling a large parcel of heroin into the United States. When the delinquents discover they're dealing with a bona fide mobster, they part company with Rivas but inadvertently steal his stash, which is hidden in a large doll, putting the bloodthirsty gangster on their trail. Naked Youth was originally released as Wild Youth, but received more play under its more exploitive title, though doubtless a few viewers were disappointed that it didn't actually feature any youths naked. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In this crime drama, a police psychiatrist sets out to capture a whacko purse snatcher who has been scarring the faces of his female victims as he makes off with their bags. When a girl is killed, all evidence points to the mugger, but when he is captured he fervently denies it. The police then begin looking for the real culprit and discover that the killer is the dead girl's brother-in-law and close friend of the shrink. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kent Smith, Nan Martin, (more)
- 1958
On a boiling hot night in the middle of a steaming New York summer, Detective Mike Reardon is on his way to work when he is shot down execution style. His fellow officers at the 87th, led by detectives Steve Carelli (Robert Loggia) and Mike Maguire (Gerald S. O'Laughlin), can't come up with a motive. The investigation has barely started when Reardon's young partner Foster is ambushed and gunned down as well. Carelli and Maguire are the lead investigators on the double police homicide, tracing potential suspects and following up clues that all lead to blind alleys. Meanwhile, Miller, a reporter, does some investigating on his own and nearly gets a young detective killed by a street gang led by smart-mouthed punk Joe Sanchez (Jerry Orbach). Amid this chaos, Carelli tries to carry on a romance with a deaf-mute author named Teddy (Ellen Parker) and Maguire attempts not to neglect his wife too badly. Maguire is gunned down by the same shooter that killed the other two detectives, only he makes sure the killer leaves behind a few clues before he dies. Carelli can't make the pieces fit together -- the only thing that the three victims had in common was that they worked in the 87th Precinct and they were all cops. He begins wondering if the fact that they were all police officers was relevant to the killings, but not the motive. Looking for a story, Miller reports Carelli's private suppositions, suddenly putting Teddy in jeopardy. Not knowing that the shooter is a step ahead of him, the detective races to her home. Carelli breaks the case and discovers that only one of the murders had an actual motive, one much closer to home than anyone on the squad would ever have guessed. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Loggia, Gerald O'Loughlin, (more)
- 1958
The final film of director William Berke (his son, Lester William Burke, took over shooting following his father's death during filming) , The Lost Missile is a very cleverly constructed low-budget sci-fi thriller with some fascinating twists. A rogue missile, apparently from outside our solar system, ends up plunging into the Earth's atmosphere -- driven by atomic power, it cruises at an altitude of five miles and a speed of 4,000 miles per hour, generating a temperature of one million degrees in its wake, in a field five miles across, destroying anything and anyone it passes over; most of the planes that try to shoot it down miss and are destroyed, and no missile within range can get near enough to damage it with conventional explosives. Starting from the Bering Strait, the rogue missile lays waste to ever more populated real estate as it heads in an arc that will carry it over Ottawa and then New York, 63 minutes away; what's more, if it isn't stopped, the missile will lay waste to the entire surface of the Earth in the weeks that ensue as it arcs across the skies. Only one missile, the Jove (obviously a stand-in for the real-life army ballistic missile the Jupiter-C), still in the experimental stage, may be able to intercept it, and it doesn't have a warhead. The only answer is a "baby warhead," using the plutonium trigger projected by the American booster fast enough and exploded close enough to destroy the rogue -- but can the hero (Robert Loggia) assemble and launch it in time? ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Loggia, Ellen Parker, (more)
- 1958
Set amidst the beauty of the Caribbean, this romance centers upon the captain of a sail boat who falls in love with a tourist. The happy couple encounter rough seas when he tourist's aunt decides she wants the handsome salt for herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Long before he became entrenched in the public's consciousness as Sgt. Carter on Gomer Pyle USMC, Frank Sutton topped the cast of the minor juvenile-delinquent melodrama Four Boys and a Gun. Sutton plays Ollie Denker, a runner for a gang of bookies who gets into deep doo-doo when he rips off his bosses. To raise a lot of money in a hurry, Denker masterminds a boxing-arena holdup with three pals: Johnny Doyle (a very young James Franciscus), Eddie Richards (Tarry Green) and Stanley Badek (Bill Hinnant). When a cop is killed during the holdup, it is up to the district attorney (Otto Hullett) to determine which of the four conspirators fired the fatal shot. Four Boys and a Gun can be seen as a precursor to the bigger budgeted The Young Savages (1961). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Sutton, James Franciscus, (more)
- 1957
This action-filled police drama chronicles the difficult first year of a rookie cop. The trouble begins on his very first day on the beat when he has a conflict with the criminally connected owner of the local tavern. Against the more moderate advice of his experienced partner, the rookie insists on strictly enforcing every law on the books. His unbending toughness creates hard feelings with the neighborhood toughs and soon he becomes their target. He becomes quite upset when a drunken woman leaps from his window to her death. He is then suspended. Later he redeems himself by solving a murder and bringing the corrupt tavern owner to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geraldine Brooks, Nehemiah Persoff, (more)
- 1953
To fully appreciate the western comedy The Marshal's Daughter, one must be aware that its star, a zaftig, wide-eyed lass named Laurie Anders, was in 1953 a popular TV personality. A regular on The Ken Murray Show, Anders had risen to fame with the Southern-fried catchphrase "Ah love the wi-i-i-ide open spaces!" Striking while the iron was hot, the entrepreneurial Murray produced this inexpensive oater, which cast Anders as Laurie Dawson, the singing daughter of a U.S. marshal (Hoot Gibson). Teaming with her dad to capture outlaw Trigger Gans (Bob Duncan), Laurie briefly disguises herself as a masked bandit. Amidst much stock footage from earlier westerns and a plethora of lame jokes and dreadful puns, The Marshal's Daughter is a treat for trivia buffs, featuring such virile actors as Preston S. Foster, Johnny Mack Brown, Jimmy Wakely and Buddy Baer as "themselves." Ken Murray himself makes a supporting appearance as a leering frontier wiseacre named "Sliding Bill Murray." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurie Anders, Hoot Gibson, (more)
- 1953
Valley of the Headhunters was number eleven in Columbia's "Jungle Jim" series. Johnny Weissmuller returns as Jim, while his leading lady on this safari is Christine Larson. Things get under way when Jim is assigned to help a government representative attain the mineral rights to a tribal valley. Meanwhile, a gang of diamond smugglers discovers that the coveted land is rich with oil. The crooks persuade the villagers to pose as headhunters, thereby scaring off Jim and the other white men. Only slightly less believable than the plotline of Valley of the Headhunters are the antics of Jungle Jim's faithful chimp Tamba, who at one point gets "drunk" on a bottle of ether (the slow-motion gags which ensue are straight out of the "Little Rascals" lexicon). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christine Larson, Robert Foulk, (more)
- 1952
This Lippert release teams studio "regulars" Cesar Romero and Marie Windsor with Monogram's Rod Cameron. The three stars head to India to investigate reports that the elephant population is being terrorized and stampeded by prehistoric mammoths. There's lots of lovely scenery and fascinating glimpses of Indian wildlife, but not much in the way of plot, nor is a plot really called for under the circumstances. Largely filmed on location in India by Voltaire/Modern Theatres Ltd. Productions, the American version of The Jungle runs 74 minutes, while the Indian release version reportedly ran twice that length! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Cameron, Cesar Romero, (more)
- 1951
Fury of the Congo was the sixth entry in Columbia's "Jungle Jim" series, though in most markets it was the fifth to be released. Johnny Weissmuller returns as Alex Raymond's comic strip hero Jungle Jim. The plot this time around has Jim coming to the rescue of a native tribe which has fallen under the influence of evil dope peddlers. Benumbed by drugs, the tribesmen have been ordered to hunt the Okongo, a hybrid beast that is the source of a dangerously powerful narcotic. The film builds steadily to an exciting climax in a blinding sandstorm. The villainy is handled by William Henry, Lyle Talbot and George Eldredge, while the "femme interest" is provided by shapely native girl Sherry Moreland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Weissmuller, Sherry Moreland, (more)
- 1951
Presumably, Savage Drums was an attempt by Lippert Studios to launch an adventure series along the lines of "Jungle Jim" and "Bomba the Jungle Boy". The inimitable Sabu stars as Tipo, a native of a tropical island who returns home after establishing himself as a boxer in the U.S. Tipo soon discovers that his friends and family are in danger of falling under the influence of invading communists. Aligning himself with island king Maou (H.B. Warner), Tipo squares off against Red provincial ruler Chang (Steven Geray) and his minions. The film's feminine angle is provided by Lita Baron (good girl) and Margia Dean (bad commie), while comedy relief is in the hands of Lippert perennial Sid Melton and master dialectician Bob Easton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sabu, Lita Baron, (more)
- 1951
Having signed up with Columbia to re-create his stage role in Death of a Salesman, Cameron Mitchell was obliged to earn his keep in such potboilers as Smuggler's Gold. Mitchell plays Mike Sloan, the fiancé of Susan Clarke (played by future Gunsmoke regular Amanda Blake). Susan's uncle is supposedly respectable skipper Pop Hodges (Carl Benton Reid). In truth, lovable old Pop is a ruthless smuggler, who strong-arms Mike into retrieving a sunken cache of stolen gold. Filmgoers with long memories were able to discern resemblances between Smuggler's Gold and the 1933 melodrama I Cover the Waterfront. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cameron Mitchell, Amanda Blake, (more)
- 1951
Pier 23 was one of three hour-long mysteries produced by Lippert Productions for both TV and theatrical release. Each of the three films was evenly divided into two half-hour "episodes," and each starred Hugh Beaumont as San Francisco-based amateur sleuth Dennis O'Brien. In Pier 23, O'Brien first tackles the case of a wrestler who has died of a suspicious heart attack after refusing to lose a match. He then agrees to help a priest talk an escaped criminal into returning to prison. The film's two-part structure leads to repetition and predictability, but it's fun to watch TV's "Ward Cleaver" making like Philip Marlowe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Beaumont, Ann Savage, (more)
- 1951
This film features two mystery stories featuring Hugh "the Beaver's TV Dad" Beaumont. First, he is hired to go to an auction and buy a particular saxophone. Unfortunately, soon after he obtains it he is knocked unconscious and loses the instrument to the bidder he beat. Later he discovers that the horn is filled with valuable stolen jewels. He also learns that a murder is involved and so launches an investigation to solve it all. In the second tale, Beaumont is paid to escort a beautiful woman to a yacht party. Once he gets there, he discovers that he is the only guest and she is out to seduce him. During their lovemaking, a sleazy detective is busy photographing their every move. The gumshoe was working for the woman's jealous husband who is later found slain, causing the hapless Beaumont to stand accused. Fortunately, he is able to prove his innocence and solve the crime. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Beaumont, Edward S. Brophy, (more)
- 1951
In this detective drama, a gritty San Francisco gumshoe finds himself among those suspected of committing a string of murders involving boxers and petty gangtsters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1951
Audrey Totter plays an FBI clerk who is pressed into more active duties by her bosses Cesar Romero and George Brent. Audrey's job is to uncover the criminal past of above-reproach politician Raymond Greenleaf. A pre-Perry Mason Raymond Burr plays a hulking hoodlum who suspects that Audrey is working for the feds. The comedians Tommy Noonan and Peter Marshall (yes, that Peter Marshall) shows up as guest stars on a TV program being watched by Audrey in the villain's lair. Overladen with up-to-date crime-busting technology, FBI Girl was based on a story by Rupert Hughes, the uncle of Howard R. Hughes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cesar Romero, George Brent, (more)
- 1950
In On the Isle of Samoa, beefcake star Jon Hall plays Kenneth Crandall, an unsavory gambler who absconds with his partner's money in a stolen plane. He crashes on an unchartered island, where he comes across a tribe of English-speaking natives, benevolently overseen by selfless missionary Peter Appleton (Raymond Greenleaf). The hard-bitten Crandall comes around to Appleton's way of thinking after a near-cataclysmic volcanic eruption, realizing at long last that money isn't everything. It helps, of course, that native girl Moana (Susan Cabot) has fallen in love with Crandall in the meantime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Hall, Susan Cabot, (more)
- 1950
From Lippert Studios, the same company responsible for I Shot Jesse James, comes I Shot Billy the Kid. Those who know their western history will recall that Billy the kid was gunned down by his friendly enemy Pat Garrett. This time around, Garrett is played by Robert Lowery, while the larger part of Billy is essayed by Don Barry (a bit too old for the part, though physically perfect). The film recounts Garrett and Billy's volatile relationship, and the events leading up to their final, fatal confrontation. Brooklynese supporting actor Sid Melton seems a bit out of place as the film's nominal comedy relief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lowery, Wally Vernon, (more)
- 1950
Gunfire stars bantam-weight western favorite Don Barry as legendary outlaw Frank James. Actually, Frank is an ex-outlaw when the film begins; in fact, he's sworn never to use his guns again. But when somebody begins posing as Frank and pulling off a series of robberies....well, what's a man to do? Helping Frank prove his innocence is sympathetic marshal Kelly (Robert Lowery), who gives James plenty of leeway to capture the genuine miscreants. Though produced and directed on a shoestring budget, Gunfire delivers the action goods to everyone's satisfaction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lowery, Wally Vernon, (more)
- 1950
Long before she became a TV cosmetic-commercial spokeswoman, Barbara Britton essayed the title role in Bandit Queen. Britton plays Lola, daughter of a American father and Spanish-aristocrat mother. When her parents are murdered, Lola forms an outlaw band, dedicated to reclaiming those portions of California illegally seized from her fellow Spaniards. She is aided in this endeavor by dashing bandit Joaquin Murietta (Philip Reed). The film really comes to life whenever Lola settles an argument by wielding her bull-whip! Bandit Queen was Lippert Studios' final release for 1950. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Britton, Willard Parker, (more)
- 1950
Don Barry stars as Texas Ranger Bob Standish, sworn to avenge his brother's death in Border Rangers. To achieve his goal, Standish goes undercover, joining the bandit gang. In this guise, he hopes to trap outlaw Mugo (Robert Lowery), his brother's murderer, unawares. Most Lippert Studio productions include Sid Melton as comedy relief. But Melton must have been out of town, since the comic sequences in Border Rangers are handled by veteran vaudevillian Wally Vernon. As an added fillip, child actor Paul Jordan provides a few heart-tugging moments. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lowery, Wally Vernon, (more)
- 1950
Veteran character actor Joe Sawyer produced, co-wrote and co-starred in the diverting docudrama Operation Haylift. Based on an actual incident that took place in 1949, the film recounts the efforts of the U.S. Air Force to rescue stranded cattle during a devastating series of blizzards. Sawyer's role is minor compared to Bill Williams and Tom Brown, who play a pair of brothers who sign up together for Air Force duty. Made with the full cooperation of the USAF, the film utilizes the services of a fleet of "flying boxcars," and also features the actual pilots who participated in the rescue. Handling the romantic angle in the film's dramatic passages are Ann Rutherford and Jane Nigh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Williams, Ann Rutherford, (more)
- 1950
Written and produced by its star, Donald Barry, Train to Tombstone was a low-budget version of the classic Stagecoach (1939). Once again a group of passengers fight among themselves as their mode of transportation -- a train en route from Albuquerque, NM, to Tombstone, AZ, this time -- is attacked by warring Indians. Author Barry was rather more fanciful than his predecessor, Dudley Nichols, however, and in addition to the inevitable saloon girl (Nan Leslie), the train also carries other characters: a pretty paraplegic (Barbara Stanley), whose illness may be psychological in nature; her indomitable aunt (Minna Phillips); a handsome doctor (Tom Neal); a comic relief women's undergarment salesman (Wally Vernon); a jittery conductor (Edward Cassidy); a marshal (Claude Stroud) guarding a shipment of gold; and, of course, Barry himself in the John Wayne role of the wanted but goodhearted outlaw. In due course, the train is attacked by what appears to be Indians, but what in reality is a gang of outlaws determined to get their greedy hands on the loot. Neither the marshal nor Barry are what they appear to be, the latter actually an undercover agent assigned to protect the shipment. The beautiful paraplegic is on her way to meet the fiancé she has never even seen and who, it is revealed, is in cahoots with the gang. Does the trauma of witnessing the boy killed right before her eyes cure the girl? Why, of course it does. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lowery, Wally Vernon, (more)
- 1950
Mark of the Gorilla was Number Four in Columbia's "Jungle Jim" series. Johnny Weissmuller stars as Jim, who this time around contends with homicidal fortune hunters. At stake is a buried treasure, consisting of ill-gotten Nazi loot. Villain Brandt (Onslow Stevens) hires a couple of thugs to pose as killer gorillas, in hopes of scaring the natives away from the burial site. Believe it or not, this monkey masquerade was played straight, though it's difficult not to giggle when watching the film today. As was customary in the "Jungle Jim" series, Mark of the Gorilla has two leading ladies: Trudy Marshall (the mother of actress Deborah Raffin) as Jungle Jim's assistant, and Suzanne Dalbert as an incognito European queen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Weissmuller, Trudy Marshall, (more)
