J. Robert Bren Movies

Siege of Red River stars Van Johnson as a Confederate officer, who "appropriates" a shipment of gatling guns from the Northern troops in the waning days of the Civil War. Posing as a medicine show entrepreneur, Johnson smuggles the guns through enemy lines in his wagon. Renegade rebel Richard Boone steals the guns in order to sell them to the Indians. Surrendering himself to Union troops, Johnson sets after Boone with Yankee reinforcements in tow before the Indians can get their hands on the weapons. After Boone is killed, a northern nurse (Joanne Dru) pleads eloquently for the Yanks to be easy on Johnson; he is allowed to escape, but not before promising to marry the nurse at war's end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Several genuine Native Americans dot the cast of Universal's The Great Sioux Uprising. The scene is the frontier outpost of Laramie Junction, where livery stable owner Joan Britton (Faith Domergue) and rancher Stephen Cook (Lyle Bettger) carry on a friendly rivalry while trading horses with the cavalry. On friendly terms with the local Sioux, Joan hopes to persuade the tribe to sell some of its ponies to the military. Cook's method is more direct: he and his men steal the horses, then sell them for a 100% profit. Into this situation rides ex-Union medical officer Jonathan Westgate (Jeff Chandler), who promises Apache chief Red Cloud (John War Eagle) that he'll track down the rustlers. Westgate also organizes the local ranchers to sell their horses to the military, thereby undercutting the duplicitous Cook. Complications arise when Stand Waite, an Apache officer in the Confederate army, tries to persuade his tribesmen to join the Southern cause. All the various plotlines converge in the climactic uprising, which is shown to be the by-product of white greed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a young building contractor falls for a pretty Mexican woman who convinces him not to evict the inhabitants of a California barrio so he can replace it with developments. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

With its slight resemblance to Destry Rides Again (1939) -- probably not entirely coincidental -- this rousing Western from Republic Pictures remains a joy throughout. John Wayne plays Tom Craig, a mild-mannered druggist from Boston who opens a shop in wild and woolly Sacramento shortly before the Gold Rush. The town is "owned" by the Dawson brothers, Britt (Albert Dekker) and Joe (Dick Purcell), who poison Craig's tonic when saloon hostess Lacey Miller (Binnie Barnes) takes too much of an interest in the handsome newcomer. Town drunk Whitey (Emmett Lynn) has one drink too many, and all of Sacramento is soon in a lynching mood. The news of "gold in them thar hills" saves the druggist in the nick of time, but his business is destroyed. While everyone is heading for the gold fields, Craig prepares to leave town with snobbish debutante Ellen Sanford (Helen Parrish), whom he intends to marry. News of typhoid fever among the prospectors changes his mind, however, and the man once referred to as "a human hitchin' post instead of a two-legged man," risks his own life to save the suffering populace. The Dawson brothers, meanwhile, plan to hijack the medical supplies and sell them to the highest bidder, but when Britt Dawson learns that Lacey is helping the sick and may be stricken with the disease herself, he has a change of heart and eventually confesses to spiking Craig's medicine. Cast against type for most of the film, John Wayne fails to make his amiable druggist entirely believable but remains simply John Wayne throughout -- which is as it should be. Binnie Barnes is rowdy and fun whether leading a chorus of "California Joe" by Johnny Marvin and Fred Rose, or jealously interrupting a tête-à-tête between Wayne and 19-year-old Helen Parrish. Usually cast as glacial "other women" in Hollywood films, the British-born Barnes had actually begun her professional career touring Europe and South Africa with bucolic American headliner Tex McLeod, which was as good a preparation as any to play In Old California's saloon belle. Patsy Kelly, who shoots down her laundry with a Winchester, and Edgar Kennedy, as Wayne's tooth-ache plagued sidekick, add to the general fun. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The title character in Charter Pilot is King Morgan (Lloyd Nolan), who thinks nothing of taking life-threatening risks on a daily basis. When Morgan marries radio personality Marge Duncan (Lynn Bari), he accedes to her wishes and takes a desk job. Alas, he is unable to resist the call of the clouds, and soon he's back flying between the US and Central America. At long last, she talks him into remaining earthbound by starring him in a radio series based on his adventures. But there's still enough time in this 70-minute programmer for Morgan and his missus to foil a gang of Nazi saboteurs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

According to Hollywood, the parents were generally at fault when good kids went bad. This theory is elucidated in Columbia's Parents on Trial, wherein strict disciplinarian James Westley (Henry Kolker) fails to understand or appreciate the real needs and feelings of his teenaged daughter Susan (Jean Parker). Rebelling against parental tyranny, Susan falls in with a gang of youths from similar unhappy households. Minor misbehavior blossoms into major lawbreaking, with parents and kids alike suffering from the results. Among the "kids" in Parents on Trial are Johnny Downs and Noah Beery Jr., both on the sunny side of thirty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

RKO Radio's ace short-subjects director Leslie Goodwins graduated to features with the economically produced Crime Ring. Allan Lane plays a hotshot newspaperman who takes on a phony spiritualist ring. The crooked soothsayers are in league with a band of stock swindlers, coercing the gullible into parting company with their life savings on the advice of the "dear departed." Teaming with unemployed actress Frances Mercer, Lane poses as a potential sucker to draw out the bad guys. Lane and Mercer prove to be too clever for their own good, however, and it's problematic as to whether or not they'll survive until the closing credits. Crime Ring was partially remade in 1950 as Bunco Squad. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A couple of American soldiers of fortune are hired by the wife of a Chinese general to deliver a priceless diamond to a shopkeeper in Shanghai in this low-budget whodunit from the RKO "B"-unit. Just as the gem reaches its destination all hell breaks lose. When the dust settles, the diamond is gone and Tom Baldwin (Vinton Haworth) and sidekick Joe Dugan (Gordon Jones) are left with a group of highly suspicious witnesses. The entire assembly, including pretty but mysterious Jane Dunn (Constance Worth), then boards a liner headed for San Francisco. After several shipboard murders and the revelation that Jane is a custom agent, the culprit is caught red-handed. A lady detective ought to have made a refreshing change but, sadly, China Passage delivers few surprises and the armchair detective is never truly tested. Usually a supporting player of little merit, Vinton Haworthproves a rather weak-chinned hero and is certainly no match for the ash-blonde Worth, an Australian actress turned Queen of Hollywood B-movies. The rest of the supporting cast perform their assignment in the expected manner, Dick Elliott being the standout as an eternally tipsy traveler. China Passage was directed by Edward Killy, who later helmed the studio's series of Tim Holt B-Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Blending equal amounts of comedy, romance and thrills, High Tension is a near-perfect 20th Century-Fox "B" effort. Brian Donlevy and Glenda Farrell co-stars as rough-and-ready Steve Reardon and equally feisty Edith McNeal. He's a deep-sea engineer for a telephone cable company; she's a magazine writer specializing in adventure stories. Though Steve is in love with Edith, he balks at the notion of marriage. But after rescuing his best pal Eddie (Norman Foster) during a particularly dangerous job in Hawaii, Steve realizes he needs some stability in his life, and finally pops the question to Edith. Allan Dwan directs this slam-bang actioner with his usual effortless expertise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joe Graham (Spencer Tracy), a troubleshooter for the telephone company, suspects that his beloved Ethel (Constance Cummings) is working for a crook. Joe and his partner Casey (Jack Oakie) investigate her boss, Dan Sutter (Morgan Conway), but they're caught by Sutter's goons and left to die in a fire. Joe however is able to set off the alarm, saving their lives. When Sutter turns up dead, Ethel is suspected of his murder, but Joe and Casey are able to track down the real killer: Pearl La Tour (Judith Wood), Sutter's former girlfriend, who gives them a confession that exonerates Ethel. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide