Jerome Thomas Movies
- 1965
Jason (Chuck Connors) shows up at the Durango bank for the purpose of cash his employer's $10,000 draft. This transaction is interrupted by outlaw Frank Ross (Lloyd Bochner) and his gang, who proceed to make a large withdrawal--at gunpoint. It now falls to Jason to retrieve the stolen bank draft, lest he himself be implicated in the crime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Branded switches from black-and-white to color for its second season, which begins with this taut, tense "Mexican Standoff" yarn. Still roaming the west in hopes of proving that he was not a coward at the battle of Bitter Creek, Jason McCord (Chuck Connors) finds himself sharing a stagecoach ride with Major Tom Rock (Tom Drake), one of the officers who presided over his court-martial. Also on board is a condemned prisoner (Warren Oates) on his way to the gallows. Inevitably, McCord and his two fellow passengers must depend upon one another for their very survival--and making the situation even more complex, the life of Maj. Rock's daughter Laura (Kathleen Crowley) also hangs in the balance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In Volume 25 of a collection culled from the 1963-1965 science fiction anthology television series, a scientist on a remote world mutates into a vicious killer following a strange rainstorm. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1953
Prince of Pirates is fairly elaborate for a Sam Katzman production, though its low budget does betray itself in the closing scenes. Utilizing plenty of stock footage from Joan of Arc (as he'd previously done in Thief of Damascus), producer Katzman offers the viewer a 16th-century swashbuckler, with John Derek as Robin Hood-like buccaneer Prince Roland. Having lost his throne to his evil older brother Stephan (Whitfield Connor), Roland forms a band of volunteers to oust Stephan and bring peace and harmony to his land (by busting several heads along the way). Barbara Rush co-stars as Nita, the daughter of a deposed count and a fine swordswoman in her own right. The film's best line is unintentionally funny: After being fetchingly attired in form-fitting blouse and slacks during most of the film, Nita is garbed in hoop-skirted feminine finery, whereupon Roland snickers "At last, you look more like a woman!" Far from a classic, Prince of Pirates is an agreeable time-passer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Derek, Barbara Rush, (more)
- 1950
Pygmy Island was entry number five in Columbia's "Jungle Jim" series. Johnny Weissmuller is back as Jungle Jim, who this time around leads a search for missing WAC officer Ann Kingsley (Ann Savage). He'd better hurry; enemy agents are also on the trail of the heroine, who became lost while searching for material vital to the U.S. defense program. Somewhere in the foliage is a tribe of white pygmies (!), who cast their lot with Jungle Jim against the bad guys. Highlights in Pygmy Island include a stampeding elephant herd and a couple of fierce jungle battles pitting our hero against a crocodile and a gorilla. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Weissmuller, Ann Savage, (more)
- 1950
In the tradition of Red Skelton's The Fuller Brush Man and The Yellow Cab Man comes The Good Humor Man, with Jack Carson subbing for Skelton this time out. Carson plays Biff Jones, who when not peddling Good Humor ice cream carries on a romance with perky Margie Bellew (Lola Albright). Through a series of incredible circumstances, poor Biff is set up for a fall guy by a gang of holdup men. Ingredients essential to the action is a juvenile "Captain Marvel Fan Club," a dead woman who isn't dead, an above-suspicion business executive who turns out to be a criminal mastermind, and a room full of very versatile musical instruments. If the sight gags have a slightly cartoonish feel to them, it's because they were cooked up by Frank Tashlin, a graduate of the Warner Bros. animation factory. The best is reserved for the end, wherein hero, heroine, villain, henchmen, cops and kids all converge in a high-school auditorium for an uninhibited orgy of slapstick. Comic book fans will get a kick out of seeing George "Superman" Reeves come to grief at the hands of a bunch of "Captain Marvel" devotees! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Carson, Lola Albright, (more)
- 1949
Lucille Ball is Miss Grant, an efficient but naïve secretary hired by William Holden. Ostensibly a legit real estate salesman, Holden is actually the brains of a bookie ring. It takes forever for Ball to tumble to what's going on, but when she does she settles matters in the same fashion as her later I Love Lucy character would--by adopting a disguise and a line of snappy patter. The chastened Holden marries Ball and agrees to devote his life to running an honest real-estate firm on behalf of the deserving homeless. Among the contributors to the success of Miss Grant Takes Richmond are producer S. Sylvan Simon, director Lloyd Bacon and scenarist Frank Tashlin, all of whom would later team up again for the zany Lucille Ball vehicle The Fuller Brush Girl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, William Holden, (more)
- 1947
This 20th entry in Columbia's long-running "Blondie" series finds poor Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake) in financial trouble once again. Unable to obtain a raise from boss Radcliffe (Jerome Cowan), Dagwood begins "playing the ponies" at the race track, which gets him in trouble with the Law-not to mention his long-suffering wife Blondie (Penny Singleton). But salvation is at hand in the form of bank president Samuel Breckinridge (Grant Mitchell), who expresses a lot of gratitude when Dagwood saves Mrs. Breckinridge (Mary Young), likewise a horse player, from being arrested in a bookie-joint raid. The "regular" cast of the "Blondie" series remains the same as before, with the exception of Bobby Larson, who for this entry only replaces Danny Mummert as Alvin Fuddle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1945
Eve Knew Her Apples is an pinchpenny musical reworking of Frank Capra's Oscar-winning It Happened One Night. Musical star Ann Miller takes over the Claudette Colbert role; this time she's not a runaway heiress but a runaway radio star, escaping her stuffy fiance rather than her autocratic father. William Wright assumes the Clark Gable part as the man who helps the girl on her flight for his own mercenary interests, but who eventually falls in love with her. Clocking in at 64 minutes rather than It Happened One Night's 105, Eve Knew Her Apples is more successful as a showcase for the terpsichorean talents of Ann Miller than as a romantic comedy. Columbia Pictures would attempt to musicalize It Happened One Night again with 1956's You Can't Run Away From It, filmed with ten times the budget but only half the entertainment value of Eve Knew Her Apples. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Miller, William Wright, (more)
- 1944
Charles Starrett stars in the lightning-paced Columbia western Riding West. Somebody is planning to sabotage the new Pony Express mail service, and hard-ridin' Steve Jordan (Charles Starrett) aims to find out who. Though he claims to be "a peaceable man," Jordan isn't above using his fists or fanning his six-gun to rout the villains. Comedy relief is provided by Arthur Hunnicutt as snake-oil peddler Arkansas Higgins, while the "femme interest" is Shirley Patterson, whose Columbia Pictures resume extended from the first Batman serial to a few 3 Stooges and Harry Langdon 2-reelers. Of interest to country-western fans is the presence of Ernest Tubbs and his Singing Cowboys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Starrett, Arthur Hunnicutt, (more)
- 1943
Stalwart supporting actor Allyn Joslyn is afforded a rare leading role in the Columbia mystery meller Dangerous Blondes. Joslyn and Evelyn Keyes play Harry and Jane Craig, a road-company Nick and Nora Charles. A popular mystery writer, Harry occasionally indulges in amateur detective work, with wife Jane at his side; their friendly nemesis is Inspector Clinton (Frank Craven), who'd prefer that the Craigs would stay home and mind their own business. This proves impossible when Ralph McCormick (Edmund Lowe), the owner of a swank fashion studio, is accused of murdering his wife for the love of designer Julie Taylor (Anita Louise). Snooping around on their own, the Craigs find the real killer-and nearly wind up victims themselves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allyn Joslyn, Evelyn Keyes, (more)
- 1943
Briefly switching gears in 1942 and 1943, western star Charles Starrett made a handful of "northerns" in which he played a Canadian mountie. In Law of the Northwest, Steve King (Starrett) supervises a road-construction project designed to transport war materials to the Aleutians. Problems arise when a crooked contractor decides that his interests are more important than the war effort. As an extra dramatic fillip, many of the most exciting scenes are staged at night. Featured in the cast of Law of the Northwest are Shirley Patterson, Stanley Brown and Douglas Leavitt, all of whom were performing double duty on Columbia's B-picture and 2-reel-comedy output. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Starrett, Shirley Patterson, (more)
