Robert Walker Movies

Dissatisfied with his postwar Republic westerns (not to mention his comparatively low salary), Gene Autry switched his base of operations to Columbia in 1947, where he wore two hats as both star and producer. Autry's first Columbia effort, The Last Round-Up, is a vast improvement over the Republics that preceded it. The story finds Autry arranging for an impoverished Indian tribe to move from their desolate reservation to a more fertile and attractive location. Understandably, the Indians doubt Autry's motives, having been previously burned by such usurping crooks as Mr. Mason (Ralph Morgan) and his son Matt (Mark Daniels). Once Autry has convinced the Indians that he's on their side, he must contend with the Masons' murderous minions. In the course of events, Gene Autry sings five songs, several of them directed to pert leading lady Jean Heather. Featured among the Indian characters is little Bobby Blake, a recent graduate of Republic's "Red Ryder" series. Some of the action highlights in The Last Round-Up were lifted from the 1940 Columbia "A" western Arizona. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy/drama, a feisty taxi-dancer (Lana Turner in her first starring role) takes on a sorority full of snooty debutantes after an equally snobbish Ivy Leaguer (Lew Ayres) who goes on a bender, meets her and invites her to his school's annual weekend bash. The next day, the fellow forgets all about the invite. When the party begins, the low-class girl shows up. The fellow then warns her that the catty debutante crowd will gleefully unsheathe their claws and rip her to shreds. The taxi-dancer is not so easily frightened and not only stays, she also stands up to every one of the wicked sorority sisters. She then gets sweet revenge by making herself the most popular girl of the weekend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Lana Turner (a mere 19 years old at the time) stars in this lighthearted musical comedy as Patty Marlow, a dancer fighting her way up the show business ladder. Famous hoofer Freddie Tobin (Lee Bowman) is about to start work on a new movie when his dance partner becomes pregnant and drops out of the project. Press agent Joe Drews (Roscoe Karns) dreams up a publicity stunt to find Freddie's new co-star: he'll stage a contest on college campuses to find a dancer among the student body. However, the contest is merely a ruse, and, when Joe and his cronies spot Patty, they realize she is the perfect girl for the job. Now, they have to pass Patty off as a studious co-ed for the sake of the "contest," which has begun to attract the suspicious attention of student journalist Pug Braddock (Richard Carlson). Artie Shaw and his band perform several numbers (Shaw and Turner would marry two years later), and keep an eye peeled for Veronica Lake in a bit part (she was still known as Constance Keane at the time). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this western, a lawman tries to help prove that his friend did not commit murder. He rides in and saves his pal from a lynch mob. Soon afterward, the accused takes off and the sheriff loses both his job and his community's respect. He must now prove that he and his friend are innocent. He finds the real killer, a true psycho, and after a tremendous gun battle is able to bring the killer to justice, restore his own honor, and save his friend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Real-life flying ace Frank Hawks stars in the 15-chapter Columbia serial The Mysterious Pilot. Running the gamut of emotions from A to B, Hawks is cast as Jim Dorn, mapmaker for the Royal Canadian Air Force. With his sidekicks, a mountie named Kansas (Rex Lease) and an Indian named Luke (Yakima Canuttt), Jim shields Jean McNain (Dorothy Sebastian) from the villainous machinations of her former fiance Carter Snowden (Kenneth Harlan). It is difficult to determine Snowden's motives, though it can't be denied that he's one of the most resourceful villains in serial history. Mysterious Pilot is capped by an offbeat climax wherein the hero is rescued by the heroine! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second of three serials produced by the Weiss Bros. for low-budget Stage and Screen Productions, The Clutching Hand brought back that eminent detective Craig Kennedy, who had first appeared in Pearl White's The Exploits of Elaine back in 1915. Now played by the veteran Jack Mulhall, another holdover from the early silent era, Kennedy is hired to solve the mysterious disappearance of Dr. Paul Gironda, whose formula for the manufacture of synthetic gold is coveted by a mysterious cloaked villain known only as The Clutching Hand. Along with Dr. Gironda's nubile daughter, Verna (Marion Shilling), and young newspaper reporter Walter Jameson (Rex Lease), Kennedy is aided or opposed in his quest by an impressive array of unemployed former silent screen "names" that include William Farnum, Reed Howes, Mae Busch, Bryant Washburn, Franklyn Farnum, and Snub Pollard, not to mention newcomers like Charles Locher (later known as Jon Hall) and Tom Mix's daughter, Ruth. The best made and most successful of Stage and Screen's three chapterplays (the company had promised six or seven), The Clutching Hand was also released in a 70-minute highly edited feature version. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, 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

In this western, a family is threatened by poison pen letters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An innocent but admittedly none-too-bright victim of circumstance, Mary Burns (played by perennial movie victim Sylvia Sidney) is inexorably sucked into the vortex of organized crime. She tries to escape her murderer husband Babe Wilson (Alan Baxter), but it's a losing proposition, especially since the newspapers have already branded her a gun moll. Making matters worse, she is thrown into prison for crimes committed by her husband (understandably, since her behavior at her trial was self-defeating to say the least). Though believing her guilty, detective Harper (Wallace Ford) allows Mary to escape from jail, hoping in this way to track down Wilson. Nominal hero Alec MacDonald (Melvyn Douglas) isn't much help; not introduced until the film's halfway point, he spends most of his time in a hospital bed, recuperating from an injury. In fact, the story is wrapped up only after MacDonald is rescued by the heroine! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Outlawed Guns stars Buck Jones as Reece Rivers, the nice-guy older brother of headstrong Babe Rivers (played by Pat O'Brien -- not the Warner Bros. star of the same name). When Babe gets mixed up with outlaws, Reece loyally takes the rap. Eventually Babe pays for his recklessness with his life, but not before leading Reece to the film's head bad guy, gambler Jack Keeler (Roy D'Arcy). Frank McGlynn Sr., usually cast in films as Abraham Lincoln, is here seen as an ageing but virile ex-Texas Ranger. Outlawed Guns is distinguished by some spectacular horse falls, orchestrated by ace stuntmen Cliff Lyons and Jim Corey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This better-than-average Buck Jones western stars Jones as Buck Saunders, shunned by his community because it is believed that his father was a rustler. After a long absence, Buck returns home, only to discover that he's still regarded as a pariah. By now, however, our hero has the intestinal fortitude to dig up the facts and prove his father's innocence -- and to round up the guilty parties and toss them all in the jug. In the process, he wins back the love of his childhood sweetheart, Muriel Fergus (Muriel Evans). The Throwback was the vanguard of a string of top-rank Buck Jones westerns for Universal, a string broken only when he left the studio in 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Proof positive that Reliable Pictures' Skull and Crown was filmed several years before its 1938 New York premiere is the presence in the cast of former silent-screen leading man James Murray, who died in 1936. The star of the show is Rin-Tin-Tin Jr., who among other things helps to break up a gang of smugglers. Another silent veteran, Jack Mower, plays the chief crook, but despite his bulk and muscle he's no match for our "Rinty". Nominal human hero Regis Toomey benefits greatly from the dog's deductive skills, winning the hand of heroine Molly Day as a result. Allegedly based on a story by James Oliver Curwood, Skull and Crown is cheap and tacky even by Reliable's unexacting standards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide