Frank Ellis Movies

Code of the Prairie was among the first of cowboy star Sunset Carson's vehicles for Republic Pictures. There is nothing extraordinary about the plot, in which Carson, wrongly accused of a crime, vanquishes the villains with a spectacular (and undoubled) display of fisticuffs. What is unusual is the billing. Comedy relief Smiley Burnette is actually billed above nominal leading man Sunset Carson, proof positive of Burnette's enormous popularity with western fans. Burnette's top-dog status in the Carson series would continue until 1945, when he left Republic to join Charles Starrett at Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Partners in most of the low-budget Texas Rangers Westerns, Tex Ritter and Dave O'Brien are at loggerheads through the greater part of this slow-moving entry, the last in the series. In fact, despite a title card that reads, "Tex Ritter and Dave O'Brien as the Texas Rangers," Ritter actually works on Lorraine Miller's ranch. Peggy Barlou (Miller) is the young rancher who refuses to sell her spread to greedy stage-line proprietor John Rankin (Edward Howard). Tex Haines (Ritter), meanwhile, is accused of killing Bill Dugan (Art Fowler), Rankin's bodyguard, but eludes capture long enough to hook up with Dave Wyatt (O'Brien) and Panhandle Perkins (Guy Wilkerson), a couple of rangers in disguise. Despite constant arguments about taking the law into one's own hands, the three manage to prevent Rankin from evicting Peggy. In between the arguing, Ritter finds time to warble his own and Frank Harford's "I've Done the Best I Could" and Ernest Tubb's "Try Me One More Time." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Having functioned as Alvin J. Neitz's assistant director in the first two "Trail Blazers" Westerns, Monogram producer/jack-of-all-trades Robert Emmett Tansey took full charge of the third, Blazing Guns. Aging lawmen Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson are lured out of retirement once again, this time to help rancher Jim Wade (Roy Brent) fight off his own brother, Duke (LeRoy Mason), the self-declared boss of Willow Springs.When Duke retaliates, Ken and Hoot recruits some of the country's most notorious gunslingers, including Lefty (Frank Ellis), Cactus Joe (Eddie Gribbon), Weasel (George Kamel) and Eagle-Eye (Emmett Lynn), to act as backup. Although the aptly named Weasel betrays his friends to Duke, Ken, Hoot and the remaining recruits manage to rid Willow Springs of its less desirable elements. Considering the expanding waistlines of both Maynard and Gibson, the film's obligatory romantic elements were left up to supporting players Roy Brent and Cay Forester. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

That favorite old B-Western menace Charles King is at it again in Raiders of Red Gap, the last of PRC's "Lone Rider" Westerns starring Robert Livingston. King plays Jack Bennett, the head of a crooked cattle syndicate attempting to drive away the local ranchers in order to build a packing plant. When Jim Roberts (Edward Cassidy) and his neighbors band together and fight back, Bennett hires dandified gunslinger Butch Crane (Roy Brent) but gets instead dopey Fuzzy Jones (Al St. John) in disguise. Fuzzy, of course, is soon in more trouble than he can handle but, happily, The Lone Rider, alias Rocky Cameron (Livingston) is along for the ride. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this western, Wild Bill and his assistant, try to learn why a young med school graduate is being spurned by the members of his own Native American tribe. The heroes learn that the clan's medicine man is a phony in cahoots with a corrupt Indian agent and that these two are working for a wicked rancher who has been polluting the local drinking water with his illegal irrigation project. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Like most of Monogram's 1943 "Range Busters" westerns, Two-Fisted Justice was directed by Robert Tansey. In this outing, the three range-busting heroes are played by John "Dusty" King, Max "Alibi" Terhune and David Sharpe. Our heroic trio rides into the town of Dry Gulch, hoping to bring law and order to the community. This they do, but not before several pulse-pounding adventures, notably a wild runaway-stagecoach sequence. Gwen Gaze, a Universal serial heroine of the 1930s, fulfills the leading-lady obligations, while Max Terhune relies on his ventriloquism skills for laughs. The villain, as ever, is the swarthy Charles King, playing not "Blackie" but "Trigger" this time out. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Overland Mail Robbery is another entry in Republic's "Wild Bill" Elliot western series. Once again, Elliot's leading lady is Anne Jeffreys, and once again his comical sidekick is Gabby Hayes. The plot finds Wild Bill coming to the aid of namby-pamby Easterner Tom Hartley (played by future "Superman" Kirk Alyn), who has inherited his family's stagecoach line. With Elliot's assistance, Tom proves he's a real he-man by standing up to the outlaw gang terrorizing the countryside. Of interest is the fact that the gang leader is a woman, played by Alice Fleming, who later portrayed "The Duchess" in Republic's "Red Ryder" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hoping to increase its box-office allure by adopting the title of a popular song, Deep in the Heart of Texas (clap!clap!clap!clap!) was the first Johnny Mack Brown western of the 1942-43 season. The plot concerns a group of insurrectionists who intend to keep Texas separate from the rest of the USA. Brown is cast as Jim Mallory, son of insurrectionist leader Colonel Mallory (played by William Farnum, who was often called upon to play Brown's dad). At first sympathetic to the separatists out of loyalty to his father, Johnny ultimately realizes that the movement has been corrupted by a criminal element. With the help of governor's emissary Brent Gordon (Tex Ritter), Johnny is instrumental in restoring the Lone Star state to the Union. The title tune is sung con brio by the Jimmy Wakely trio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Range Busters-John "Dusty" King, David Sharpe, Max "Alibi" Terhune-do their bit for the war effort in Texas to Bataan. The plot concerns the theft of a shipment of horses, originally destined for the US Army overseas. But instead of the usual home-grown rustlers, the villains are a gang of Axis spies, overseen by the seemingly innocent Cookie (Escolastico Baucin), a Japanese agent posing as a Filipino. Naturally, the bad guys are no match for our true-blue, 100% All-American heroes. Texas to Bataan represented stuntman David Sharpe's first appearance as a Range Buster, replacing Ray "Crash" Corrigan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Range Busters do their heroic duty once again as they set out to capture those responsible for a bank robbery and murder of the town marshal's son. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

In this murder mystery, a re-working of The Sphinx, a distract attorney is determined to prove that the community's most respected member, a deaf-mute philanthropist, is a cold-blooded killer. When the prominent fellow is acquitted, the disgusted DA quits his job and begins investigating the murder himself. His investigation takes an unexpected turn when he learns the truth about the killing--the suspect is both guilty and not guilty. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide