Frank Ellis Movies

Jack Greenhalgh's murky photography did not enhance this low-budget "Billy the Kid" series entry, in which a falsely accused Billy (Larry "Buster" Crabbe and his sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) flee to the ghost town of Laramy. Said town is lorded over by one Dalton Sykes (John Merton), a former lawman who killed rancher Frank Kinkaid for his gold claim. Going by the name of Bill Andrews, the Kid rescues Kinkaid's grown children, Martha (Caroline Burke) and Johnny (Dave O'Brien), from Sykes' henchmen. Fuzzy, meanwhile, plays the murdered man's violin, scaring the living daylights out of the henchmen, who believe that Kinkaid's ghost has returned to haunt them. Broken in the ensuing fracas, the violin reveals a hidden map to the Kinkaid gold mine. Sykes, who has gained Martha's confidence, attempts to get to the mine ahead of the competition but is stopped by Billy and the local marshal (Ted Adams). Martha and Johnny take over their father's ranch and mine, and with Sykes' reign of terror having come to a close, the citizenry returns to a peaceful Laramy. Busy PRC director Sam Newfield helmed this minor Western opus under his pseudonym, Sherman Scott.The film was reissued in 1948 under the title Panhandle Trail. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this western, a frontier detective disguised as an entertainer performs for the leader of an outlaw gang. At the same time, he learns the whereabouts of the outlaws' hideout. Unfortunately, his true identity is revealed and he must escape if he is to bring the gang to justice. ~ 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

When the order of the Western frontier is threatened by bandits, cowboys are the only measure of justice in the area. ~ All Movie Guide

Opera star-cum-cowboy hero George Houston stars in PRC's The Lone Rider Fights Back. Appropriately enough, Houston disguises himself as a musician to get the goods on a gang of terrorists. The principal villain hopes to scare the local miners off their land, so he can move in and clean up. Suffice it to say he doesn't succeed. Al St. John, everybody's comedy sidekick, adds a few choice chuckles to the proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Johnny Mack Brown from Alabama stretches his acting range to play the Man From Montana. The old "divide and conquer" western plotline is trotted out once more, as evil land usurpers pit homesteaders against cattlemen in a range war. Riding into this tense situation is Bob Dawson (Brown), who deduces that the man behind all the trouble is probably a highly respected member of the community. Dawson is absolutely right, but it takes a couple of brutal murders before the "mystery man" finally tips his hand. Nell O'Day, an expert horsewoman in her own right, plays the heroine, while Fuzzy Knight supplies an acceptable blend of comedy relief and rugged self-reliance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Prairie Pioneers was one of a trio of "Three Mesquiteers" westerns directed by the forgotten Les Orleback. On this occasion, the Mesquiteers are enacted by Robert Livingston (as Stony Brooke), Bob Steele (Tucson Smith) and Rufe Davis (Lullaby Joslin). Their mission this time is to save young Roberto Ortega (Robert Kellard) from hanging for a crime he didn't commit. This requires our heroes to take on a gang of land-usurpers, headed by Carlos Montoya (Davison Clark). Along the way, Stony Brooke dallies romantically with Roberto's lovely sister Dolores (Esther Estrella). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Don "Red" Barry's first western of 1941, Wyoming Wildcat told the careworn but still potent story of a war veteran returning home to find that his father is now a wanted outlaw. But as Frank Gannon (Frank M. Thomas explains, circumstances -- in this case severe economic conditions forced upon the settlers by local banks -- drove him into a life of crime. Trying to prove his father innocent of killing a local bank manager, Bill Gannon (Barry) is himself falsely accused of murder. Sprung from jail by his faithful army buddy Butch (Syd Saylor), Bill tracks down the real culprit, outlaw Blackie Jordan (Dick Botiller), but in the ensuing shoot-out, Frank is mortally wounded. Before he dies, however, Gannon clears his son of any wrong-doings and Bill is free to marry pretty Wells Fargo employee Derry Carson (Julie Duncan). The blond Miss Duncan, who also appeared in the previous Don "Red" Barry entry, Texas Terrors (1940), was a prize-winning steeplechase rider. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Trail of the Silver Spurs was Monogram's first "Range Riders" entry for 1941. As in previous episodes, the three heroes are portrayed by Ray "Crash" Corrigan, John "Dusty" King and Max "Alibi" Terhune. The plot concerns the efforts by the Range Riders to "exorcise" an alleged ghost town. It is giving nothing away to reveal that the spooky goings-on are the handiwork of half-mad prospector Nordick (Milburn Morante), who hopes to scare away all potential visitors so that he can work the local gold mine himself. Since Nordick isn't really a villain, the heroes take pity upon him and cook up a method that will allow him to come out ahead--and to entrap the film's real villain, who has been using the ghost town as his headquarters. Dorothy Short, wife of actor-stuntman Dave O'Brien, is the heroine, while future singing cowboy star Eddie Dean shows up in a bit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In time-honored B-Western fashion, RKO took the exciting Oklahoma land-rush sequence from their Academy Award-winning Cimarron (1931) and crafted an entirely new story to suit their cowboy star in residence, the personable Tim Holt. The result was an exciting, well-acted story of a small-town real estate developer who bequeaths his largely ill-gotten range to anyone who has served two years or more in prison. Naturally, the small Arizona cattle town is soon teeming with would-be settlers arriving straight from the hoosegow. Among them are less than desirable types such as Tonto (Tom London) and Dode (Frank Ellis), both assigned by crooked lawyer Gil Carse (Roy Barcroft to stake out a piece a land that will enable him to control the valley's water supply. Aligning themselves with more upstanding former inmates such as Dad Cook (John Elliott) and retired safecracker Pinky (Hobart Cavanaugh), deputies Dave Walton (Holt), Smokey (Ray Whitley) and Whopper (Lee "Lasses" White) manage to foil Carse's evil scheme. In between the action (which is plentiful), Holt romances Dad Cook's spunky daughter (Janet Waldo and Whitley sings "Ki-Yo My Horse is Slow" and the title-tune. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this western, a town finds itself under the tyrannical control of a shady sheriff. He is usurped by an honest outside lawman and his bumbling side-kick. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this western, a mining engineer vengefully seeks out the claim jumpers that murdered his brother. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Pals of the Pecos are our old pals The Three Mesquiteers, portrayed herein by Robert Livingston (as Stony Brooke), Bob Steele (as Tucson Smith) and Rufe Davis (as Lullaby Joslin). Once again hopscotching in time, the Mesquiteers finds themselves in the year 1858. Attempting to help establish an overland stagecoach service, the three protagonists are challenged by progress-hating villain Stevens (Robert Frazer). Tossed into jail on a trumped-up charge, the Mesquiteers escape in time to see that justice is served. The leading lady duties in Pals of the Pecos are handled by June Johnson, a pretty amateur who disappeared from films not long afterward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide