Frank Ellis Movies

Opera singer-turned-cowboy hero George Houston stars in PRC's Lone Rider in Ghost Town. Houston is cast as Tom Cameron, who in the guise of the Lone Rider comes to the rescue of a group of gold prospectors. The villains are a band of big-city racketeers who've brought their strong-arm tactics to the Great Frontier, jumping the prospectors' claims and killing off all opposition. The climax takes place in a supposed ghost town which serves as the gangsters' hideout. Al "Fuzzy" St. John, PRC's house comic sidekick, is on hand for a few snickers, chuckles and guffaws. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

RKO Radio's Thundering Hoofs was the first of several Tim Holt westerns directed by "Hopalong Cassidy" veteran Lesley Selander. The plot is galvanized by the chicanery of crooked lawyer Farley (Archie Twitchell), who has been sent westward to purchase a stagecoach line on behalf of his boss. It soon becomes obvious that Farley intends to cheat both buyer and seller out of what is due them. Buyer's son Bill (Holt) joins forces with seller's daughter Nancy (Luana Walters) to foil the duplicitous attorney's scheme. Perennial Holt sidekick Ray Whitley sings only two songs in this outing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

There's a surprising lack of phyisical action in Phantom Cowboy, requiring star Don "Red" Barry to carry the picture through sheer force of personality. Barry plays a ranch hand named Lawrence, one of several heirs to the estate of a wealthy landowner. Resenting the presence of the other heirs, villains Borden (Milburn Stone) and Jeffers (Rex Lease) scheme to rid the world of their competition, with Borden intending to wed the dead man's daughter (Virginia Carroll) as icing on the cake. Their plans are thwarted by a masked avenger known only as El Lobo, who-surprise!--doesn't turn out to be Lawrence in the fifth reel. Even so, it is Lawrence who metes out final retribution to the despicable Borden and Jeffers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Range Riders - Ray "Crash" Corrigan, John "Dusty" King and Max "Albi" Terhune-ride the range once more in Monogram's Kid's Last Ride. Sent to a wide-open town to stem the activities of the local criminal element, our three heroes almost immediately get mixed up in a deadly feud between local land barons Harmon (Al Bridge) and Bart (Glenn Strange). The Range Riders patch things up by deflecting Harmon's son Jimmy (Edwin Brian) from a life of crime, thereby also expediting the romance between Jimmy and Bart's daughter Sally (Luana Walters). Then, almost as an afterthought, the do-gooding trio trounces the villains. Like most of the The Range Riders' entries, Kid's Last Ride was cheap but profitable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Apparently hoping to break out of the series' formula rut, the producers of the "Range Riders" western Tumbledown Ranch in Arizona employ a clever and amusing framing device. At the beginning of the picture, the son of Range Rider John "Dusty" King (played by King) meets the son of Dusty's old pal Ray "Crash" Corrigan (played by Corrigan) in college. After the boys exchange a few reminiscences of their dads' exploits, Dusty's son is knocked out by an accidental blow on the head. When he awakens, he finds he has been transported back to the Old West, and has assumed his father's identity. Once this has been established, the plot proper gets under way, wherein Dusty, Crash and Alibi (Max Terhune) try to stem the criminal activities of the villains (Quin Ramsyey, James Craven, Jack Holmes) and to champion the cause of the heroine (Sheila Darcy). By the time the heroes finally return to the Wild Frontier, the picture is half over, forcing the screenwriters to telescope 6 reels' worth of plot and action into 25 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cowboy hero George O'Brien has his hands full with crooked land promoter Paul Everton in Prairie Law. Selling acres and acres of worthless land while promising to provide an unlimited water supply to his customers, Everton sparks off a range war between cattlemen and homesteaders. Working on behalf of the cattlemen, O'Brien brings an end to the feud and takes on Everton's many minions single-handed. Virginia Vale makes a return appearance from previous George O'Brien vehicles to play the requisite heroine. A standard entry, Prairie Law benefits from RKO Radio's usual topnotch production values. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The once-in-a-lifetime teaming of Mae West and W.C. Fields in My Little Chickadee had the potential for comic greatness: what emerged, though generally entertaining, was, in the words of critic Andrew Sarris, "more funny strange than funny ha-ha." Mae West dominates the film's first reel as Flowerbelle Lee, a self-reliant woman who is abducted by a mysterious masked bandit during a stagecoach holdup. Because she refuses to tell anyone what happened during her nocturnal rendezvous with the bandit, Flowerbelle is invited to leave her prudish hometown and move to Greasewood City. En route by train, Flowerbelle makes the acquaintance of con-artist Cuthbert J. Twillie (W.C. Fields), who carries a suitcase full of what seems to be large-denomination monetary notes. After a lively clash with marauding Indians, Flowerbelle tricks Twillie into a phony marriage; she does this so that she can arrive in Greasewood City with a modicum of respectability, and incidentally to get her hands on Twillie's bankroll. Once she discovers that Twillie's "fortune" consists of nothing but phony oil-well coupons, Flowerbelle refuses to allow Twillie into the bridal chamber (he unwittingly crawls into the marriage bed with a goat, muttering "Darling, have you changed your perfume?") Through a fluke, the cowardly Twillie is appointed sheriff of Greasewood City by town boss Joseph Calleila. The plot is put on hold for two reels while La West does a "schoolroom" routine with a class full of markedly overage students, and while Fields performs a bartender bit wherein he explains how he once knocked down the notorious Chicago Mollie. Jealous over the attentions paid to his "wife" by Calleila and honest newspaper-editor Dick Foran, Twillie decides to gain entry into his wife's boudoir by posing as the still-at-large masked bandit. His ruse is soon discovered by Flowerbelle, but the townsfolk capture Twillie as he makes his escape. They are about to lynch the hapless Twillie when Flowerbelle discovers that Calleia is the genuine masked bandit. She urges Calleia to save Twillie's life by making a surprise appearance at the lynching and by returning the money he's stolen. When all plot lines are ironed out, Flowerbelle and Twillie bid goodbye to one another. Borrowing a device utilized by ZaSu Pitts and Hugh Herbert in 1939's The Lady's From Kentucky, W.C. Fields invites Mae West to "come up and see me sometime," whereupon West appropriates Fields' tagline and calls him "My Little Chickadee." The script for this uneven comedy western was credited to Mae West and W.C. Fields, though in fact West was responsible for most of it. Fields willingly conceded this, noting that West had captured his character better than any other writer he'd ever met. Despite this seeming gallantry, it was no secret that West and Fields disliked each other intensely, a fact that had an injurious effect on their scenes together. My Little Chickadee has assumed legendary status thanks to its stars, and it certainly does deliver the laughs when necessary: still, it is hardly the best-ever vehicle for either Fields or West, two uniquely individual performers who should never have been required to duke it out for the same spotlight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Veteran second-unit director and stunt coordinator Ralph Cedar warmed the director's chair for the 1940 Charles Starrett oater West of Abilene. Frontiersman Tom Garfield (Starrett) and his pals endeavor to save their land from the clutches of slimy easterner Forsyth (Don Beddoe). The villain hires a bit of local muscle in the form of brutish Chris Matson (William Pawley), but he's no match for our hero. Stalwart Columbia contractee Bruce Bennett delivers a nicely understated performance as Garfield's brother, who is also the film's official romantic lead. The absence of such "regulars" as Iris Meredith, Dick Curtis and E. J. LeSaint and the presence of such comparative newcomers as heroine Marjorie Cooley and supporting player George Cleveland was indication enough that Columbia was endeavoring to remove the "rubber-stemp" onus from its Charles Starrett series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a retired marshal must once again put on his badge to protect his town from the vicious desperadoes that killed his girl friend's father. The girl uses her shooting prowess to assist them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Roy Rogers got himself a new sidekick in the disheveled, toothless person of George “Gabby” Hayes in this fine Republic western, a partnership that would last until 1946. Roy and Gabby play veterans of the Confederate Army who inherit half-ownership of a Texas ranch. Unfortunately, the other half belongs to Colonel Denbigh (Wade Boteler), a Union officer with whom they had an unpleasant experience during the past war between the states. Denbigh, however, is appointed military governor of the district and when a police squadron under the command of one Captain Jeffries (Arthur Loft) is revealed to consist of outlaws, it is Roy and Gabby who come to Denbigh’s rescue and restore peace to the territory. When not fighting the nasty Arthur Loft and his gang of cutthroats Rogers performs such numbers as ”Headin’ for Texas and Home”, ”Hope I’m Not Dreaming Again” and ”Keep Awalking the Other Way”. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A typical Tex Ritter "Boots and Saddle" singing Western from low-budget company Monogram, Sundown on the Prairie featured Ritter and sidekick Horace Murphy as rangers assigned to apprehend a gang of rustlers. After capturing one member, Hendricks (Karl Hackett), Tex introduces himself to gang leader Dorgan (Charles King) as Hendricks' emissary. Hendricks, however, escapes from Ananias (Murphy) and Tex is forced to make a fast getaway. Assisted by rancher Graham (Frank LaRue) and his daughter Ruth (Dorothy Fay), Tex and Ananias manage to stop Dorgan and his henchmen from dynamiting the valley. While not rustling rustlers, Ritter sang Al Von Tilzer and Harry MacPherson's title-tune, his own and Dwight Butcher's Dust on My Saddle and Cactus Pete by Johnny Lange and Lew Porter. Leading lady Dorothy Fay later became Mrs. Ritter and the mother of television actor John Ritter. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide