Frank Ellis Movies

A remake of sorts of the 1935 western The Arizonian, this fine George O'Brien oater features Leon Ames as Sheriff Judd Cronan, a slick lawman running Mesa City as if he owns the place. When schoolmarm Virginia King (Virginia Vale) has had enough of both Cronan's capriciousness and his advances and decides to leave town, the sheriff arranges for his henchman Pete (Joe McGuinn) to commit a bit of kidnapping. Unhappily for Cronan and his cronies, Cliff Mason (O'Brien), a retired lawman, happens by and is easily persuaded to stick around and do something about the general lawlessness of the area. Cornered, the sheriff sends for Duke Allison (Henry Brandon), a hired killer. Marshal of Mesa City was the first of six westerns teaming George O'Brien with RKO starlet Virginia Vale, formerly Dorothy Howe and the winner of the "Gateway to Hollywood" radio contest. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Three Mesqueteers attempt to prevent wholesale slaughter in this fine Republic Western starring John Wayne, Ray "Crash" Corrigan, and Raymond Hatton. Planning to build a reservoir on the site, the state government has condemned the town of New Hope and surrounding ranches. Construction chief M.C. Gilbert (LeRoy Mason) arrives with a clear mandate to buy off both the townsfolk and the ranchers but receives unwanted resistance from old Major Braddock (Eddy Waller) and his grandchildren (Jennifer Jones, Dave O'Brien, and Sammy McKim), who are ready to take up arms against the intrusion. When Gilbert and his cohort, Proctor (Harrison Greene), resort to ungentlemanly methods, including bringing in a crooked real-estate developer (Wilbur Mack), the Mesqueteers ride into action. Jennifer Jones, in her screen debut, is billed under her real name of Phyllis Isley. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In what must have seemed like a good idea at the time, Grand National pictures attempted to build a series of westerns around a singing cowgirl, played by Dorothy Page. In Ride 'Em Cowgirl, Page acquits herself nicely as Helen Rickson, who tries to combat the villains all by her lonesome. Though she is helped along by muscular barbed-wire lineman Oliver Shea (played by character actor Milton Frome in a rare romantic lead), it is clear that Helen is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. The studio's advertising copy claimed that Dorothy Page did all her own stunts, from roping to riding to shooting, and from the looks of things this was a true assertion. That Ride 'Em Cowgirl was not a particularly good western didn't seem to concern anybody at the studio, which quickly churned out two additional Dorothy Page vehicles, Water Rustlers and (what else?) The Singing Cowgirl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Following up his movie portrayal of Wild Bill Hickok, Bill Elliot stars as famed trailblazer John "Frontier" Freeman in Columbia's Frontiers of '49. The film takes place in 19th century California, where a crooked real estate firm is merrily selling off Spanish land grants in exchange for exorbitant tax levies. The US government sends Freeman to investigate this activity, accompanied by grizzled frontier scout Kit Carson (Hal Taliaferro). When not tangling with chief heavy Howard Brunon (the inescapable Charles King), Freeman romances aristocratic Spanish senorita Dolores de Cervantes (Luana de Alcaniz). Rather ambitious for a B picture, Frontiers of '49 could use a little less talk and a lot more action. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With the 1939 Johnny Mack Brown western Desperate Trails, veteran B-flick director Albert Ray set up shop at Universal. Brown and comic sidekick Fuzzy Knight are cast as Steve Hayden and Cousin Willie, on the trail of cattle rustlers. The action highlights were exciting, if a bit hard to swallow: in one sequence, the hero shoots at a gang of outlaws, one-handed, with a repeating rifle, never missing his target! Desperate Trails represented a step down for singing cowboy Bob Baker, who after a year of starring in his own series was relegated to second lead in this Brown vehicle. Also on hand is Bill Cody Jr., son of the white-stetsoned cowboy hero of the silent era. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Charles Starrett plays two-fisted frontiersman Dart Collins in this slick Columbia "B" western. Collins wants to find out who's behind a series of gold-shipment robberies. So does heroine Judy Garfield (Iris Meredith), whose stage transport business faces foreclosure if the holdups continue. It comes as no surprise that the crimes are being orchestrated by the very people who want to force Judy out of business. Periodically interrupting the action are the musical interpolations of the Sons of the Pioneers. Outlaws of the Prairie established the Charles Starrett series' on-screen "family": hero Starrett, heroine Iris Meredith, patriarch Edward J. LeSaint, villains Dick Curtis and Norman Willis, and hangers-on Edmund Cobb, Art Mix and Hank Bell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his fourth starring Western, Universal's singing cowboy Bob Baker comes to the aid of Molly Taylor (Fay Shannon), an Eastern girl about to lose her inherited ghost town because of outstanding property taxes. Gomer (Forrest Taylor), who has discovered oil on the property, kidnaps the girl on her way to the tax collector (Murdock MacQuarrie), but she is rescued in the nick of time by singing Texas Ranger Bob Martin (Baker) and his sidekick, "Cherokee" Walton (Hank Worden). Composer Fleming Allan provided a couple of songs, including "We're Headin' Home" and "That Old Home Trail," but Baker's humdrum vocalizing did not make anyone forget Gene Autry. In contrast to Autry, Baker was easily overshadowed by Universal's well-chosen supporting cast which this time included George Cleveland as a supposedly senile judge, Martin Turner as the heroine's African-American domestic, and the always welcome Hank Worden. The Baker series remained a shaky proposition and by 1939 the star was playing second fiddle to the more robust (and non-singing) Johnny Mack Brown. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In Early Arizona was western star Bill Elliot's first effort for Columbia Pictures. Not yet "Wild Bill" Elliot (as he would later be billed), the actor is cast as Whit Gordon, who rides into Tombstone Arizona to help keep the peace. Elliot is appointed sheriff, making him the particular target of every fast gun in the territory. Though clearly based on the career of Wyatt Earp film is careful not to violate the copyright on Earp's life story, which then was held by 20th Century-Fox. In fact, contrary to previous published reports, the name "Wyatt Earp" is not mentioned at all in In Early Arizona; only the designation of Tombstone itself was in the public domain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Republic Pictures borrowed heavily from Damon Runyon when they crafted this tuneful Gene Autry series entry, restored to its full length by Gene Autry Entertainment in 2001. Just as Apple Annie had in Lady for a Day (1933), kindly old Dad Haskell Frank Darien) has gilded the lily a bit by suggesting to his Eastern daughter Betty (Jean Rouverol) that he is the sole owner of the Circle J, a Western dude ranch. The problem is that the ranch has just been sold to one Van Fleet (Davison Clark) and is not equipped to receive guests at all. Yet despite being repeatedly snubbed by Betty, foreman Gene Autry nevertheless agrees to put up a front in order for the girl to impress her socialite fiancé Walter (George Wolcott). But unbeknownst to all and sundry, there is helium in them thar hills and soon both bullets and fists are flying. Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette and guest stars Joe Frisco and Edward Raquello perform "Old November Moon", "Roll, On Little Dogies, Roll On", "When the Bloom Is on the Sage", "El Rancho Grande", "Cielito Lindo", "I Love in the Morning", and "The Balloon Song". ~ Hans J. Wollstein, 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

Inheriting the props, costumes and much of the stock footage from Columbia's previous Ken Maynard series, Bob Allen rides tall in the saddle in Rio Grande Ranger. The villains are a band of outlaws who manage to elude the authorities by high-tailing it across the border to Mexico. Sheriff Bob takes on the baddies by posing as an outlaw and joining the gang. His ruse almost works, but he's forced to blow his cover to save the life of heroine Sandra (Iris Meredith). Will this be one picture in which the guys in the black hats come out on top? In all, Bob Allen appeared in six westerns for Columbia, each incorporating the word "Ranger" in the title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Despite the claim of "an original screenplay by Edward Earl Repp," this entry in Warner Bros.' Dick Foran "singing cowboy" series was a virtual remake of the studio's earlier The Telegraph Trail, whose 1932 screenplay was credited to Kurt Kempler. Prairie Thunder in fact opens with the same montage as its predecessor, and Yakima Canutt and Albert J. Smith play identical characters in both films. Foran and rotund, eternally fatigued Frank Orth replace John Wayne and rotund, eternally fatigued Frank McHugh but that is really the only difference between the films. That, and Foran's lusty renditions of Over the Trail Again, The Prairie is My Home and a few other selections. Foran and Orth are assigned by the army to investigate a series of Indian attacks on the railroad. They quickly discover that the Kiowas have been mislead by unscrupulous trader Smith, who views the coming of the railroad as a threat to his trade monopoly. The Indians capture Foran and heroine Ellen Clancy, but Orth helps the former escape. The cavalry arrives just in time to save the railroad construction site from yet another attack by the Kiowas and Foran personally chases down the villainous Smith. The least expensive entry in the Dick Foran series, Prairie Thunder lifted entire sequences from the earlier John Wayne vehicle, including dialogue scenes between Canutt and Smith and the killing of a telegraph repairman. The film's pieces de resistance, Indian attacks on both a white settlement and the construction site, are lifted almost in toto from a silent Ken Maynard Western with Maynard himself plainly visible in several shots. Foran's blonde leading lady, Ellen Clancy, later signed with Universal and changed her name to Janet Shaw. Paul Panzer, the German-born villain of the 1914 serial The Perils of Pauline, appears unbilled as a medicine man.. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide