James Ellison Movies

Douglas MacLean, who starred in the original 1919 version of this World War I comedy, produced this remake starring James Ellison as Sgt. Gray. One day at training camp, Gray bets his buddies that he'll be having breakfast with the General (Paul Harvey) the next morning. Through a series of comic episodes, Gray accomplishes his goal, surprising his fellow soldiers. Arthur Lake (Dagwood in the Blondie series) co-stars in this average comedy, which is bolstered by some okay songs from Sammy Stept and Ted Koehler. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Annapolis Salute is the 1937 remake of RKO's 1933 film Midshipman Jack. Lensed on location at the Annapolis Naval Academy, the film alternates scenes of cadet training with a sentimental romantic story. Essentially, midshipman James Ellison wants to romance officer's daughter Marsha Hunt. He is discouraged from doing so by his father Harry Carey and his rival Van Heflin. A pre-Blondie Arthur Lake is on hand for klutzy comedy relief. Obvious though the material may be, Annapolis Salute posted a healthy profit for RKO. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

RKO Radio's Army Surgeon is something of a rarity: A WW2 drama set mostly in WW1. On board a transport ship bound for Europe, middle-aged Army nurse Jane Wyatt flashes back to her experience in the first world conflict. Foremost in her recollections is the romantic triangle involving Wyatt, military doctor James Ellison, and devil-may-care aviator Kent Taylor. Back in the present-1942, that is-Wyatt and one of her two former sweethearts are joyously reunited. Posting a loss of $46,000 (surprising, for a war picture) Army Surgeon was RKO's final 1942 release, ending the year on a sour note. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Blazing Guns is the television title of the Lippert Studios western Marshal of Helldorado. Jimmie Ellison and Russell Hayden star as perennial frontier do-gooders Shamrock and Lucky. This time, our heroes come to the assistance of banker Raymond Hatton, who is being blackmailed by an outlaw band that is savvy to Hatton's past life as a desperado. Fuzzy Knight co-stars as comedy relief, while Betty Adams provides the feminine interest. Marshal of Helldorado was one of a quartet of "Four Star Westerns" filmed back to back in the space of a single month: all four films starred Ellison, Hayden, Hatton, Knight and Adams. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Republic musical, all heck breaks loose when the girlfriend of an aspiring composer becomes a model for the starving artist who lives next door. The story takes place at the turn of the 19th century and is set in Miss Rich's boardinghouse, the temporary home of many young artists and performers hoping to make it big in New York. Songs include "Have I Told You Lately?" and "A Bluebird Is Singing to Me." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this espionage movie, set in Washington during WW II, the daughter of an ex-senator has become a dress model. She is approached by an American counter-espionage agent who offers her a chance to serve her country. The carefree son of a naval official receives a similar offer. He is asked to secure secret Naval plans. Unbeknownst to them, the man they work for is actually a Nazi spy. The two dupes finally figure it out, and the spy kidnaps them. Somehow they escape and break up the spy ring. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Jack Benny brings his own distinctive touch to Brandon Thomas' venerable (and oft-filmed) stage farce Charley's Aunt. Utilizing a gloriously unconvincing broad-A English accent, Benny is cast as Lord Fancourt Babberly, a somewhat overaged undergraduate at Oxford University. Babbs' roommates Jack Chesney (James Ellison) and Charley Wyckeham (Richard Haydn, in his film debut) are desirous of inviting their lady friends Kitty Verdun (Arleen Whelan) and Amy Spettigue (Anne Baxter) to their quarters, but first they must secure the services of a proper escort. When Charley's aunt Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez (Kay Francis) is detained, Jack and Charley coerce Babbs, who has dressed up as an old lady for a school play, to pose as the absent Donna Lucia. The fun really begins when, for reasons far too complicated to detail here, both Jack's father Sir Francis Chesney (Laird Cregar) and Amy's uncle Stephen Spettigue (Edmund Gwenn) romantically pursue the bogus aunt. The third-act arrival of the real Donna Lucia only adds to the comic confusion-but at least poor Babbs has finally found a lady friend closer to his own age. The female-impersonation angle in Charley's Aunt has been known to descend into vulgarity, but Jack Benny remains both hilarious and tasteful throughout. Understandably, the film was one of Benny's favorites. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Johnny Mack Brown was nearing the end of his starring career when he appeared in the Monogram oater Dead Man's Trail. Brown and his youthful sidekick Jimmy Ellison come to the aid of imperiled Barbara Allen. At this point, Johnny was too long in tooth and thick around the middle to qualify as a romantic lead, hence the presence of Ellison. But when it came to fast action, Brown always delivered the goods. Featured among the second villains in Dead Man's Trail is stuntman supreme Dale Van Sickel (he's the fellow who drove the truck in Steven Spielberg's TV-movie classic Duel). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lois Andrews, best known in 1943 as the ex-wife of comedian Georgie Jessel, plays the title character in this cinemadaptation of Joseph P. McEvoy's popular comic strip Dixie Dugan. Swept up in the war effort, Dixie gets a job as secretary to government official Roger Hudson (James Ellison). Though Roger pursues her romantically, Dixie remains faithful to her defense-plant-worker fiancee Matt Hogan (Eddie Foy Jr.) Both Roger and Matt believe that a woman's place is in the home, but Dixie proves that their chauvinism is out of place during the National Emergency. Lois Andrews' inexperience is modified somewhat by the assured performances of Charlotte Greenwood and Charlie Ruggles as Dixie's parents. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A wealthy older man and a poor young woman each get a chance to see how the other half lives in this comedy. Alfred Borden (Walter Connolly) is a millionaire who feels neglected by his family. His wife Martha (Verree Teasdale), daughter Katherine (Kathryn Adams), and son Tim (Tim Holt) usually ignore him, and all three manage to forget his birthday completely. Depressed and alone, Alfred bumps into Mary Grey (Ginger Rogers), a young woman who is out of work but is still happy with her lot in life. Alfred invites her to go to a night spot with him, and he soon hatches a scheme by which Mary will move into the guest room of the Borden Mansion and pose as a gold digger who is toying with Alfred's affections to get at his money. Mary's presence has a sudden impact on the family; Martha realizes that she needs to pay more attention to her husband, Katherine falls in love with the family's leftist chauffeur (James Ellison), and Tim starts taking an interest in the family business, and in Mary. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Colorado Ranger was the third in Lippert Studio's six-film "Four Star Western" series. All six entries were filmed simultaneously within the same month, and all starred Russell "Lucky" Hayden, James "Shamock" Ellison, Raymond Hatton, Fuzzy Knight, and Betty (later Julie) Adams. In this installment, "Shamrock" takes on the outlaw gang that kidnapped his father. "Lucky" tags along to give his pal a hand. The dialogue sounds as if it was being made up as the film went along, which may very well have been the case. Colorado Ranger was released to television as The Last Bullet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this emotional drama, a lonely British housekeeper, uses her hard-earned savings account to finance a trip to America so she can see the successful son she has been proud of all her life. At least she has been lead to believe that her son is a big shot. Once in the US, she and her young female companion end up thumbing to California. Along the way they hook up with a kindly young man and his world-weary promoter. Unfortunately, she learns a bitter truth upon her arrival: her son is actually a prisoner in San Quentin. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Filmed in two weeks at Red Rock Canyon and Lone Pine, California, Hop-Along Cassidy was the opener of one of the best -- and most fondly remembered -- B-Western series of all time. Former silent screen star William Boyd regained his lost fame playing the prematurely gray, black-clad hero of pulp-writer Clarence E. Mulford's Bar 20 stories, with young Paramount contract player James Ellison as handsome sidekick Johnny Nelson and Charles Middleton (in a surprisingly low-key performance) as Cassidy's old friend, Buck Peters. Bill Cassidy arrives at the Bar-20 ranch in the middle of a range war with the neighboring Meeker spread. Old man Meeker (Robert Warwick) has been driving his cattle onto Bar-20 land for water against Buck's wishes. Cattle begin to disappear from both ranches and a couple of Meeker cowboys are shot. Meeker blames the Bar-20 crew but his daughter Mary (Paula Stone), who is in love with Johnny Nelson, believes in their innocence. Looking out for the headstrong Johnny, Cassidy is shot in the leg, thus acquiring his famous nickname of "Hop-Along." Bar-20 oldtimer Uncle Ben (George "Gabby" Hayes) discovers that cattle from both ranches have their brands altered and the two ranches band together to trap a vicious gang of rustlers lead by Meeker's unscrupulous foreman Pecos Jack Anthony (Kenneth Thomson). In the ensuing war, Uncle Ben is killed by Anthony but "Hop-Along" manages to catch the killer, whom he drives off a cliff to his death. With the Dance of the Furies from Gluck's Orfeo et Euridice underscoring the climactic ride, Hop-Along Cassidy proved a fast-paced, well-acted opener to the series. George "Gabby" Hayes, whose contribution to this success was vital, returned in the next entry, The Eagle's Brood (1935), as as a bartender, finally finding his true place in the "Hopalong Cassidy" oeuvre as Windy, Hopalong's grizzled old windbag of a sidekick, in the third film, Bar 20 Rides Again. Producer Sherman left Paramount in 1942 in favor of United Artists where the "Hopalong" series continued to flourish until 1948. Boyd then bought the rights to the films and re-edited them for television. The 1949-1951 Hopalong Cassidy series was so popular that Boyd filmed 52 new half-hour episodes for the 1952-1954 seasons. Hop-Along Cassidy, the initial "Hopalong" feature, is usually shown today under its re-release title, Hopalong Cassidy Enters. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide