Olin Francis Movies

That "Peaceable Man," William "Wild Bill" Elliott, once again plays Wild Bill Hickock in this fine B-Western from Columbia Pictures. This time, sidekick Cannonball (Dub Taylor) discovers that two old enemies, swindlers Cord Crowley (Bradley Page) and Jeff Adams (Frank LaRue), are fooling the good folks of Lodestone into believing that they are solid citizens. When the banker, Jason Perry (John Dilson), refuses to heed Wild Bill's warning, the peaceable man is forced to show his hand. Adams is the first to blink and when confronted with his criminal record, the veteran crook commits suicide. Crowley proves a tougher nut to crack, but, as always, Wild Bill gets his man in the end. Taking a breather from the action, Dub Taylor performs his own "The West Gets Under My Skin," while suffering the consequences of a flee-ridden cowhide west. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Featuring even more musical numbers than usual, this Tex Ritter Western from Monogram marked the feature film debut of the "King of Western Swing," Bob Wills, and his Texas Playboys, a group that also included Wills' brother Johnnie Lee Wills. The group performed no less than four numbers in a row -- including Wills' own Good Old Oklahoma, Lone Star Rag and {&The Bob Wills Special. Surrounding all this harmonizing, screenwriter Robert Emmett Tansey crafted a rather commonplace Western fable of Ritter and sidekick Slim Andrews rescuing a stage line owned by leading lady Terry Walker. The line is being sabotaged by rival operator (Karl Hackett). To get rid of the pesky Ritter, Hackett hires a notorious outlaw, Olin Francis. But Ritter has befriended Francis' young son and the scheme fails miserably. Ritter, whose pugilistic fervor always seemed more authentic than that of most singing cowboys, injured his knee in a fight with Hackett and production had to be suspended for two weeks, a rather expensive development for low-budget Monogram. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The only new things in Riders of Black River are the character names; otherwise, it's a by-the-numbers Charles Starrett western, right down to the usual Starrett supporting cast: Iris Meredith, Dick Curtis, Bob Nolan, Edmund Cobb et. al. Former Texas Ranger Wade Patterson (Starrett) returns to his home town, only to find that the territory is in the grip of cattle rustlers. For a while, it looks as though heroine Linda Holden (Meredith) is in cahoots with the bad guys, but Patterson quickly clears her name and takes on the crooks himself. The climax is a no-rules fistfight between Patterson and chief heavy Blaize Carewe (Dick Curtis). So often did Charles Starrett and Dick Curtis duke it out on screen that a feature film could have been made up of their battles alone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though Rudyard Kipling's poem Gunga Din makes a swell recital piece, it cannot be said to have much of a plot. It's simply a crude cockney soldier's tribute to a native Indian water boy who remains at his job even after being mortally wounded. Hardly the sort of material upon which to build 118 minutes' worth of screen time-at least, it wasn't until RKO producer Pandro S. Berman decided to convert Gunga Din into an A-budgeted feature film. Now it became the tale of three eternally brawling British sergeants stationed in colonial India: Cutter (Cary Grant), McChesney (Victor McLaglen) and Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Ballantine intends to break up the threesome by marrying lovely Emmy Stebbins (Joan Fontaine), while Cutter and McChesney begin hatching diabolical schemes to keep Ballantine in the army (if this plot element sounds a lot like something from the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play The Front Page, bear in mind that Hecht and McArthur shared writing credit on Gunga Din with Joel Sayre and Fred Guiol; also contributing to the screenplay, uncredited, was William Faulkner). All three sergeants are kept occupied with a native revolt fomented by the Thuggees, a fanatical religious cult headed by a Napoleonic Guru (Eduardo Ciannelli). Unexpectedly coming to the rescue of our three heroes-not to mention every white man, woman and child in the region-is humble water carrier Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe), who aspires to become the regimental trumpeter. Originally slated to be directed by Howard Hawks, Gunga Din was taken out of Hawks' hands when the director proved to be too slow during the filming of Bringing Up Baby. His replacement was George Stevens, who proved to be slower and more exacting than Hawks had ever been! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This "Three Mesquiteers" western is based upon the exploits of one James Addison Reavis, a clever 19th century con artist who through a series of elaborate land swindlers tried to declare himself owner of the state of Arizona (Reavis' checkered career was later the basis for Samuel Fuller's The Baron of Arizona, starring Vincent Price). George Douglas plays the Reavis character, here named Talbot. Establishing himself as dictator of an unnamed western territory, Talbot taxes the citizens beyond endurance. Enter the Three Mesquiteers-Stony Brooke (John Wayne), Tucson Smith (Ray Corrigan) and Lullaby Joslin (Max Terhune)-who don capes and masks to do battle with Talbot's minions under cover of darkness. Part of the plot hinges on the fact that only President Garfield knows that the Mesquiteer's "crimes" are being committed on behalf of Liberty and Justice For All-and when Garfield is assassinated, our heroes are up the proverbial creek without the proverbial paddle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Frankie Darro-Kane Richmond vehicle benefits from the brisk direction of onetime serial star Charles Hutchison. Richmond plays Bomber Brown, a pugilist forced to go on the lam after he punches out crooked gambler Smoothy (Jack LaRue). Travelling incognito bomber befriends aspiring boxer Baby Face (Darro) and trains the boy for the Championship. Smoothy tries to sabotage Baby Face's career, but Bomber cleans the villain's clock once and for all. Produced independently by the parsimonious Maurice Conn, Born to Fight is at its best in the boxing scenes, photographed with all the slick efficiency of an "A" production. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pals of the Saddle is one of the more engaging entries in Republic's Three Mesquiteers Western series. Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune repeat their standard roles of Tucson Smith and Lullaby Joslin; the role of Stony Brooke, recently vacated by Bob Livingston, is here played by none other than John Wayne. The Mesquiteers films fluctuated between period stories and contemporary tales. This time around, we're in 1938, and Stony is chasing after foreign agents who are trying to steal and smuggle a secret weapon, the deadly chemical "monium," out of the United States. Director George Sherman paces this 55-minute effort like a Republic serial, with excellent results. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kermit Maynard, the talented brother of cowboy legend Ken Maynard, stars in this low-budget horse opera. The elementary story has Jim Langley (Maynard) and his pal Scrubby (Ralph Peters) mistaken for bandits. Adding to our hero's burden is the fact that his infant nephew has been kidanpped by the genuine miscreants. And as if that weren't enough to worry about, the bad guys abduct herioine Helen Hobart (Beryl Wallace) to take care of the baby. Needless to say, Langley brings the crooks to heel and rescues the girl and the kid before the alotted 6 reels are over. As usual, Kermit Maynard is consistently better than the script, especially during the action highlights. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The sixth of RKO's Fred Astaire -Ginger Rogers pairings of the 1930s, Swing Time starts off with bandleader Astaire getting cold feet on his wedding day. Astaire's bride-to-be Betty Furness will give him a second chance, providing he proves himself responsible enough to earn $25,000. Astaire naturally tries to avoid earning that amount once he falls in love with dance instructor Ginger Rogers. Numerous complications ensue, leading to the "second time's the charm" climax, with Ginger escaping her own wedding to wealthy Georges Metaxa in order to be reunited with Astaire. The film's most indelible image is that of Fred Astaire, immaculately attired in top hat and tails, hopping a freight car--a perfect encapsulation of the film's Depression-era cheekiness. The Jerome Kern-Dorothy Fields score includes such standards-to-be as "Pick Yourself Up," "A Fine Romance," "The Way You Look Tonight," "Never Gonna Dance" and "Bojangles of Harlem." The peerless supporting cast of Swing Time includes Helen Broderick, Victor Moore, Eric Blore, and Landers Stevens, the actor-father of the film's director, George Stevens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hard Rock Harrigan is an easygoing George O'Brien actioner with emphasis on comedy and romance. The plot revolves around a rivalry between sand-hog "Hard Rock" Harrigan (O'Brien) and his foreman Black Jack Riley (played by O'Brien's frequent screen sparring partner, Fred Kohler Sr.) At the center of their conflict is their mutual affection for heroine "Andy" Anderson (Irene Hervey). But when the chips are down and Riley is trapped in a tunnel cave-in, it is Harrigan who comes to the rescue. George O'Brien's films could never be accused of being High Art, but they sure delivered what his fans wanted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Irish Gringo, a gunfighter from south of the border who is half Mexican and half Irish, comes upon a small girl who happens to be wearing a shirt with the map of a lost mine written on it. It turns out her grandfather was murdered by a gang looking for the mine, and now they're after her. The gunman and his companions set out to protect the girl from the murderous gang and reclaim what is now her mine. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

New York Police Commissioner Mulroney opens Penal Code with a stern warning for parents about keeping the children off the streets and out of gangs. The rest of the film provides a grim example of what could happen if they do not heed him as it tells the tale of a young man's descent into criminalhood and eventually jail. After serving his time, he tries to reform, but finds his bad-reputation clinging to him tartar to a tooth. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Future producer Wallace MacDonald earned a starring role in this low-budget western based on an original story by veteran screen villain Robert Walker. Stopping at a hacienda for rest and food, Tex (MacDonald) falls in love with the pretty owner, Dolores (Virginia Brown Faire), despite the fact that the presence of an infant suggests that the girl is already married. Leaving to pay a debt, Tex returns to find Dolores kidnapped by his worst enemy, the nasty bandit Sounders (Claude Peyton). He locates the bandit's lair, rescues the damsel-in-distress and discovers that the baby actually belongs to her sister. Director Alvin J. Neitz wrote the screenplay under his usual pseudonym of Alan James. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide