Jimmy Aubrey Movies
Diminutive British knockabout comedian Jimmy Aubrey got his start with the legendary Fred Karno troupe, working alongside such budding stars as Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel. Like Charley and Stan, Aubrey flourished as a silent screen comic. He headlined a series of Vitagraph two-reelers in 1919 and 1920, with a young Oliver Hardy lending support. In the mid-1920s, he starred in another comedy series for producer Joe Rock. By 1927, Aubrey's stardom was a thing of the past, and he found himself virtually unemployable. His old colleagues Laurel and Hardy cast Aubrey in supporting roles in three of their starring vehicles, most memorably as the flirtatious drunk in the 1929 2-reeler That's My Wife. Jimmy Aubrey continued taking movie jobs until his retirement in 1952, playing bits and featured roles as drunken sailors, hoboes, store clerks and cowboy sidekicks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
An utterly enchanting Technicolor filmization of Mary O'Hara's novel, My Friend Flicka is the story of a beautiful colt and the boy (Roddy McDowell) who loves her. The boy's rancher father (Preston S. Foster) isn't keen on the horse that his son chooses to train: Flicka, the offspring of a tempestuous mare that has shown traces of madness. The training of Flicka is an arduous process for both boy and horse, and there are times that it appears that father was right. But by applying both love and perseverance, the boy raises the colt into a magnificent specimen. My Friend Flicka was filmed in the Rocky Mountains on a near-epic scale by director Harold Schuster and cinematographer Dewey Wrigley. The film was popular enough to spawn two theatrical sequels and a 1956 weekly TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roddy McDowall, Preston S. Foster, (more)
- 1943
In the second of PRC's ramshackle Texas Rangers Westerns, Tex Wyatt (Dave "Tex" O'Brien) is blamed for a murder actually committed by Ransom (Jack Ingram) and Holman (Charles King), a couple of thieves. Tex manages to escape and is reunited with his two ranger pals, Jim Steele (James Newill) and Panhandle Perkins (Guy Wilkerson), both of whom are working undercover as performers in a medicine show, a plot contrivance that allows baritone Newill to join Carl Shrum and His Rhythm Rangers in Shrum's "Ride, Ride Ride" and Tex Coe's "West Winds." All three rangers obtain jobs with Ransom's freight company, the owner luckily failing to recognize Tex. Everything comes out in the open, however, when lovely Martha Hobbs (Janet Shaw) inadvertently reveals that the newcomers are rangers, but the three heroes are saved in the nick of time by the sheriff's posse. As it turns out, Martha's uncle (Michael Vallon) is the real power behind the crimes. As always, Texas Rangers was defeated by the budget constrictions of PRC, a company known to insiders as "pretty rotten crud." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1943
The Fighting Valley is another of PRC's "Texas Rangers" westerns, with Dave O'Brien, Jim Newell and Guy Wilkerson as the aforementioned Rangers. This time, our heroes try to find out who's been stealing ore from a valuable smelting mine. One of the independent mine-owners victimized by the crooks is pretty Joan Manning (Patti McCarthy), making the Rangers' mission a bit more pleasant. The revelation of the villain is a surprise to poor Joan, though not necessarily to the audience. Pretty good of its kind, Fighting Valley is marred only by the questionable comedy relief of cadaverous Guy Wilkerson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The Triangle W Ranch is indeed haunted in this Monogram Range Busters series entry, though not by the spirit of the late outlaw Reno Red as the townsfolk are led to believe, but by nasty Rance Austin (Glenn Strange) and his gang on the premises searching for a stolen gold bullion. Enter the Range Busters, one of whom, Dusty (John "Dusty" King), impersonates the heir to half of the ranch. The other half belongs to Helen Weston (Julie Duncan), and together with Dave (Dave Sharpe), Alibi (Max "Alibi" Terhune), and Red (Rex Lease) they finally nail Rance and his men and locate the gold bullion hidden in -- of all things -- a music box that plays "Little Brown Jug." Co-star Dave Sharpe entered the service during the filming of Haunted Ranch and was replaced in the latter part of the Western by Rex Lease. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1942
This drama chronicles the extreme measures taken by a determined young crime reporter to get an interview with a notorious convict. The zealous journalist, also a star quarterback on the town college team, decides to become a convict himself. He gets into the prison, becomes president of the prisoners' union, does his interview, successfully woo's the warden's daughter, and gets out in time to publish his story before anyone else does. His career is off to a tremendous start. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Byrd, Virginia Vale, (more)
- 1942
Here's another entry in PRC's long-running "Billy the Kid" series, again starring Buster Crabbe as Billy Carson and Al St. John as his comic sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones. In this outing, a bandit posing as Billy manages to pin several crimes on Our Hero. Cleverly eluding the law (never mind the film's title), Billy endeavors to track down his impostor and put him behind bars. The plot is resolved by a typical PRC fistfight, which as usual is more energetic than expert. Young Anne Jeffreys, a starlet on the threshold of bigger things, is definitely an improvement over the standard western ingenue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Larry "Buster" Crabbe
- 1942
This wartime weeper could just as well have been titled Stardom for Margaret, inasmuch as it solidified the popularity of that remarkable child actress Margaret O'Brien. While visiting London, American married couple Robert Young and Laraine Day are caught in the middle of the 1940 blitz. Losing her unborn child during the bombing, Day sadly heads back to the U.S., while her journalist husband stays behind to cover late-breaking events. Young makes the acquaintance of O'Brien and Clifford Severn, children orphaned by the blitz. After pulling the shell-shocked O'Brien out of her near-catatonic state, Young decides to adopt both children and take them back to his wife in the States. There are some tense moments as Young tilts at the stepped-up immigration restrictions, but he is finally able to bring his new family home. Journey for Margaret stars Robert Young and Margaret O'Brien would be reunited two decades later on an episode of Young's TV series Marcus Welby MD, in which Ms. O'Brien played a patient suffering from obesity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret O'Brien, Laraine Day, (more)
- 1942
When the order of the Western frontier is threatened by bandits, cowboys are the only measure of justice in the area. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1941
Before changing his name to Richard Powers, cowboy hero Tom Keene spent the waning days of his stardom at Monogram, churning out westerns like Riding the Sunset Trail. When ingenue Betty Dawson (Betty Miles) and her kid sister Sugar (Sugar Dawn) are cheated out of their cattle ranch, Tom Sterling (Keene) and his sidekick Mendoza (Frank Yaconelli) vow to get the ranch back for the girls. This requires Sterling to cross six-guns with Pecos Dean (Gene Alcase), a former friend who'd turned bad. The climax is a shootout between our heroes and the minions of chief heavy Jay Lynch (Kenne Duncan). Formerly a bit too overenthusiastic in his screen appearances, Tom Keene turns in a restrained, well-modulated peformance in Riding the Sunset Trail. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Keene, Betty Miles, (more)
- 1941
In this remake of the 1930 film of the same name, a bank robber suffers a war wound and undergoes plastic surgery. Upon his recovery, he discovers that he is the exact double of a banker (who is trapped in a German POW camp). Being an opportunist, the fellow then assumes the banker's identity and his wife while he plans another caper. Fortunately, an observant Yard inspector sees through the robber's masquerade. Later the robber goes straight after revealing the plans of a German spy ring to steal every penny from the bank. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Kelly, Edmund Gwenn, (more)
- 1941
Even those film buffs who derive pleasure from the output of poverty-row PRC Pictures are hard put to say anything nice about Swamp Woman. Famed striptease artist Ann Corio, a much better actress than many have claimed, stars as Annabelle, a cabaret dancer who returns to the Florida bayous whence she came. Here she finds that her ex-sweetheart Pete (Jack LaRue) is engaged to marry her niece Lizbet (Mary Hull). When escaped convict Jeff (Richard Deane) stumbles onto the scene, Annabelle teams up with Pete to prove Jeff's innocence. Figuring prominently in the proceedings is Annabelle's sleazy agent Brand (Jay Novello) who all but wears a sign on his forehead proclaiming I'M THE VILLAIN! Poorly written, photographer and directed, Swamp Woman is emblematic of all that was wrong with the worst of PRC; the only person to emerge from this fiasco without embarrassment is Ann Corio, who on the strength of her performance herein was signed up for future film appearances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack LaRue, Jay Novello, (more)
- 1940
In his final Western for Poverty Row's Metropolitan Pictures, Bob Steele played Bob Hall, a lawman looking into a series of cattle rustlings. The leader of the rustlers, rancher Farley (Ted Adams), hires killer Pete Childers (George Cheseboro) to impersonate a deputy sheriff and gain Sheriff Hall's confidence. The ploy fails and after freeing lovely Helen Jones (Louise Stanley) and her wayward brother, Fred (Kenne Duncan), Sheriff Hall rounds up the gang. Metropolitan Pictures was so ramshackle an outfit that Bob Steele's next employer, the otherwise ill-reputed PRC, seemed almost luxurious in comparison. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1940
The schizophrenic screenplay of The Earl of Chicago is rendered even more bizarre by the uneven performance by Robert Montgomery. He plays Silky Kilmont, a Runyonesque American gangster who inherits a British title (Earl of Gorley) and mansion. Taking charge of his new estate, Silky has an amusing time trying to acclimate himself to the customs of the "landed gentry". Things take a sinister turn when Silky discovers that his trusted attorney Doc Ramsey (Edward Arnold) is actually a bigger crook than he is. In a rage, Silky murders Ramsey, then goes into what appears to be a catatonic shock, refusing to defend himself at his murder trial. Blood finally tells at the climax when Silky Kilmont, aka the Earl of Gorley, meets his fate with a dignity and decorum worthy of his aristocratic forebears. The queasy atmosphere of the film is heightened by its utter lack of romance; outside of character actress Norma Varden, there are barely any women in the film at all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Montgomery, Edward Arnold, (more)
- 1940
In his penultimate Western for low-budget company Metropolitan, Bob Steele's horse Pirate, "one of the finest Arabian stallions in the West," is stolen by Ted Adams in a daring attempt to lure mares belonging to local ranchers into secret Wild Horse Valley. The ploy, of course, backfires and Adams and his unsavory partners are arrested for rustling. Perhaps the nadir of his long screen career, Steele's Metropolitan series came to a merciful end with the eighth entry, Pinto Canyon (1940). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Given the omnipresence of the Motion Picture Production Code in 1940, the second film version of Robert E. Sherwood's Waterloo Bridge would have to be laundered and softened to pass muster. In the original, made in 1931, the heroine is nothing more or less than a streetwalker, patrolling London's Waterloo Bridge during World War I in hopes of picking up the occasional soldier. She falls in love with one of her clients, a young officer from an aristocratic family. Gently informed by the young man's mother that any marriage would be absolutely impossible, the streetwalker tearfully agrees, letting her beau down gently before ending her own life by walking directly into the path of an enemy bomb. In the remake, told in flashback as a means of "distancing" the audience from what few unsavory story elements were left, the heroine, Vivien Leigh, starts out as a virginal ballerina. Robert Taylor, a British officer from a wealthy family, falls in love with Vivien and brings her home to his folks. This time around, Taylor's uncle (C. Aubrey Smith), impressed by Vivien's sincerity, reluctantly agrees to the upcoming marriage. When Taylor marches off to war, Vivien abandons an important dance recital to bid her fiance goodbye, losing her job as a result. Later, she is led to believe that Taylor has been killed in battle. Thus impoverished and aggrieved, she is given a motivation for turning to prostitution, a plot element deemed unecessary in the original-which indeed it was. Now the stage is set for her final sacrifice, though the suicidal elements are carefully weeded out. Waterloo Bridge was remade for a second time in 1956 as Gaby, with Leslie Caron and John Kerr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor, (more)
- 1940
Charlie Chan in Panama was the first entry in the "Chan" series to capitalize on WW2. Sidney Toler stars as the wily oriental sleuth, who on this occasion must weed out an elusive enemy saboteur named Ryner, who plans to destroy the Panama Canal. Any one of the supporting characters might be the never-seen Ryner: Could it be illegal alien Kathi Lenesch (Jean Rogers), overly effusive Englishman Cliveden Compton (Lionel Atwill), straight-arrow Richard Cabot (Kane Richmond), slimy nightclub owner Montero (Jack LaRue), moonfaced middle-easterner Achmed (Frank Puglia), timid schoolmarm Jennie Finch (Mary Nash), or none of the above? Also on hand is Victor Sen Yung as Charlie's Number 2 son Jimmy, who is somewhat stupider than usual (if such a thing is possible). In an early scene, Charlie Chan neatly sums up his relationship with the bumbling Jimmy: "Man without relatives is man without problems." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Jean Rogers, (more)
- 1940
A semi-sequel to the 1933 Universal horror masterwork The Invisible Man, The Invisible Man Returns stars Vincent Price in the title role. Condemned for a murder he did not commit, Price begs doctor John Sutton to inject him with the invisibility serum invented by Claude Rains in the first film. Sutton does so, even though he warns Price that the serum will very likely drive him insane. Sir Cedric Hardwicke co-stars as the genuine murderer, a colliery owner who framed Price. Though his behavior veers dangerously close to homicidal, Price is able to mete out retribution to Hardwicke without stooping to murder. As he gradually weakens, Price is recaptured and rushed to the hospital, where his life is saved by an emergency blood transfusion. Price's face is revealed to us for the first time as he vows his undying love to leading lady Nan Grey. Taking a less playful approach to the grim goings-on than director James Whale had in The Invisible Man, The Invisible Man Returns is a grim little morality play, containing vestiges of The Count of Monte Cristo and distinguished by an odd preoccupation with the mechanics and minutiae of death (a characteristic trait in the screenplays of Curt Siodmak). The film helped to solidify the cinematic reputation of Vincent Price, though it would be years before he'd specialize in horror on a full-time basis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price, (more)
- 1940
Carl Krusada (aka Val Cleveland) was credited with the screenplay for this typically inferior Jack Randall oater from Poverty Row company Monogram. In reality, the story of a drifter helping a sheriff catch a gang of smugglers was as old as the hills of Chatsworth, CA, where The Kid From Santa Fe was filmed in little under a week. Appointed deputy sheriff by Sheriff Holt (Forrest Taylor), the Santa Fe Kid (Randall) is soon framed in the murder of Kent (George Chesebro), one of the outlaws. Escaping from jail courtesy of the sheriff's lovesick daughter (Clarene Curtis), the Kid is trailed by Millie (Claire Rochelle), Kent's girlfriend who succeeds in knocking him into the river. Presumed to have drowned, the Kid returns to town very much alive and ready to track down the real killer, Bill Stewart (Tom London), the murdered man's partner. Randall, who was nearing the end of his four-year Western sojourn, was the brother of popular B-Western star Robert Livingston. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forrest Taylor
- 1939
Originally filmed in Sepiatone, Let Freedom Ring is a satisfying Nelson Eddy musical with patriotic overtones. Set in the years following the Civil War, the story focuses on the battle of wills between Harvard-educated idealist Steve Logan (Eddy) and bullying railroad magnate Jim Knox (Edward Arnold). Launching a newspaper aimed at combatting Knox's engulf-and-devour tactics (could the villain be intended as a frontier Hitler?) Logan is disowned by his wealthy family and frozen out by his society friends. But with the help of woman-of-the-people Maggie Adams (Virginia Bruce), Logan sticks to his guns and perserveres. Let Freedom Ring goes out of its way to erase Eddy's "Singing Capon" image by having him engage in as much virile physical activity as possible, including a well-staged fistic bout with the gargantuan Victor McLaglen. Fey comedy relief is provided by Charles Butterworth, who does the most with the least material. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nelson Eddy, Virginia Bruce, (more)
- 1939
The third of eight Bob Steele Westerns produced by bargain-basement company Metropolitan, Mesquite Buckaroo was a slight improvement over its predecessor, due mainly to a couple of campfire songs penned by Johnny Lange and Lew Porter and warbled by the now forgotten Bruce Dane. The diminutive Steele plays Bob Allen of the Bar A Ranch, whose Aunt Sarah (Juanita Fletcher) bets her neighbor (Frank LaRue) that Bob will win the rodeo against the Circle B's Luke Williams (Ted Adams). Realizing they can make a fortune if the reigning champion, Bob, loses, a couple of crooks indulge in a bit of kidnapping. About to be disqualified for tardiness, Bob, who has overpowered his captors, arrives just in time to beat the competition. This lightweight, potentially amusing bit of Western frivolity was thoroughly defeated by Metropolitan Pictures' slipshod production methods and the casting of amateurs (leading lady Carolyn Curtis, especially) in key roles. As he had in Steele's previous effort, Smoky Trails (1939), Carleton Young once again ably took care of the skullduggery, this time for some reason billing himself as Gordon Roberts. Veteran slapstick comic Snub Pollard added little to the overall enjoyment of Mesquite Buckaroo. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Carolyn Curtis, (more)
- 1939
In all aspects a mediocre B-Western, Smoky Trails once again trotted out the old story of a young man pretending to join a gang of outlaws in order to find the villain that killed his father. Bob Steele had played the role many times before but usually under better conditions. Smoky Trails was the second of eight Steele Westerns produced by Gower Gulch company Metropolitan Pictures Corp., which was actually Harry S. Webb and Bernard B. Ray's old Reliable Pictures under a new moniker. Jean Carmen, a 1934 WAMPAS Baby Star who had starred as Julia Thayer in the serial The Painted Stallion, played Steele's leading lady, veteran comic Jimmy Aubrey supplied a bit of low-brow humor and Carleton Young essayed the killer. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Jean Carmen, (more)
- 1939
Tim McCoy once again played Department of Justice agent "Lightning Bill" Carson in Code of the Cactus, and once again he infiltrates the outlaws by masquerading as a foreigner, this time a Mexican named Miguel. A gang of very modern rustlers using high-powered trucks and machine guns is terrorizing the local ranchers. Disguised as Miguel, Lightning Bill quickly learns that the rustlers are lead by Blackton (Forrest Taylor), a nasty meatpacking contractor, and with assistance from usual sidekick Magpie (Ben Corbett) and a new acquaintance, range detective Bob Swane (Dave "Tex" O-Brien), he manages to penetrate Blackton's barricade of piled-up trucks. McCoy made eight Westerns for low-budget producer Katzman's Victory Pictures before signing with newcomer PRC. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim McCoy, Ben Corbett, (more)
- 1939
At the end of his long association with Hal Roach, comedian Stan Laurel produced three singing Westerns featuring operatic baritone Fred Scott. The second of the three, Knight of the Plains featured such songs as Paradise Valley (the film's working title), by Lew Porter and Harry Tobias, and When We Heard the Music Play Home Sweet Home, by Porter and L. Wolfe Gilbert, as well as the expected comedy routines of the redoubtable Al St. John. In between the songs and comedy, Scott portrayed rancher Fred "Melody" Brent, whose neighbors, the Rands, are in trouble with a gang of land grabbers out to acquire an old Spanish grant. After the usual sagebrush derring-do and a bit of romance with lovely Gale Rand (Marion Weldon, Scott and his sidekick Fuzzy (St. John) can deliver the bad Guys to Sheriff Steve Clark, happy with the knowledge that they have prevented a range war. Scott was to make thirteen singing Westerns for various low-budget producers, all of them released by Spectrum Pictures. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Scott, Marion Weldon, (more)
- 1938
West of Rainbow's End was one of two Tim McCoy westerns directed by Monogram Pictures workhorse Alan James. Returning to the screen after a tour with the Ringling Bros. circus, McCoy is cast as a former railroad detective who emerges from retirement to solve a series of suspicious accidents. The villains hope to sabotage the railroad so that they can engineer a big-time land swindle. For our hero, it's personal: the bad guys were responsible for the murder of his foster father. Kathleen Elliot, who spent most of her brief film career in westerns, co-stars as Tim's waitress sweetheart Joan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim McCoy, Walter McGrail, (more)
