Jimmy Aubrey Movies

In this western, cattlemen and sheepherders battle it out to see who really can make their home on the range. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In his first of thirty-two B-Westerns for producer A.W. Hackel, bantamweight Bob Steele plays Bob Worth, a cowboy seeking employment at Lita Morton's (Gloria Shea) New Mexico ranch. Lita's brother Bud (Nick Stuart) turns him down flat and instead puts the property up for sale. The buyer, Dyer (Walter McGrail), has Bud assassinated on his way to deposit the first payment and Bob, who merely happens to find the body, is accused of the deed by Lita. Wounded by Dyer, Bob finds shelter with Mexican outlaw Gallindo (Don Alvarado) and concocts a plan to trap the killer. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Having starred in two earlier Westerns produced by Harry S. Webb, Tom Tyler signed with Webb's new company Reliable, where the former silent star went on to make 18 inexpensive but well-made oaters. The first in the series, Fighting Hero, cast Tyler as Tom Hall, a fugitive from justice rescuing a young Mexican woman, Conchita (Renee Borden), from a murder conviction. He falls in love with the girl, but he then overhears her apparently plotting with the leader of a gang of stage-robbers. As it turns out, Conchita is only looking out for Tom's welfare, and with her help he is soon able to apprehend the gang. When the sheriff (Tom London) arrives, Tom reveals himself to be an undercover agent for the Wells Fargo Company. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Lodge members Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy take a solemn oath to attend the 80th-annual Sons of the Desert Convention (read: annual binge) in Chicago. That is, Ollie takes the oath, but Stanley balks. When asked why, Stanley answers that he's afraid his wife won't let him go. Ollie is appalled: "Every man must be king in his own castle." But when Ollie meekly brings up the subject of the convention with his wife Lollie (Mae Busch), she soon dethrones the "king." Lollie wants to take a vacation in the mountains, and is dead-set against her husband going around "with a pack of hooligans." But Ollie is determined to attend the convention, and to that end cooks up a scheme with Stanley. Ollie will pretend to be deathly ill; Stan will fix it so the doctor will prescribe a trip to Honolulu. Knowing that his wife can't stand going on sea voyages, Ollie will request that Stan accompany him to Hawaii--then, both men will sneak off to Chicago. A few hitches notwithstanding (Stan hires a veterinarian instead of a doctor, explaining that he didn't think the man's religion would make any difference), the boys go to the convention, where they cut up royally with practical joker Charley Chase. Alas, the Honolulu-bound boat on which Stan and Ollie are supposed to be travelling is sunk in a typhoon. While the grief-stricken wives are at the steamship company attempting to find out if their husbands survived the sea disaster, Stan and Ollie arrive home, wearing leis and carrying pineapples as "evidence" of their Honolulu vacation. When the boys find out about the shipwreck, they desperately try to escape to a hotel, but the wives arrive home prematurely, forcing Stan and Ollie to camp out in the attic. It looks as though the boys might just get away with their new plan of coming home at the same time that the rescue boats arrive....until Lollie Hardy and Betty Laurel (Dorothy Christie), attending a picture show, are treated to the spectacle of their husbands cavorting merrily before the newsreel cameras covering the Sons of the Desert conclave in Chicago. The film's final ten minutes are priceless--especially that bit about "ship-hiking." Considered the best of Laurel and Hardy's feature films, One of the top ten moneymaking pictures of 1934, it was released in Europe as Fraternally Yours and Sons of the Legion, and is also available in a crudely edited 20-minute TV version, Fun on the Run. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Yet another little indiscretion from Gower Gulch producer Robert J. Horner, this no-budget Western starred former silent cowboy Jack Perrin and his horse Starlight in a too-cute story of a wanted outlaw (Perrin) escaping into the desert with a young child (Fred Hargreaves). Eluding the sheriff's posse, Jack finds ways to take care of the little boy including "kidnapping" a doctor when the child takes ill. He is helped through it all by a sympathetic girl from the nearby town (Dorothy Bauer), and she persuades the reformed outlaw to give himself up to the sheriff. Before he is taken away, Jack proposes to both Alice and little Bill and they in turn promise to wait until he has served his sentence. Why this Western was called The Sheriff's Secret is anybody's guess. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Poverty row company Syndicate released this early sound western starring silent-screen refugee Mahlon Hamilton as a reformed gambler who saves Doris Hill's ranch from a gang of crooks by using a few of his otherwise retired tricks. The principal actors in this film, Hamilton, Hill and Robert Graves (as the leader of the gang) had all seen better days in the silent era but still enjoyed recognition in small towns, the intended market for Syndicate releases. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

An innocent cowboy is once again suspected of a crime he didn't commit in The Lonesome Trail, an obscure early talkie western from low-budget producer Syndicate that wasted the talents of silent western stars Yakima Canutt, Bob Reeves, Art Mix, and Monte Montague. The accuser (Montague), as it turns out, is the leader of a gang of rustlers, a man the hero once trusted. The star of this fiasco, Charles Delaney, gets to warble a couple of tunes (including Oh, Susannah) but did not set the screen aflame with his vocals or start a new trend. Delaney had enjoyed some success playing collegiate roles in the silent era but was consigned to supporting roles thereafter. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Mrs. Magnolia Hardy (Vivien Oakland) is fed up with her husband Oliver Hardy and his permanent houseguest Stan Laurel. Even though Ollie points out that Uncle Bernal will cut them out of his will if she leaves, she walks out anyway. Naturally, Uncle Bernal chooses just this time to pay his nephew and his wife a surprise visit. He intends to buy the couple a new house -- if they are happily married. In the world of Laurel and Hardy, there is only one thing to do at this point: dress Stan up as Mrs. Hardy. Luckily, Uncle Bernal has never met Mrs. Hardy before, so the ruse goes over. They all go to dinner at the Pink Pup Club, where Mrs. Hardy, aka Stan, is harassed by a amorous lush (Jimmy Aubrey). A stolen necklace also winds up down the back of Stan's dress. Stan and Ollie try to get the necklace out without too much embarrassment but somehow land on stage in place of the floor show. Finally, Stan's gender is revealed, and the infuriated Uncle swears to leave his fortune to a home for cats. This is an especially funny Laurel and Hardy silent two-reeler, primarily because Stan pulls off his drag act so well. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Little Wild Girl is hoydenish French-Canadian lass Marie Celeste (Lila Lee). Assuming that her sweetheart Jules (Cullen Landis) and her father Duncan (Arthur Hotaling) have died in a fire, Marie wanders aimlessly around in the woods, where she is discovered by Broadway impresarios McBride (Frank Merrill) and Hampton (Bud Shaw). Enchanted by her beauty, the two men take Marie to New York, where she becomes a popular musical comedy star. Her innocent involvement in a nasty murder scandal ruins Marie's career, but she finds happiness at last with her boyfriend Jules, who didn't die after all. Boris Karloff is seen in a secondary "heavy" role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Produced by poverty row company Mayfair and directed by Arthur Hotaling, a hold-over from the early silent era, this obscure silent Western melodrama featured Gaston Glass, a French-born actor who had enjoyed some success in Northwest Mounted films. A Gentleman Preferred was filmed at the old Charles Ray studios on Sunset Drive in Hollywood and may have been Mayfair's first release. The company, founded by sound engineer Ralph M. Like, folded in 1934. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

William Fairbanks couldn't hope to convince audiences that he was in the same league as his namesame Douglas Fairbanks. Even so, Fairbanks had his public, who remained loyal even as their favorite with farther and farther down the movie-studio chain. The appropriately titled Down Grade was one of several quickie Fairbanks vehicles directed by Charles Hutchinson for bargain-basement Gotham Studios. In this one, Our Hero hopes to thwart the plans by the villains to destroy his dad's railroad line. The film is tolerable only during the action sequences, involving such props as souped-up cars, motorcycles and airplanes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide