Otis Harlan Movies

Robberies are undertaken by an outlaw who looks amazingly like one of the Three Mesquiteers. (AKA Outlaws of Sonora) ~ Rovi

With the departure of John Wayne to more prestigious films, Robert Livingston returned to the role of Stony Brooke in Republic's "Three Mesquiteers" series. In Outlaws of Sonora, Stony and his saddle pals Tucson (Ray Corrigan) and Lullaby (Max Terhune) are hired by a cattleman's association. While transporting his employers' money to the bank, Stony is waylaid by an outlaw who is his exact double (Livingston plays both roles, of course). Keeping our hero under wraps, the villain poses as Stony in hopes of further financial gain. While thus disguised, the false Stony kills a banker, leaving Tucson and Lullaby to wonder if their good pal has gone bad. Eventually everything is straightened out, thanks to the intervention of sharp-witted Dr. Martin (Jack Mulhall). Outlaws of Sonora is one of the best-known "Three Mesquiteers" entries thanks to constant TV exposure and videocassette rentals. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Former nightclub crooner Smith Ballew made his singing-cowboy debut in Western Gold. Set during the Civil War, the story finds Union soldier Bill Gibson (Ballew) heading West to prevent valuable Northern gold shipment from being systematically stolen by Confederate spies. Making our hero's job difficult is the fact that his old friend Fred Foster (LeRoy Mason) is in charge of the Rebel raiders. Anguishing over the notion of having to arrest his lifelong chum, Bill is "saved" when Foster is dispatched by a bullet conveniently fired from a stranger's gun. The leading lady in Western Gold is British-born Heather Angel, who looks mighty confused by her unfamiliar frontier surroundings. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

It was called "Disney's Folly." Who on earth would want to sit still for 90 minutes to watch an animated cartoon? And why pick a well-worn Grimm's Fairy Tale that every schoolkid knows? But Walt Disney seemed to thrive on projects which a lesser man might have written off as "stupid" or "impossible". Investing three years, $1,500,000, and the combined talents of 570 artists into Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney produced a film that was not only acknowledged a classic from the outset, but also earned 8,500,000 depression-era dollars in gross rentals. Bypassing early temptations to transform the heroine Snow White into a plump Betty Boop type or a woebegone ZaSu Pitts lookalike, the Disney staffers wisely made radical differentiations between the "straight" and "funny" characters in the story. Thus, Snow White and Prince Charming moved and were drawn realistically, while the Seven Dwarfs were rendered in the rounded, caricatured manner of Disney's short-subject characters. In this way, the serious elements of the story could be propelled forward in a believable enough manner to grab the adult viewers, while the dwarfs provided enough comic and musical hijinks to keep the kids happy. It is a tribute to the genius of the Disney formula that the dramatic and comic elements were strong enough to please both demographic groups. Like any showman, Disney knew the value of genuine horror in maintaining audience interest: accordingly, the Wicked Queen, whose jealousy of Snow White's beauty motivates the story, is a thoroughly fearsome creature even before she transforms herself into an ancient crone. Best of all, Snow White clicks in the three areas in which Disney had always proven superiority over his rivals: Solid story values (any sequence that threatened to slow down the plotline was ruthlessly jettisoned, no matter how much time and money had been spent), vivid etched characterizations (it would have been easier to have all the Dwarfs walk, talk and act alike: thank heaven that Disney never opted for "easy"), and instantly memorable songs (Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith and the entire studio music department was Oscar-nominated for such standards-to-be as "Whistle While You Work" and "Some Day My Prince Will Come"). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This musical satire parodies Southern living as it follows the exploits of a traveling medicine show that ends up on a bankrupt plantation. It is just as well as Doc Gurgle and his daughter have just lost their show. The plantation is run by a Kentucky colonel. Young Miss Gurgle and her pa decide to help save the plantation by putting on an amateur show in the stately mansion. She is assisted by the enthusiastic plantation workers. Songs include: "Uncle Tom's Cabin Is a Cabaret Now." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Dore Schary, several years removed from his tenure as head of MGM, was screenwriter for the modest Universal actioner Chinatown Squad. Lyle Talbot plays Ted Lacey, a disgruntled ex-cop reduced to driving a sightseeing bus in Chinatown. When a man who has been collecting funds for the Chinese communist cause is murdered, Lacey leaps at the opportunity to solve the case in hopes of getting his badge back. The killing is tied in with some stolen airplanes -- and, this being Hollywood's version of Chinatown, there's an abundance of sinister-looking suspects. Eighteen-year-old Valerie Hobson is the pretty if antiseptic heroine. For reasons best known to the folks at Universal, Chinatown Squad was included in TV's "Shock Theatre" package, lumped together with the studio's Frankenstein and Dracula pictures! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this western, a wagon train is destroyed and all but two children, a brother and sister, are slaughtered. The sister is abducted by the Indians while the boy is raised by an Anglo family. He grows up with no memory of his sister. Now a young cowboy, he is called upon to attack an outlaw gang. When he learns that the gang leader is his renegade sister, he is most surprised. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Edward Eggleston's best-selling novel The Hoosier Schoolmaster was brought to the screen in 1935 by Monogram Pictures, which specialized in such bucolic entertainments. Norman Foster plays the title character, an ex-Union soldier named Ralph. After the Civil War, Ralph takes a schoolteacher job in a small Indiana community where resentment against "Damn Yankees" still runs high. Before long, he gets mixed up in local politics, hoping to purge the town of the crooked politicians who've been squandering land-grant money on themselves. He is also forced to confront town bully Bud (Fred Kohler Jr.) over the affections of pretty heroine Hannah (Charlotte Henry) and to face down a hooded band of night riders. The film deftly blends small-town charm with vivid melodrama, most notably in a spelling-bee sequence which segues into a near-riot. The Hoosier Schoolmaster was one of the last productions from the "old" Monogram outfit before its absorption by Republic Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy, a wealthy socialite pursues a carefree playboy who isn't at all interested in her. After all her regular attention-getting ploys fail, the woman fakes a drowning accident in the hopes that he will save her. She is instead rescued by a brutish sailor whom she begins introducing to her blue-blooded buddies. She bets that she can make the salt socially acceptable. She first gets the man a job in her uncle's brokerage house. Next she begins cleaning him up and making him socially presentable. He goes along with the whole thing until he discovers the truth. The enraged fellow winds up injured in a car wreck. The girl suddenly feels empathy for the poor sap; she also realizes that she really loves him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Poverty Row studio Monogram took a stab at musical production with King Kelly of the U.S.A., a cinematic blunder starring opera baritone Guy Robertson, who plays James "King" Kelly, a theatrical entrepreneur sailing to Europe with his latest show, "Kelly's Affairs of 1934." En route, he falls in love with Catherine (Irene Ware), who, unbeknownst to Kelly, is really Princess Tania of Belgardia. Posing as an efficiency expert, Kelly takes the Belgardian government by storm by saving the local mop industry from being ruined by the new invention of vacuum cleaners. The princess, meanwhile, is forced into an engagement to the elderly Prince Alexis, to whose country Belgardia is indebted. Does Kelly find a way out of this unfortunate predicament? Of course he does. Robertson and company perform "Right Next Door to Love," "There's a Love Song in the Air," and "Believe Me," all by Joe Sanders and Bernard Grossman. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

W.C. Fields plays the Great McGonigle, the manipulative manager of a large 19th century theatrical troupe. Notorious for skipping board bills and forgetting the pay his actors, McGonigle descends on a small town, where he relies on the hospitality of a wealthy widow (Jan Duggan). He secures lodging for his cast and financing for his production by promising the widow a major part in his upcoming production of The Drunkard. The play goes on as schedule, but the widow's part is cut down to one line which she's never permitted to deliver. McGonigle escapes with his hide again, but not before securing the future happiness of his daughter (Judith Allen) so that she won't have to spend the rest of her life one step ahead of the sheriff. The storyline of The Old-Fashioned Way is conveniently shunted aside as W.C. Fields does battle with Baby LeRoy, cons everyone in sight with equanimity, and offers the audience an uninterrupted display of his remarkable juggling skills. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi