James H. Harrison Movies

Judy Garland was originally slated to star in MGM's film version of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun, but she was forced to pull out of the production due to illness (recently discovered out-takes reveal a gaunt, dazed Garland, obviously incapable of completing her duties). She was replaced by Betty Hutton who, once she overcame the resentment of her co-workers, turned in an excellent performance--perhaps the best of her career. Hutton is of course cast as legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley, who ascends from dirty-faced backwoods gamin to the uppermost rungs of international stardom. Her mentor is Buffalo Bill, played by Louis Calhern (like Hutton, Calhern was a last-minute replacement: the original Buffalo Bill, Frank Morgan, died before production began). Annie's great rival is arrogant marksman Frank Butler (Howard Keel) with whom she eventually falls in love. She goes so far as to lose an important shooting match to prove her affection--a scene that hardly strikes a blow for feminism, but this is, after all, a 1950 film. Of the stellar supporting cast, J. Carroll Naish stands out as Sitting Bull, whose shrewd business acumen is good for several laughs. Virtually all the Irving Berlin tunes were retained from the Broadway version, including "Doin' What Comes Naturally", "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun", "Anything You Can Do", "The Girl That I Marry", "My Defenses are Down", "They Say It's Wonderful" and the rousing "There's No Business Like Show Business", which was later tantalizingly excerpted in MGM's pastiche feature That's Entertainment II. Alas, due to a complicated legal tangle involving the estates of Irving Berlin and librettists Herbert Fields and Dorothy Fields, Annie Get Your Gun hasn't been shown on television in years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

By the time Law of the West came out in 1949, Monogram's Johnny Mack Brown westerns were beginning to all look alike. Here as elsewhere, Brown plays a marshal who comes to the rescue of the Downtrodden. This time, it's a group of ranchers who are being victimized by a crooked real estate agent. One novel twist finds Brown's comic sidekick Max Terhune coming to the rescue by utilizing his skills as a ventriloquist. Bill Kennedy is the villain, Gerry Patterson the heroine, and western stalwarts Marshall Reed, Kenne Duncan and Bud Osborne go through their usual bad-guy motions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hypnotism and mind control take center stage in this unusual latter-day "Hopalong Cassidy" series entry produced by its star, William Boyd. Having delivered a herd of cattle for the Cattlemen's Association, Hoppy (Boyd) and California (Andy Clyde) are confronted by a strangely moody Lucky Jenkins (Rand Brooks), who apparently owes money to a crooked gambler, Speed Blaney (James H. Harrison). At first, Hoppy dismisses the situation as a young man's folly but when both Lucky and the gold payment for the cattle vanish into thin air, our hero begins to suspect foul play. But has the hitherto upstanding Lucky turned thief? That question may be best answered by Doc Richards (Earle Hodgins), a typically flamboyant snake oil salesman with a dark side, and his pretty niece Rene (Virginia Belmont). Like most of the "Hopalong Cassidy" Westerns, Silent Conflict was partially filmed on location at Lone Pine. Leading lady Virginia Belmont later enjoyed a brief career in Italian films. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide