Rodney Hildebrand Movies

The Lonely Trail, directed by Joseph Kane, stars John Wayne as veteran Union officer John Ashley. Ashley (Wayne), upon his return to his hometown in Texas, finds his presence unwanted by his former neighbors, who have all sided with the Confederacy. Law and order is being maintained by the smooth-talking Benedict Holden's (Cy Kendall) armed troopers. Though initially duped by the seedy northerner, Ashley realizes that Holden (Kendall) is merely a carpetbagger who, without the knowledge of the governor, is killing, stealing, and taxing the local ranchers out of their property under the pretense of state authority. In an attempt to thwart Holden's continuous betrayal of the Texas citizens, Ashley himself enlists in Holden's troops. The Lonely Trail also features actors Sam Flint, Bob Kortman, and actress Anne Rutherford. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

In perhaps the most tranquil B-Western of the 1930s, Buck Jones, who also produced, plays the tough but goodhearted proprietor of the Bonanza, the only gambling establishment in otherwise God-fearing Silver Creek. Noel Francis, who used to play blonde schemers in Warner Bros. gangster films, earns second billing as the casino's equally goodhearted chanteuse. Surprisingly, the glamorous Miss Francis is not paired off with Jones, but has to settle for country pumpkin Grady Sutton, of all people. In fact, the hero must wait no less than 51 minutes before he is finally provided a few romantic moments with Peggy Campbell, who arrives just in time to warble "Tonight May Never Come Again" to an enraptured Jones. The latter does very little of anything in this film, except prevent a couple of gamblers (Rodney Hildebrand and Harry Semels) from robbing the casino's safe, proving himself worthy in the eyes of Pastor Timothy Tucker (Niles Welch) and his girlfriend Martha (Marion Shilling) along the way. Restored by Universal/MCA in 2000, Stone of Silver Creek has no action to speak of, but is saved from the doldrums by good performances from Jones, the unfairly forgotten Noel Francis, and the always watchable Grady Sutton, who gets the top-billed girl for the first and only time in his long career. Unlike most Westerns of the day, Stone of Silver Creek was produced entirely on the Universal back lot. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The first cinematic teaming of horror greats Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi is a bizarre, haunting, and relentlessly eerie film that was surprisingly morbid and perverse for its time. Peter (David Manners) and Joan Allison (Julie Bishop) are honeymooning in Budapest when they meet mysterious scientist Dr. Vitus Verdegast (Lugosi) aboard a train. When the trio's bus from the train station gets into an accident, the young couple accompanies Verdegast to the castle of the spectral Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff), an architect and the leader of a Satanic cult. Poelzig's treachery in World War I caused the deaths of thousands of his and Verdegast's countrymen, as well as Verdegast's own internment as a prisoner of war. While Verdegast was detained, Poelzig married first his wife, who later died, then his daughter. Now Verdegast has come back for retribution, and the honeymooners are trapped in the two men's horrifying battle of wits. Corpses preserved in glass cases, frightening Satanic rituals, and a climactic confrontation in which one of the characters is skinned alive add to the film's pervasive sense of evil and doom, along with the stark black-and-white photography by John Mescall that makes Poelzig's futuristic mountaintop mansion even more disturbing. Karloff and Lugosi are both excellent, with Lugosi doing a rare turn as a good guy, albeit one who has gone off the rails. Having little to do with the Edgar Allan Poe story of the same name, The Black Cat has grown in stature over the years and is now widely regarded as the masterpiece of director Edgar G. Ulmer and one of the finest horror films ever made. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

Technically, Mother Machree was director John Ford's first sound film -- even though the sound was limited to a Fox Movietone musical score and sound-effects track. The story begins in a tiny Irish village at the turn of the century. Having lost her husband to a lightning storm, Ellen McHugh (Belle Bennett) vows to take her son Brian (Phillipe de Lacey) away from Ireland and bring him up in America. Upon her arrival in the States, Ellen is unable to secure a job, forcing her to accept employment as a fabricated "freak" with the carnival side show managed by rowdy Terrence O'Dowd (Victor McLaglen) Her meager earnings are hardly enough to finance her son's education, so Ellen tearfully allows the wealthy principal of the school to legally adopt her boy. As the years pass, Brian grows into manhood believing that his mother is dead. Now a lawyer (and now played by Neil Hamilton), Brian is unaware that his mother is working as a housekeeper in a ritzy 5th Avenue household. He falls in love with Rachel Van Studdiford (Eulalie Jensen), the girl whom Ellen has raised from infancy. Upon being introduced to Ellen's beloved "nanny," Brian is at last reunited with his mother -- just seconds before he is called away to serve in WWI. Unfortunately, Mother Machree, along with most of John Ford's silent films, apparently no longer exists. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi