Earl Hodgins Movies

Produced on a reasonably lavish scale by the usually parsimonious Mascot Pictures, Harmony Lane was the first of three filmed biographies of 19th-century songwriter Stephen Foster (the others were Fox's Swanee River [1939] and 1952's I Dream of Jeannie, produced by Mascot's successor, Republic Pictures). Douglass Montgomery stars as Foster, with Evelyn Venable and Adrienne Ames as the women in his life and William Frawley as minstrel impresario E.P. Christy (the part played by Al Jolson in Swanee River). The film follows Foster from his early attempts to study for the ministry to his first flush of success in the years just prior to the Civil War, ending with his death in drunken poverty in New York. Just what was it that so attracted Hollywood to this melancholy tale? Perhaps it was the fact that Stephen Foster's songs were in the Public Domain, thereby allowing producers to sidestep expensive copyright and licensing fees. Harmony Lane was written and directed by Joseph Santley, a prolific if uninspired helmsman of early-talkie musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paradise Canyon is one of the most action-packed entries in John Wayne's "Lone Star" series. On the trail of a counterfeiting gang, undercover agent John Wyatt (Wayne) joins the traveling medicine show of Doc Carter (Earl Hodgins). For a while, it looks as though Doc is the leader of the gang, but when he and his daughter, Linda (Marion Burns), are kidnapped by the real villain, Wyatt realizes he's been riding the wrong trail. The last-minute rescue is almost as thrilling as the earlier scene in which Wyatt takes a high dive off a steep cliff into a river. Ace stuntmen Reed Howes and Yakima Canutt are prominent among the supporting players. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although slow-moving at times, Aces and Eights is nevertheless a fine little Western and certainly the best of the ten Tim McCoy would make for low-budget (and short-lived) Puritan Pictures. McCoy plays the legendary Wild Bill Hickock in a prologue that depicts how Wild Bill is assassinated during a poker game in which he holds two pair, aces and eights, from that day forward known in the West as the "death hand." Gambler gentleman Tim Madigan (also McCoy) is then introduced as Hickock's successor. After witnessing Madigan accusing a notorious cardshark (John Merton) of cheating, young José Hernandez (Rex Lease), a victim of the crook, pulls his gun and the gambler bites the dust. Madison is accused of the killing and quickly leaves Nevada for California, hotly pursued by the town marshal (Earle Hodgins). En route Tim is reacquainted with José, whose ancestral hacienda is about to be usurped by Ace Morgan (Wheeler Oakman), a notorious gambler in league with nasty saloon proprietor Amos Harden (J. Frank Glendon). To restore the hacienda to José's kind-hearted father (Joseph W. Girard), Tim engages in a high stakes game of poker and wins the Harden saloon. Along the way, Madigan discovers that it was Ace Morgan who killed the gambler back in Nevada and not José. McCoy, who earned a generous 4,000 dollars per picture, delivers his usual solid performance in Aces and Eights, which also benefits by the presence of Hodgins, as the gum-chewing marshal, and Charles Stevens, as a comic opera Mexican captain of police. McCoy filmed three additional Westerns for Puritan before moving on to Victory Pictures. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Guns and Guitars could have served as the title of any Gene Autry picture released in 1937. In this one, medicine-show entertainer Gene runs afoul of a crooked town boss who moonlights as an outlaw. The villain murders the local sheriff and pins the blame on poor Gene. With the help of comical sidekick Smiley Burnette, our hero breaks out of jail to clear his name. Though Guns and Guitars contains more action than usual for an Gene Autry picture, it pales in comparison to such superior 1937 Autry vehicles as Rootin' Tootin Rhythm and Boots and Saddles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ghost Town Gold was the second entry in Republic's long-running "Three Mesquiteers" western series. Ray "Crash" Corrigan and Robert Livingston return as Tucson Smith and Stony Brooke, while Max Terhune replaces Sid Saylor as Lullaby Joslin. Almost immediately, comic ventriloquist Terhune established a rapport with his two co-stars, though audiences could have done with a lot less of his garrulous dummy Elmer. As for the plot, our three heroes try to retrieve some stolen money before an innocent banker is blamed for the theft. Adding spice to the quest is the fact that the banker has a pretty daughter (Kay Hughes). Other highlights include a typical Republic saloon-brawl scene, in which Tucson cleans the clock of head-villain Frank S. Hagney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gene Autry leaves the West behind (at least temporarily) in Roundup Time in Texas. Hired to deliver a herd of horses to his diamond-mining brother, Autry and his sidekick Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) journey all the way to Africa. Hoping to get rid of the Autry boys and move in on the diamonds themselves, the villains frame Autry on a smuggling and murder charge. It's up to heroine Gwen (Maxine Doyle), the daughter of the murder victim, to clear Gene and place the blame where it belongs. Musical support is provided by the Five Cabin Kids, a quintet of talented black youngsters who previously appeared with Our Gang and W.C. Fields. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Seasoned newsreel cameraman Bob Adams (John Wayne) is assigned to cover the rebellion in the fictional Arab country of Samarai. Samari is chock full of tribal unrest, and in order for Adams (Wayne) to get footage of rebel leader El Kadar (Charles Brokaw), he must fight his way through a neverending stream of arms smugglers, agents, throat-cutting tribesmen, and a love affair with Pamela (Gwen Gaze), the beautiful daughter of a Colonel. Eventually, Adams gets his pictures, but not before he manages to save his brother Don (James Bush) and all of the British troops stationed in Samari. I Cover the War was directed by Trem Carr and also features actors Don Barclay, Pat Somerset, and Sam Harris. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Produced by the Halperin Brothers, the folks responsible for the early-talkie horror classic White Zombie, Nation Aflame is one of several 1930s exposés of such hate groups as the KKK, the Silver Shirts and the Black Legion. The bigoted aggregation depicted in this film, a fictional group called the Avenging Angels, is shown to be just another racket, controlled by big-city mobsters for their own financial gain. The principal villain is gangster Sandino (Noel Madison), who has the state's governor (Harry Holman) in his pocket, along with several other political leaders. When the governor rebels against his corrupt colleagues, Sandino orders his assassination, prompting the governor's daughter Wynne (Norma Trelvar) to team with her former fiance, crusading DA Burtis (Roger Williams) to arrange a frame to discredit Sandino and his ilk. She lures the crooks into a drunken orgy, whereupon Burtis' lieutenants break down the doors and arrest everyone in the joint. The DA destroys the Avenging Angels and their hooligans once and for all, which proves immensely beneficial to his career. Alas, poor Wynne cannot share the fruits of his victory -- she is, after all, a "fallen woman" (remember that this was 1937, not 1997!) Incredibly, Nation Aflame was ostensibly based on a story by Thomas Dixon, the virulently racist author of such pro-KKK, anti-black literature as The Clansman and The Leopard's Spots; if the film was indeed a faithful adaptation of a Dixon original, it would have represented a complete 180-degree shift in his own political beliefs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "Hopalong Cassidy" series closed out 1937 with its 14th entry, Texas Trail. No surprises in the cast: William Boyd is Hoppy,George "Gabby" Hayes is Windy, and Russell Hayden is Lucky. This time the story takes place during the time of the Spanish American war, when the U.S. army was rounding up as many horses as possible. Hoppy and his pals are hired to deliver an equestrian shipment to the government, a task made difficult by a vicious gang of horse thieves. When things get too hot for our heroes, the Cavalry comes riding to the rescue (a particularly well-photographed sequence, courtesy of the talented Russell Harlan). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gene Autry is the star (but not the title character) of Oh, Susanna!, a Republic musical western. What plot there is consists of Autry running afoul of masked robbers. Thrown from a speeding train, Autry is rescued by comedy relief Smiley Burnette and grizzled Earle Hodgins. Autry takes a few more singing breaks, then brings the robbers to justice. A 1951 William Elliott western, also titled Oh, Susanna! is not a remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Buck Jones both produced and directed (with action expert B. Reeves Eason) this somewhat inconsistent Western about a ranger sent to the lawless town of Tombstone to bodyguard the local judge. The town is run by a mystery man known as "Twin Gun," whose henchmen, Clanton (Alexander Cross) and Smith (Chuck Morrison), actually manage to abduct the weak Judge Hart (Carl Stockdale), lest their compatriot Peters (Tom Forman) should go down for yet another stagecoach holdup. Working with Doc (Harvey Clark), an undercover agent pretending to be the town drunk, Alamo Bowie (Jones) is able to reveal the identity of "Twin Gun," who, not too surprisingly, turns out to be a pillar of society. Caving in, apparently, to the burgeoning popularity of singing westerns, Jones actually hums a few bars of a campfire song, while a bleach-blonde saloon floozy, Mary Carney, performs the ever-popular "La Cucaracha". ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Kermit Maynard, the less-popular but arguably more talented brother of cowboy star Ken Maynard, heads the cast of Roaring Six Guns. Maynard plays Buck Sinclair, whose romance with heroine Beth (Mary Hayes) is hampered by the activities of her bombastic father (Sam Flint). Beth's dad covets a patch of government range land -- the same patch also coveted by Buck. The two men continue feuding until Buck wins Daddy's undying friendship by proving that the old man's business partner (John Merton) is a no-account crook. Budd Buster raises a few laughs (very few) as Maynard's comical sidekick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide