Jack Ingram Movies

Bob Kane's 1939 Detective Comics superhero The Batman came to the screens in serial form courtesy of Columbia Pictures and producer Rudolph C. Flothow. In time-honored serial fashion, Flothow chose Lewis Wilson for the title role, a relative newcomer, but one with an amazing facial resemblance to the cartoon character. Wilson's athletic ability, however, left a lot to be desired and Douglas Croft, cast as young sidekick Robin, the Boy Wonder, looked too old for his role, especially when doubled by a hairy-legged stunt man. For censorship purposes, the serial Bruce Wayne was not a lone Gotham millionaire crusader but gainfully employed by the Unites States government. Said government is terrorized by evil Dr. Daka (J. Carroll Naish), an emissary from Emperor Hirohito complete with atom-smasher ray guns and a device that turns its wearers into zombies. (The device, placed on the skull of its victim, resembles something from a child's Erector set.) Batman and Robin are aided by lovely Linda Page (Shirley Patterson), whose uncle (Gus Glassmire) becomes one of Dr. Daka's first victims. From the Bat Cave, the three crusaders and Wayne's butler, Alfred (William Austin), venture forth to battle the forces of evil in general and a scenery-chewing Naish in particular -- travelling in a convertible and not the later so familiar batmobile. It takes them 15 chapters and a race through an amusement park to finally destroy the evil Daka and the title of the concluding chapter, "Doom of the Rising Sun," must have brought a ray of hope to a war-weary populace. The Batman was directed by Lambert Hillyer, a veteran who knew something about bats from having previously helmed Dracula's Daughter. The serial was popular enough to merit a sequel, although it would take six more years until Columbia debuted The New Adventures of Batman and Robin (1949). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This late entry in Republic's long-running "Three Mesquiteers" series stars Bob Steele, Tom Tyler and Jimmy Dodd as, respectively, Tucson Smith, Stony Brooke and Lullaby Johnson. This time out, the Mesquiteers try to help young Tim Clay (John James), who's been framed for murder by villains who want to gain possession of Clay's ranch property. While Tim sits helplessly in jail, the bad guys move in, forcing the neighboring ranchers to pay exorbitant prices for Clay's water supply. As usual, the Mesquiteers don't stage a counteroffensive until they've got enough legal evidence to do so, but when they do swing into action, watch out! Not the best of the "Three Mesquiteers" epics, Santa Fe Scouts is also far from the worst. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Billy the Kid, in the person of former swimming champion Larry "Buster" Crabbe, is once again falsely accused of a crime in this low-budget oater from Poverty Row studio PRC. This time, the sheriff of Red Rock accuses the Kid (Karl Hackett) of terrorizing communities on the border to Mexico. Deciding to investigate the matter, Billy and sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) ride into Red Rock, where they stumble across a murdered deputy and a note claiming responsibility signed by "Billy the Kid." Following a couple of mysterious riders to a nearby cabin, Billy is surprised to learn that the leader of a gang of outlaws is a woman named Kate (Maxine Leslie). She agrees to let Billy join the gang provided that he robs the stagecoach. Jealous henchman Dillon (Jack Ingram) attempts to get rid of his new rival by secretly warning the sheriff, but our hero once again eludes the law and is soon holed up in a cabin with Kate. When the girl flatly refuses to abandon her life of crime, Billy warns the sheriff of an upcoming raid on the bank. The town erupts in gunfire and when the dust settles, Kate and her gang are on the run for their lives. In the end, a mortally wounded Kate shoots Dillon to prevent him from killing Billy. Fugitive of the Plains was reissued in 1947 as Raiders of Red Rock. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A town is cleared of crime when a group of cowboys under the direction of Hayden battles an outlaw gang. They also manage to restore the reputation of a friend wrongly accused of murder. ~ All Movie Guide

A would-be Western epic soundly defeated by an almost nonexistent budget, West of Texas was the third of 22 "Texas Rangers" oaters released by Gower Gulch company PRC from 1942-1945 in an attempt to compete with Republic's The Three Mesqueteers and Monogram's "Rough Riders" and "Range Busters." Rangers Tex Wyatt (Dave "Tex" O'Brien) and Jim Steele (James Newill) arrive in Gabe's Crossing, NM, to capture Bent Yeager (Henry Hall), a rancher accused of sabotaging the progress of the railroad. As it turns out, railroad representative Bart Calloway (Robert Barron) and lawyer Conlon (Tom London) have falsified land surveys so it appears that Bent's property is on government land. Happily, the third ranger, Panhandle Perkins (Guy Wilkerson), is working undercover as a member of Calloway's gang and the villains are brought to justice within the allotted 58 minutes. In between chasing the bad guys, O'Brien and Newill warble their own "Whistle a Song," "El Lobo," and "Tired of Rambling." West of Texas was reissued in a 40-minute version by PRC's successor Eagle-Lion in 1947. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In the second of PRC's ramshackle Texas Rangers Westerns, Tex Wyatt (Dave "Tex" O'Brien) is blamed for a murder actually committed by Ransom (Jack Ingram) and Holman (Charles King), a couple of thieves. Tex manages to escape and is reunited with his two ranger pals, Jim Steele (James Newill) and Panhandle Perkins (Guy Wilkerson), both of whom are working undercover as performers in a medicine show, a plot contrivance that allows baritone Newill to join Carl Shrum and His Rhythm Rangers in Shrum's "Ride, Ride Ride" and Tex Coe's "West Winds." All three rangers obtain jobs with Ransom's freight company, the owner luckily failing to recognize Tex. Everything comes out in the open, however, when lovely Martha Hobbs (Janet Shaw) inadvertently reveals that the newcomers are rangers, but the three heroes are saved in the nick of time by the sheriff's posse. As it turns out, Martha's uncle (Michael Vallon) is the real power behind the crimes. As always, Texas Rangers was defeated by the budget constrictions of PRC, a company known to insiders as "pretty rotten crud." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

With Riders of the Rio Grande, Republic's 51-entry "Three Mesquiteers" western series came to an end. Starring as the Mesquiteers on this excursion are Bob Steele as Tucson Smith, Tom Tyler as Stony Brooke and Jimmy Dodd as Lullaby Joslin. It all begins when kindly town banker Pop Owens (Edward Van Sloan) arranges to have himself killed to make up for the financial excesses of his no-good son Tom (Rick Vallin). Pop mistakes our three heroes as the gunmen he's hired for the job, and the boys play along, hoping to dispel Owens' suicidal inclinations and to straighten out the prodigal Tom. Things really get hopping when the genuine "hit men" show up, leading to a no-holds-barred climactic fracas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A young woman and her two buddies team up to run her newly inherited trucking company. In this comedy, the trouble begins when they agree to haul some gambling equipment to Vegas, get caught and tossed into the hoosegow. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Juilliard-educated former opera-singer George Houston once again played vigilante turned champion of justice Tom Cameron, known colloquially as "The Lone Rider," in this low-budget PRC series entry. Cameron comes to the aid of his friend, the sheriff of Big Horn (Dennis Moore), who's having trouble with a bandit (Carl Sepulveda) masquerading as the legendary outlaw Joaquin Murietta. Sepulveda has been hired by a saloon keeper (Glenn Strange) to scare the area's prospectors into selling or abandoning their claims. Leading lady Vicki Lester refuses to sell, and her house is promptly torched. Enter heroic Cameron, who in between warbling such tunes as "I'm the Best Man in the West" and "Down the Moonlit Trail," manages to put a stop to Strange's reign of terror. Al St. John was once again Houston's comic sidekick, Fuzzy Jones, and the Western also featured future singing cowboy Eddie Dean in a bit part. Lester had "appropriated" her screen moniker from Janet Gaynor's character in A Star Is Born (1937). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Roy Rogers champions the cause of Easterner Sylvia Clark (Helen Parrish), who is in danger of losing her father's ranch to crooked land speculators. Roy tries to deal with the villains through legal channel, but they spoil things by resorting to strong-arm tactics. Making our hero's task all the more difficult is that the principal heavy is woman, one Vera Martin (Joan Woodbury)-and just try to catch Roy Rogers punching out a female! Despite stiff competition from the ineluctable Gabby Hayes, the film is slyly stolen by Onslow Stevens as a shifty lawyer. The musical portion of the program is ably handled by Rogers and his old pals, the Sons of the Pioneers (with Bob Nolan). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Here's another entry in PRC's long-running "Billy the Kid" series, again starring Buster Crabbe as Billy Carson and Al St. John as his comic sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones. In this outing, a bandit posing as Billy manages to pin several crimes on Our Hero. Cleverly eluding the law (never mind the film's title), Billy endeavors to track down his impostor and put him behind bars. The plot is resolved by a typical PRC fistfight, which as usual is more energetic than expert. Young Anne Jeffreys, a starlet on the threshold of bigger things, is definitely an improvement over the standard western ingenue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Man from Cheyenne is Roy Rogers, who does his best to squash a gang of cattle rustlers. What Roy doesn't know is that the mastermind behind the gang is a beautiful woman, East Coast socialite Marian (Lynn Carver). Making Marian's job easier is the fact that all the local cattlemen are crazy about her, and have a tendency to tip off the times and locations of their impending cattle drives. But Rogers is not so easily flummoxed-after all, he's a government man. Man From Cheyenne was hailed at the time of its release as the film in which Roy Rogers received his first screen kiss, which was certainly not the case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide