Jack Ingram Movies
A WWI veteran who later studied law at the University of Texas, tough-looking Jack Ingram began his long show business career as a minstrel player and later reportedly toured with Mae West. He began turning up playing scruffy henchmen and assorted other B-Western villains in the mid-'30s and was later the featured heavy in Columbia serials. Ingram would go on to appear in a total of 200 Westerns and approximately 50 serials in a career that later included appearances on such television programs as The Cisco Kid and The Lone Ranger. Many of his later films and almost all his television Westerns, including the Roy Rogers and Gene Autry shows, were filmed on Ingram's own 200-acre ranch on Mulholland Drive in the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking Woodland Hills, which he had purchased from Charles Chaplin in 1944 and which remains a wilderness today. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1937
One of the timelier Three Mesquiteers westerns, Gunsmoke Ranch was inspired by the Ohio and Mississippi river floodings of 1937. As usual, the Mesquiteers are Stony Brooke (Robert Livingston), Tucson Smith (Ray "Crash" Corrigan) and Lullaby Joslin (Max Terhune). After rescuing young Marion (Julia Thayer) from the rising flood waters, our three heroes take on a no-good varmint (Kenneth Harlan) who is capitalizing on the disaster by buying up land dirt cheap. Comedy relief is provided by cornpone vaudevillians Oscar and Elmer, who are about as funny as an eviction notice. Actual newsreel footage of the previous years' floods adds a veneer of credibility to Gunsmoke Ranch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Max "Alibi" Terhune, (more)
- 1937
Inheriting the props, costumes and much of the stock footage from Columbia's previous Ken Maynard series, Bob Allen rides tall in the saddle in Rio Grande Ranger. The villains are a band of outlaws who manage to elude the authorities by high-tailing it across the border to Mexico. Sheriff Bob takes on the baddies by posing as an outlaw and joining the gang. His ruse almost works, but he's forced to blow his cover to save the life of heroine Sandra (Iris Meredith). Will this be one picture in which the guys in the black hats come out on top? In all, Bob Allen appeared in six westerns for Columbia, each incorporating the word "Ranger" in the title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Iris Meredith, Paul Sutton, (more)
Actually it's the great-grandson of legendary 19th century do-gooder Zorro who rides in this 12-chapter Republic serial. Villainous modern-day tycoon Marsden (Noah Beery) supervises the activities of a western outlaw gang from the plush confines of his Manhattan skyscraper. It is Marsden's hope to grab control of a new California-to-Yucatan railroad, and there isn't any low to which he will not stoop to get what he wants; he even deploys a modernistic machine gun and an art-deco twin-prop fighter plane. Recalling the heroic exploits of Zorro, a group of beleaguered Californians send for the masked hero's great-grandkid James Vega (John Carroll), only to find out that he's an airheaded playboy, more interested in his golf score than saving humanity. But like his famous ancestor, Vega rises to the occasion, adopting the mask, cape and whip of Zorro to settle Marsden's hash for good. Outside of its usual quota of thrills and spills, Zorro Rides Again is one of the few serials that can boast a theme song ("Zorro rides again -- riding along, singing a song" etc.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Carroll, Helen Christian, (more)
- 1937
The popular B-flick team of Frankie Darro and Kane Richmond star in the slick quickie Headline Crasher. Little Frankie and Big Kane play a pair of roving journalists who investigate a politician (Richard Tucker) up for re-election. When it seems as though the politico is being set up for a fall by yellow journalists, Darro and Richmond try to get to the truth of the matter. The original story for Headline Crasher is credited to Peter B. Kyne, creator of the "Broncho Billy" western stories. The film has all the pace of a cowboy opus, which is helpful in patching up the plot holes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Darro, Kane Richmond, (more)
- 1937
A courageous Texas Ranger leaves his job to mediate a violent, long-standing dispute between his family and that of his sweetheart. When, his investigations reveal that there is a third party of troublemakers involved, he gallops off to stop them and restore the peace. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eleanor Stewart, John Merton, (more)
- 1937
The third of four Fred Scott Westerns produced by C.C. Burr for Spectrum Pictures, Two Gun Troubadour was rather grim for what was ostensibly a true "horse opera," with the stress squarely on "opera. (Scott was a former light opera baritone.) Fred Dean, Sr. (Scott) is murdered and twenty years later his son (also Scott) is still searching for the killer. Returning to the old homestead from the East, Fred, Jr. assumes the identity of Fred Evans, a singing troubadour and would-be cowpuncher. When a young rancher (James "Buddy" Kelly) is found murdered, Fred is accused of being the killer, a mysterious outlaw wearing a disguise. The real culprit, as it turns out, is childhood enemy Bill Barton (John Merton), who is in league with Fred's evil uncle Kirk Dead (Carl Mathews). With the help of old friend Elmer Potts (comedian Harry Harvey) and pretty rancher Helen Bradfield (Claire Rochelle), Fred gets the goods on Barton and Kirk, proving along the way that Kirk was the man who murdered his father. In between all the murders and mayhem, Scott found time to romance Miss Rochelle and sing Cowboy and the Schoolmarm, Ride, Cowboy, Ride and the title song. Little Billy Lenhart (nicknamed "Bull Fiddle") played Scott as a boy and the son of sidekick Harry Harvey, Harry Harvey, Jr., appeared as a young Bill Barton. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Scott, Claire Rochelle, (more)
- 1937
The prolific Jack Natteford wrote this unusual Gene Autry Western -- or, to be accurate, "Eastern" -- which reportedly suffered cuts after censors found it too violent. Gene, as usual, plays Gene Autry, this time the son of a Georgian cattleman (Charles Middleton) waging a war against the areas "turpentiners," harvesters of pine tree sap. Disowned by his father after siding with the turpentiners, Gene takes up with Colonel Millhouse's (Smiley Burnette) traveling Wild West Show. The show returns to Pine Ridge two years later and Gene discovers that a gang of rustlers is now using the turpentiners as a cover for their crimes. While Gene is occupied with the rustlers, the Wild West Show audience grow restless and Millhouse sends in an imposter (Art Mix), who mimes to a recording of Autry's voice. The leader of the rustlers, Len Parker (LeRoy Mason), takes this opportunity to get rid of his enemy and has the imposter killed. The real Gene, meanwhile, finds his father murdered by what appears to be someone connected by the leader of the turpentiners, Bayliss Baynum (Russell Simpson), and when Autry Sr. is likewise found slain, Gene becomes the natural suspect. The turpentiners demand swift justice, but Gene manages to track down the real culprit with the aid of Baynum's daughter, Milly (Betty Bronson), and the Wild West Show performers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1937
An early entry in Republic Pictures' popular "Three Mesqueteers" western series, Wild Horse Rodeo features Robert Livingston who, as Stony Brooke, wants to capture Cyclone, a wild stallion made famous in the magazine illustrations of Alice Harkley (June Martel). Against the wishes of Alice, with whom he is falling in love, and partner Tucson Smith (Ray "Crash" Corrigan), Stony "breaks" the stallion and goes on to win first place at a rodeo operated by nasty Colonel Nye (Walter Miller). The latter wants Cyclone for himself but his attempts at horse rustling are deftly deflected by the third Mesqueteer, Lullaby Joslin (Max Terhune), and his dummy Elmer. Cyclone escapes and Stony goes after him. The colonel, meanwhile, stoops to using an airplane to catch both the wayward stallion and Stony but is defeated in a fiery climax by the Mesqueteers, who now agree with Alice to let Cyclone roam free. Helmed by first-time director George Sherman, Wild Horse Rodeo also marked the debut under contract of Roy Rogers. Billed as Dick Weston, Rogers sings Fleming Allan's "Riding High" and "My Madonna of the Trail". ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max "Alibi" Terhune
In this 20th-century western, hero Gene Autry uses his old-fashioned horse and six-shooter to foil the plans of cattle rustlers who ply their trade via airplanes, refrigerated trucks and shortwave radios. Songs include: "The West Ain't What It Used to Be?", "I Picked up the Trail When I Found You", "Heebie, Jeebie Blues" (sung by Smiley Burnette) and "Defective Detective from Brooklyn" (also by Burnette). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
A typical Gene Autry everything-but-the-kitchen-sink musical Western, The Old Corral featured the spectacle of Autry getting robbed at gunpoint by his future rival, Roy Rogers. Rogers, who was then known as Dick Weston, and his fellow highwaymen (the singing group the Sons of the Pioneers) go about their illegal activities like true gentlemen, of course, refusing to rob female passengers Nora Cecil and Hope Manning. The latter, playing Eleanor Spencer, is wanted by both the authorities and the Chicago mob after witnessing gangster Mike Scarlotti (John Bradford) murder rival Tony Pearl (Buddy Roosevelt). En route to Los Angeles by Greyhound bus, she hooks up with small town saloon owner Martin Simms (Cornelius Keefe) who offers her a job singing in his Turquoise City establishment. Both Simms and Turquoise City sheriff Gene Autry, however, recognize Eleanor as the key witness in the Pearl murder case and the former is quick to notify Scarlotti. Arriving to silence the girl for good, the Chicago mobsters are met by Sheriff Autry, Deputy Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette), and their erstwhile prisoners, the O'Keefe brothers (Rogers, Bob Nolan, and the Sons of the Pioneers, the brothers having taken a break from harmonizing in their cell). The outcome, of course, is a given and the entire gang is soon behind bars. Milburn Morante, a veteran silent screen comedian who was rarely very funny, is actually amusing this time around as a farmer with car troubles, and Lon Chaney Jr. is well cast as Simms' lumbering henchman. Leading lady Hope Manning later signed with Warner Bros., changed her name to Irene Manning, and starred as Fay Templeton opposite James Cagney's George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). Aside from all the aforementioned pleasures, The Old Corral is probably the only chance to see silent screen cowboy star Buddy Roosevelt playing a tuxedo-clad mobster. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
Former pony express riders John Blair (John Wayne) and Larry Adams (Lane Chandler) don't buy the Brooklyn Bridge in this Republic Western, but the two greenhorns instead purchase a dilapidated stage line to a ghost town. While the unscrupulous seller, "Honest Cal" Drake (Douglas Cosgrove), count his loot, John and Larry learn that Crescent City is inhabited by Rocky (Lew Kelly), who claims to be mayor, postmaster, and sheriff, and Dr. William Forsythe (Sam Flint), a fellow victim of the duplicitous Drake. But despite its current condition, Crescent City has rich potential, especially if the newcomers can obtain a $25,000 government mail subsidy, the winner of which will be determined by a stagecoach race between nearby Buchanan City and Sacramento. Winds of the Wasteland was filmed on location in the Sierra Mountains and in the Sacramento Valley. Watch for future Universal star Jon Hall as one of John Wayne's pony express colleagues. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Phyllis Fraser, (more)
Whistling Bullets was one of better Kermit Maynard westerns from the Ambassador Pictures "B"-mill. Based on a story by James Oliver Curwood, the story finds Texas Ranger Larry Graham (Maynard) hot on the trail of an outlaw and his gang. To gain the villains' confidence, Larry poses as an escaped criminal, deliberately gets sent to prison, and befriends the outlaw, hoping that the fellow will lead him to a cache of stolen money. John English, later a mainstay of the Republic "B"-western product., directs, while Harlene Wood co-stars as the heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kermit Maynard, Jack Ingram, (more)
- 1936
Yet another Zorro imitation, this adventure serial starred Robert Livingston as Don Loring, whose father and brother are killed by the evil General Burr (Fred Kohler). Seeking revenge, Loring dons a black cape and mask, calls himself "The Eagle," and goes about bringing Burr and his men to justice. As a daytime cover, the hero assumes the role of a kind, simple-minded church organist, a disguise that manages to fool Burr and his collaborator, the nasty Russian Count Raspinoff (Robert Warwick), for the serial's 12 installments. Guinn "Big Boy" Williams co-starred as Salvation, the leader of a motley gang of outlaws who assist Loring in his quest, while brunette Kay Hughes added much needed feminine touch to the proceedings. Produced for Republic Pictures by genre specialist Nat Levine, the serial was co-directed by former actor Mack V. Wright and Ray Taylor. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
