John James Movies

Vigilante Terror was one of the last of the "Wild Bill" Elliot westerns for Columbia. This time, Elliot comes to rescue an imperiled storekeeper. A band of masked vigilantes is laying waste to the countryside, and the storekeeper is blamed. Wild Bill saves the day by going undercover -- or under hood, as it were. Lewis Collins directed ably, as he did on most of the valedictory entries in the Wild Bill Elliot series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In one of his better later Westerns, singing cowboy Jimmy Wakely comes to the aid of a reformed outlaw and his wayward son. Wrongfully accused of a shooting, the outlaw, Hank Cardigan (Lee Phelps), is rescued by Jimmy, who manages to obtain a job for his new friend at the local express office. But Cardigan's unruly son, Tom (John James), is determined to repeat his father's mistakes -- until, that is, Jimmy and sidekick Cannonball (Dub Taylor) convince him that crime does not pay. Wakely and an unbilled Ray Whitley perform "I Have Looked the Whole World Over" and Foy Willing's "Rose of Santa Fe." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this western a cowboy and his gang must take on a band of bad-to-the-bone female outlaws. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Hired to catch a killer horse named Midnight, Jimmy Wakely and sidekick Cannonball (Dub Taylor) get themselves in trouble with a couple of confidence artists, Monica (Christine Larson) and Brent (Leonard Penn). The latter accidentally kills Jimmy's employer, horse breeder Tom Chadwick (Tom Chatterton), and blames Midnight, who is about to race Monica's stallion Ace High. The dead man's daughter, Laura (Kay Morley), at first believes Midnight to be guilty, but is finally persuaded otherwise by Jimmy, who goes after the crooks and their young boss, Lannigan (John James). When not breaking wild horses or engaging in fisticuffs, Jimmy Wakely performs his own and Oliver Drake's "Rose of the Prairie," along with "Dear Okie," by Rudy Sooter and Doye O'Dell, and "Headin' for Home," by Isham Jones. Outlaw Brand also features hillbilly musicians Ray Whitley (who, not coincidentally, was also Wakely's manager), Dick Reinhart, Jack Rivers, and Louis Armstrong. The latter should, of course, not be confused with the jazz legend of the same name. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Command Decision is a stagebound but consummately acted adaptation of William Wister Haines' Broadway play. Clark Gable, starring in the role essayed on Broadway by Paul Kelly, plays Air Force Brigadier General "Casey" Dennis. With time at a premium, Dennis sends waves of bomber squadrons into Germany to knock out the enemy's jet plane factories. Though Dennis seems utterly unconcerned about the fate of his pilots (even his superior officer Walter Pidgeon is appalled by the heavy losses), the audience knows that his duty is exacting a severe emotional toll on him. Thanks to pressure from a misguided US senator, "butcher" Dennis is replaced by the supposedly more humane Brian Donlevy. But Donlevy realizes that Gable's decisions were the correct ones, and he vows to continue his predecessor's "suicide missions". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Regular "Red Ryder" series villain Roy Barcroft took a well-earned breather in Homesteaders of Paradise Canyon. The equally disagreeable Gene Stutenroth (aka Gene Roth proved a fair enough substitute, however, as Bill Hume, a homesteader so disgusted over the fact that the government land he was promised for free instead goes for two dollars per acre that he hooks up with villainous newspaper publisher A.C. Blaine (Milt Kibbee). Having guided the homesteaders to Paradise Valley in the first place, Red Ryder (Allan Lane) manages to persuade his charges to remain despite the exorbitant price of land, much to the chagrin of Blaine and his cohort Langley (Emmett Vogan), who do their level best trying to scare the settlers away from the potentially lucrative valley. When Red goes undercover as a driver for Blaine's stagecoach line, young settler Steve Dill (John James) accuses him of treason and incites the settlers against him. It all comes to a showdown at the Hume ranch, where Bill's brother Rufe Mauritz Hugo) is shot before he can confess to his brother's treachery. Bill manages to get away, but Red mounts Thunder and tracks him down. Implicating his bosses Blaine and Langley, Bill is carted off to jail. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Cowboy star Allan "Rocky" Lane teams with a sagebrush favorite of yore, Jack Holt, in Republic's The Wild Frontier. In an unusual move, Holt is cast as the villain, the man responsible for the murder of Lane's sheriff father. Taking over from his day, Lane vows to locate the killer-who, unbeknownst to him of course, is above-suspicion solid citizen Holt. Having recently completed his duties in Republic's Red Ryder series, Allan Lane used Wild Frontier as a springboard for a series in which he appeared under his own name. Though popular with the public, the egotistical star did nothing to ingratiate himself to his coworkers, thus the "Rocky Lane" series was relatively short-lived. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This bargain-basement sequel is unusual in that it completely contradicts the conclusions drawn by its predecessor, Bela Lugosi's 1941 horror film The Devil Bat. It all begins with Nina, the daughter of the notorious Dr. Paul Carruthers, the crazed, vengeful scientist who allegedly created a species of giant killer bats that would attack and kill anyone wearing a certain scent. Nina has been plagued with terrifying recurring nightmares featuring giant bats. Thinking she, like her father, may have more than a few in her belfry, Nina goes to see a psychiatrist who uses her psychosis for his own evil ends by framing her for the murder of his wife. Fortunately, by the story's end she not only proves her own innocence, she also clears her father's name and proves that he was really just misunderstood. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Her Favorite Patient is the TV title for Bedside Manner, an improbable comedy directed by future master of "realism" Andrew L. Stone. Ruth Hussey plays a big-city doctor who travels to a small town to assist her surgeon uncle (Charlie Ruggles). The townsfolk resist the notion of a female physician, but she wins them over by proving to be an expert on all things medical. Test pilot John Carroll, love-struck by Ms. Hussey, fakes a head injury so that he can remain at her side. Despite her high I.Q., Hussey can't see through Carroll's ruse...or perhaps she prefers not to. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a young man infiltrates a vicious gang of bank robbers in order to capture his father's killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

As was often the case, singing-cowboy star Jimmy Wakely wrote the title song to The Lonesome Trail, in which he also warbled On the Strings of My Lonesome Guitar (co-written with Smiley Burnette), Goodbye, Good Luck, My Darlin' (co-written with producer-director Oliver Drake), and his take on the traditional Buffalo Gals (Won't You Come Out Tonight?). If that wasn't enough, comic sidekick Lee "Lasses" White performed his own Mine, All Mine and gospel singer Arthur Smith and The Sunshine Girls joined in a chorus of When You See a Minstrel Show. With all that warbling going on, it's a wonder that screenwriter Louise Rousseau found enough time to squeeze in a standard Western plot about a couple of ranchers (Wakely and John James) attempting to stop a crooked businessman (Zon Murray) from selling worthless stock in Cherokee, a ghost town inhabited only by "Lasses" White. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This mammoth musical is at base the story of two sailors on leave in Hollywood. Brash Joseph Brady (Gene Kelly) has promised his shy pal Clarence Doolittle (Frank Sinatra) that he will introduce Clarence to all the glamorous movie starlets whom he allegedly knows so well. Actually, the only actress whom Joseph meets is bit player Susan Abbott (Kathryn Grayson). He arranges for the golden-throated Susan to be auditioned by musician José Iturbi, but when she seems to want to return the favor romantically, Brady tries to foist the girl off on Clarence. But Clarence only has eyes for a fellow Brooklynite (Pamela Britton). Also involved in the plot machinations is runaway orphan Donald Martin (Dean Stockwell). Featuring Kelly dancing with such partners as a cartoon mouse (courtesy of MGM's house animators Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera), Anchors Aweigh was a huge hit in 1945, assuring audiences future Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra teamings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide