Bob Kortman Movies

24 Hours is all it takes for tippling married man Jim Towner (Clive Brook) to go from social respectability to convict stripes. Upset that his wife Fanny (Kay Francis) has been unfaithful, the wealthy Jim weaves drunkenly from one nightclub to another. He falls for a cabaret performer (Miriam Hopkins) and begins an affair. The girl is killed by her gangster boyfriend (Regis Toomey), but Jim is arrested for the crime. Released from prison, the chastened Jim returns to his wife, who has vowed to remain loyal to her husband. 24 Hours was based on a novel by Louis Bromfield. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Billy Winder directed and co-wrote this bitterly satiric comedy-drama which turns a jaundiced eye towards both the news media and its consumers. Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas) is a talented but short-tempered reporter whose fondness for booze and unwillingness to bow to authority has cost him jobs at some of America's most prestigious newspapers. When Tatum's car breaks down in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Tatum persuades the editor of the local paper (Porter Hall) to give him a job until he can make enough to get his jalopy running and find a story that will put him back in the good graces of the Big City journals. After a year in Albuquerque, Tatum begins to wonder if a big scoop will ever cross his path, but when he's sent to Los Barios to cover the annual rattlesnake hunt, he lucks into a great human interest story -- Leo Minosa (Richard Benedict), who runs a local diner, motel and curio emporium, is caught in an abandoned mine shaft after a rockslide, which some superstitious locals attribute to an Indian curse. Tatum writes up the story with all the flourish he can muster, and portrays Leo's wife Lorraine (Jan Sterling) as a devoted spouse fearful for her husband's life, even though she can barely stand Leo and is planning to leave him. Tatum's story is picked up by the wire services and he makes friends with local sheriff Kretzer (Ray Teal) to insure he has an inside line on updates on Leo's rescue. When Tatum learns that Leo can be freed in a mere twelve hours, he persuades Kretzer and his men to adopt another rescue method that will take several days, which will generate more copy for Tatum, more press attention for Ketzer's re-election campaign, and more business for Lorraine's diner. Soon Los Barios is the biggest tourist attraction in the state, but as the media circus mounts, Leo begins to fall seriously ill. Also released as The Big Carnival, Ace In The Hole was a major box-office disappointment upon its original release in 1951, even though it was sandwiched between two of Wilder's biggest hits, Sunset Boulevard and Stalag 17. Despite never being released in home video until 2007, Ace In The Hole's bitter tone earned it an enthusiastic cult following, and it's now regarded as one of Wilder's best films of the Fifties. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This tale of the high seas -- based on the novel by Ben Ames Williams -- is as much character study as it is adventure. It involves the rivalry between the two Shore brothers, Mark (Lon Chaney) and Joel (Malcolm McGregor). Mark is the captain of a whaling ship and he looks down on Joel, who has never gone to sea. But when Mark's ship arrives in port sans its captain, Joel takes over the command. His new bride, Priscilla (Billie Dove), insists on coming along and they head for the South Seas, where Mark was last seen. Because he's so green, the crew ridicule Joel, but he eventually proves he is a capable and manly seaman. He finds Mark not far from where he was lost, but after seeing how well his younger brother has done he becomes jealous. He starts a mutiny when Joel refuses to change his course to search for some treasure. But brotherly love wins out when Joel's life is threatened, and Mark sacrifices his own life to save him. This picture was released only a few months before Lon Chaney achieved superstardom with his role as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

A drifter known only as "The Stranger (Francis Ford) promises a supposedly dying man, Ned Hadley (Harry Smith), to assume his identity and care for the family back home. Fifteen year's passes with "The Stranger" successfully fooling the blinded Hadley, Sr. and Ned's lovely sister Nell (Elvira Weil). The nasty ranch foreman, Sly Stevens (Robert Kortman), is on to him, however, and accuses "The Stranger" of having murdered the real Ned Hadley. Everything turns out fine when Ned suddenly returns from "the grave." No longer her "brother," "The Stranger" is free to marry Nell. One of Universal's top action stars of the 'teens, Francis Ford saw his career decline drastically in the 1920s. Another Man's Boots was one of Ford's final hurrahs as a western lead, but his younger brother, legendary director John Ford, kept him steadily employed in films until his death in 1953. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A courageous cowboy dons the guise of a Texas Ranger to keep murderous cattle rustlers from harming a beautiful young woman, the daughter of the dead lawman whose clothes he wears. This western follows his adventures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A popular comedy duo towards the end of the silent era, Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatten once again join forces for this rollicking comedy concerning a pair of nitwits who unwittingly become embroiled in an age old feud between two mountain families. When snake-oil salesmen Pete (Beery) and Gus (Hatten) accidentally stumble directly into the battleground of the warring Hicks and Beagle clans, it appears as if our bumbling heroes may have hocked their last bottle of the elixir. Though Pete continually interrupts Gus in his attempts to perform his latest magic trick, Gus eventually gets his moment in the spotlight to predictably disastrous results. Will the feud finally be resolved by the prospect of an impending marriage between members of the warring clans, or Pete and Gus' lame brained antics simply serve to add more fuel to the fire? ~ All Movie Guide

Black Hills Express gets off to a powerful start, as hero Lon Walker (Don "Red" Barry) and his sidekick Deadeye (Wally Vernon) pick through the bloody remains of a stagecoach holdup-massacre. Vowing to catch the varmints responsible, Walker is impeded by a crooked sheriff (Jack Rockwell) and a crookeder banker (George Lewis). But justice triumphs, with some help from Walker's fists and six-guns. Ariel Heath, a promising ingenue who disappeared from pictures after a handful of films, is the heroine. One of the plusses of Black Hills Express is that it affords comedy-relief Wally Vernon an opportunity for some convincing dramatics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) discovers that he may be an heir to a ranch in this ho-hum entry in PRC's Billy Carson Western series. But as Fuzz and Billy (Larry "Buster" Crabbe) soon learn the hard way, other parties arrive to claim the inheritance, including pretty Helen Stockton (Lorraine Miller), the dead man's niece. Merritt (Charles King), who is hoping to grab the loot himself, has Helen kidnapped and substituted with a tough-looking underling, Roxie (Marilyn Gladstone), but Billy and Fuzzy are right there to rescue the damsel-in-distress. As it turns out, Fuzzy is only the late rancher's 35th cousin and his inheritance consists of exactly one dollar and a bundle of unpaid bills. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Also known as Boss of Rawhide, this "Texas Rangers" western top-bills Dave O'Brien, James Newill, and Guy Wilkerson. This time, the three Rangers are called upon to solve a series of rangeland murders. The victims were all ranchers, and it looks as though the same gang was responsible for all the killings. Our heroes suspect that the gang leader is a "respectable" citizen-but who is it? Pepping up the proceedings (or slowing them down, depending upon one's point of view) are a couple of songs, adequately warbled by the stars. The leading lady is Nell O'Day, an accomplished horsewoman who should have had a western series of her own. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On his way to claim an inheritance, Tom, aka Cuthbert Chauncey Dale (Buck Jones), and his pal "Swede" (John Oscar) witness a stagecoach hold-up. The lone gunman escapes but leaves the loot behind and Chauncey and "Swede" soon find themselves arrested for the crime. They manage to escape, however, and later befriends the gunman, Starrett (Wallace MacDonald), whom Tom invites to work on his inherited ranch. Along with a dilapidated ranch house, the property also contains a strip of land separating the wealthy Preston spread from an especially rich pasture. After quarreling with supercilious Lou Preston (Ethel Kenyon), Tom chases her off his property, but Joe Moore (Albert J. Smith), the Preston foreman who is in love with Lou, mistakes the scene for a lovers' tiff. When Tom mortgages his ranch in order to buy cattle, Moore has his buddy Bill Saunders (Robert Kortman) "sell" him cattle stolen from the Preston herd. Believing the newcomer to be a common rustler, an angry Lou gives Tom 24 hours to leave or else! Just then, Sheriff Mac (Philo McCullough arrives to arrest Tom for the stagecoach robbery. Everything is ironed out, however, when a witness to the robbery identifies Starrett, who is killed in a gunfight with Moore. A recalcitrant Lou apologizes to Tom and they embrace. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This second and final "Bulldog Drummond" film to star Ronald Colman, finds the famed sleuth in the midst of a sinister plan orchestrated by Warner Oland. Damsel in distress Loretta Young reports that her wealthy and influential uncle is missing, but all those concerned insist that the uncle never existed, and that Young is out of her mind. Drummond suspects that she's telling the truth, and that the uncle's disappearance is tied into political intrigue of some sort or other. Before the rousing climax, Drummond, the heroine, and Drummond's pal Algy (Charles Butterworth) are repeatedly kidnapped, imprisoned, and threatened with certain death. Counterpointing the film's plot twists (a bit too convoluted to relate in full here) is a comic subplot involving the continually interrupted honeymoon of Algy and his frustrated bride (Una Merkel). Unfortunately, Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back is currently unavailable on television or on videocassette. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Don "Red" Barry plays Lt. "California Joe" Weldon in this Civil War-era western. Joe is a Union undercover agent, whose job it is to stem the activities of Southern sympathizers. It turns out that the rebels aren't villainous, merely misled. The picture's real heavy is a Quantrill type who intends to play one side against the other and then set up his own personal empire. Like most Don Barry vehicles of this era, California Joe benefits from the comic expertise of Wally Vernon. The simpering cuteness of juvenile actress Twinkle Watts, however, is a decided detriment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Never one to hide his talent under a bushel basket, director Rouben Mamoulien proudly proclaimed that, while there were ten killings in his 1931 gangster drama City Streets, the audience never sees any of them. This was not the only innovation in this fascinating early talkie, in which straight-arrow movie hero Gary Cooper is cast as a racketeer known only as The Kid. He has chosen a life of crime out of love for Nan (Sylvia Sidney), the daughter of mob henchman Pop Cooley (Guy Kibbee). Eventually railroaded into prison by her crooked cohorts, Nan implores The Kid to give up the rackets, but he refuses. Things go downhill very rapidly after that, culminating with The Kid and Nan being taken "for a ride" by rival thugs. Cast in a role originally intended for Clara Bow, Sylvia Sidney does a magnificent job and was soon typecast as a downtrodden Depression victim, born with two strikes against her. Conversely, Gary Cooper never again played anything quite like "The Kid." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide