Paul Marion Movies

While John Ford and Howard Hawks received all the critical plaudits, Lesley Selander quietly went about his business directing some of the best westerns of the 1950s. In Selander's Shotgun, deputy sheriff Clay (Sterling Hayden) embarks upon a long, vengeful journey to track down Thompson (Guy Prescott), the man responsible for his boss' murder. Packing a sawed-off, double-barrelled shotgun for this purpose, Clay also carries a rifle and sixgun for such "lesser" threats as marauding Indians. Rescuing half-breed Abby (Yvonne de Carlo) from certain death, Clay takes her along on his manhunt, and later the two travellers are joined by bounty hunter Reb (Zachary Scott), who intends to get to Thompson first to collect the reward on the fugitive's head. Naturally, a bitter romantic triangle arises involving Clay, Abby and Reb, but this is briefly set aside when Thompson is finally cornered. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A long-awaited sequel to Columbia Pictures' popular The Phantom (1943), this film was produced by legendary Hollywood cheapskate Sam Katzman. Katzman refused to pay the owners of the character, King Features, their royalty demands, thus the name change to "Captain Africa." The 1943 Phantom still appeared in this latter-day serial, however, via a vast amount of stock footage. One could actually argue that Tom Tyler, who had starred as the original "Phantom," also starred in the sequel and not John Hart, credited with the role of "Captain Africa." Hart did not resemble Tyler at all but that was of little consequence to Katzman, a producer who never met a corner he wouldn't cut. Captain Africa comes to the aid of an Arabian potentate (Paul Marion) whose prime minister has been kidnapped. There is a beautiful princess (June Howard), a young sidekick (Rick Vallin), a dastardly villain (Bud Osborne), and a great deal of ferocious wildlife fauna, much of which is rather more indigenous to Asia than Africa, where the action ostensibly takes place. In many ways, the carelessness of chapterplays like Adventures of Captain Africa only hastened the demise of the action serial. John Hart is perhaps best known for replacing Clayton Moore for one season as television's The Lone Ranger. Appearing as the kidnapped Prime Minister in Adventures of Captain Africa is Michael Fox, the veteran character actor whose long-time membership of Screen Actors Guild forced the later leading man of the same name to add the middle initial "J" to his billing. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Set in the coffee fields of Colombia, Green Fires stars Stewart Granger and Grace Kelly. Granger plays emerald prospector Rian X. Mitchell, who intends to explore an old deserted mine despite the protests of his partner Vic Leonard Paul Douglas and the threat of death at the hands of local bandit El Moro Murvyn Vye. Ms. Kelly costars as Catherine Knowland, whose coffee plantation lies at the foot of the mine where Mitchell labors away. Such natural disasters as rain and flood, coupled with such man-made weapons of destruction as guns and dynamite, continually thwart Mitchell's search for riches. As the film winds down, he is forced to choose between the emeralds and Catherine. Largely filmed on location, Green Fire is good, old-fashioned Saturday matinee stuff, dressed up and prettified by MGM. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The tenth of Columbia's "Jungle Jim" series, Savage Mutiny finds Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) working on behalf of the US government. Jim must evacuate a tiny African island that is to be used for atomic testing. Scurrilous Communist agents hope to thwart America's defense program, and also stir up anti-US propaganda, by encouraging the natives to stay put. By the time Jungle Jim gets through with them, the spies would rather be dead than Red. Much of the footage of Savage Mutiny--and a good portion of the plot--would be re-used on an episode of TV's Captain Midnight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Safari Drums was the ninth entry in Monogram's "Bomba the Jungle Boy" series. Johnny Sheffield once more stars as Bomba, while his usual director Ford Beebe calls the shots. The villain is an avaricious guide (Douglas Kennedy) who has murdered a famed geologist. The killer is a member of a film-making unit that has come to Africa to lens a documentary. His motivation for the murder was a fortune in diamonds. Bomba disposes of the baddie by summoning aid from his animal friends. Ironically, this same solution was used in the like-vintage Tarzan and the She-Devil -- and as everybody knows, Johnny Sheffield used to play "Boy" in the Tarzan pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Scared Stiff is the 1953 remake of the 1940 Bob Hope-Paulette Goddard vehicle The Ghost Breakers, reupholstered for the talents of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. While Martin handles the straight plot scenes, just as Hope did in the earlier film, the Hope-like wisecracks are fairly evenly divided between Martin and Lewis. Lewis is for the most part relegated to the secondary role played by black comedian Willie Best in Ghost Breakers, with a few opportunities for his manic specialties: his personal highlight is an imitation of Carmen Miranda (who also appears in the flesh). The plot is the same as before: an American heiress (Lizabeth Scott) is warned to stay away from the forbidding Cuban mansion that she's inherited. Disregarding these threats, the girl heads to Cuba, along with Martin and Lewis, who are on the lam from various antagonists (Dean has been falsely accused of murder, while Lewis has run afoul of gangsters). Once they've reached Scott's mansion, Martin and Lewis are confronted by all manner of terrors: a ghost, a zombie, a mysterious assailant (who turns out to be the least likely suspect). It turns out that the mansion is built over a huge cache of hidden gold, which is why the bad guy is so anxious to make Scott and the boys skedaddle. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby make gag appearances toward the end of Scared Stiff; returning the favor, Martin and Lewis would show up unbilled in the Hope-Crosby opus Road to Bali (1953). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A little crippled girl named Cathy Williams (Isa Ashdown) has one special wish in life: To meet her idol, Superman (George Reeves). When Cathy accidently intercepts a phone call intended for a gang of counterfeiters who've stolen printing plates from the Bank of France, one of the crooks (John Doucette) passes himself off as Superman in order to gain the girl's confidence and find out how much she knows. Inevitably, the bad guys kidnap poor Cathy, and of course the real Superman races to the rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mistaken identity and underhanded dealings set the stage for this adventure story based on Anthony Hope's classic novel. Rudolph Rassendyll (Stewart Granger) is a British tourist visiting the nation of Ruritania in the Balkans. A number of people comment upon Rassendyll's remarkable resemblance to Prince Rudolph, who in a matter of days is to be crowned the nation's new king, and the prince's staff even arranges a meeting between the two men. But Rudolph's devious brother believes it is he who should be the king, and he arranges for Prince Rudolph to be poisoned the night before his coronation. Desperate, Rudolph's minders beg Rassendyll to participate in the ceremony in Rudolph's place so that the usurper cannot take the throne. Rassendyll agrees, and the ceremony goes off without a hitch, but when the brother's men discover this subterfuge, they imprison the real Prince as they threaten to reveal the secret of the new "king." Rassendyll's dilemma is compounded when he finds himself falling in love with Princess Flavia (Deborah Kerr), Rudolph's intended. This was the fourth screen adaptation of The Prisoner of Zenda; a fifth, which focused on the tale's comic possibilities, starred Peter Sellers and was released in 1979. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

For his initial effort from his own Norma Productions, Burt Lancaster picked a winner in Ten Tall Men. Lancaster stars as "Sergeant Mike," a two-fisted Foreign Legionnaire presiding over a lovable band of mercenaries, sneak thieves and cutthroats. While sitting in the stockade for the umpteenth time, Mike learns of a Riff plan to attack his fort. He and his men break jail and embark on their own attack of the Riffian encampment. Part of their strategy (much of which is improvised on the spot) is to kidnap Mahia (Jody Lawrence), the toothsome daughter of the Riffian sheik. Understandably, Mahia despises her captors until she realizes that the film's real villain is the covetous Caid Hussan (Gerald Mohr). This one's got everything, from a campy reenactment of a key scene in Beau Geste to the old reliable threat of a red-hot iron upon female flesh. Mari Blanchard, fully clothed for a change, shows up early in the film as a coquettish French mademoiselle who foments an all-out donnybrook among Mike and his fellow legionnaires. With the exceptions of Jody Lawrence and Gerald Mohr, no one in Ten Tall Men takes the proceedings too seriously; the film has some of the cheeky insouciance of Lancaster's subsequent swashbuckler The Crimson Pirate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Presumably, Savage Drums was an attempt by Lippert Studios to launch an adventure series along the lines of "Jungle Jim" and "Bomba the Jungle Boy". The inimitable Sabu stars as Tipo, a native of a tropical island who returns home after establishing himself as a boxer in the U.S. Tipo soon discovers that his friends and family are in danger of falling under the influence of invading communists. Aligning himself with island king Maou (H.B. Warner), Tipo squares off against Red provincial ruler Chang (Steven Geray) and his minions. The film's feminine angle is provided by Lita Baron (good girl) and Margia Dean (bad commie), while comedy relief is in the hands of Lippert perennial Sid Melton and master dialectician Bob Easton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Flame of Stamboul concerns dirty work at the Suez Canal, orchestrated by a master spy (George Zucco) known only as "The Voice." U.S. intelligence agent Larry Wilson (Richard Denning) is dispatched to Egypt to prevent the theft of top-secret defense papers. Here he is detained by exotic dancer Lynette Garay (Lisa Ferraday), who is the unwitting pawn of The Voice and his henchmen. Director Ray Nazarro, borrowed from Columbia's "B"-western unit, does a competent job with the derring-do at hand. One of the many sinister-looking characters in Flame of Stamboul is played by Norman Lloyd, who later co-starred on TV's St. Elsewhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Republic's Harbor of Missing Men stars Richard Denning as a two-fisted smuggler named Brooklyn. Double-crossed by his partners, Brooklyn is forced to go on the lam lest he be shot full of holes by his smooth-talking boss Danzinger (George Zucco). Hiding out in the home of a Greek fishing captain, Brooklyn vows to reform when he falls in love with Angelike (Aline Towne) the captain's daughter. The film concludes with a burst of violence, retribution and redemption. Harbor of Missing Men features cult-favorite character actor Percy Helton in a meatier role than usual as a waterfront habitue named Rummy Davis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide