Lon McCallister Movies

Lon McCallister stars in the Columbia "B-plus" western Montana Territory. McCallister plays deputy John Malvin, whose loyalty to sheriff Plummer (Preston S. Foster) knows no bounds. What John doesn't know (but the audience does) is that Plummer is a bandit leader, using his sheriff's badge as a front for his activities. Eventually, it is John's painful duty to bring his former mentor to justice--which, if the previous reels are any indication, won't be easy. Wanda Hendrix is appealing as Lon's leading lady, while Clayton Moore, TV's Lone Ranger, does a villainous turn. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lon McCallister is the Boy From Indiana in this pleasant horse-racing yarn. Lon Decker (McCallister) comes to the rescue of Texas Dandy, a champion quarter-mile racehorse who is being abused by his avaricious owner (George Cleveland). After various and sundry adventures--including a hair-raising episode with a wild bull--Decker rides Texas Dandy in a crucial, plot-solving Big Race. Lois Butler co-stars as the girl in Lon's life, while Billie Burke goes through her dithery repertoire as a high-society horse fancier. As can be expected, Boy From Indiana is at its best during the racetrack scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A frequent cable-TV attraction since lapsing into public domain in 1976, The Big Cat is an excellent outdoor drama, beautifully lensed in Technicolor (though most current prints are printed in a washed-out 2-color process). Set in Utah in the darkest days of the Depression, the film stars Lon McCallister as Danny, the citified nephew of rancher Gil Hawks (Forrest Tucker). Danny is pretty useless as a ranch hand, but he proves his mettle when Hawks' life is endangered by a marauding cougar. Preston S. Foster delivers the film's best performance as a hirsute, stingy backwoodsman who spends most of his time tracking down the "Big Cat." Former juvenile performers Peggy Ann Garner, Skip Homeier and Gene Reynolds also register well in comparatively mature roles. The no-nonsense direction is by Phil Karlson, later a favorite of the auteur theorists. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Often mistakenly identified as a sequel to My Friend Flicka, Thunder in the Valley actually has more in common with the Lassie saga. Lon McAllister plays the son of truculent Scottish sheepherder Edmund Gwenn. Though he has no time for people, Gwenn is quite fond of his collie dog. Partly as a means of defying his intractible father, McAllister raises his own dog and beats Gwenn at an annual contest. Father and son are brought closer together when Gwenn is forced to do away with his collie, who has gone mad. Breathtakingly photographed in Technicolor (those nocturnal Highlands scenes are terrific!), Thunder in the Valley is based on the popular Alfred Ollivant novel Bob, Son of Battle. Lending excellent support to stars Gwenn and McAllister are Peggy Ann Garner and Reginald Owen; reportedly, perennial Laurel and Hardy foil James Finlayson also appears in the role of a judge. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Moss Hart's hit Broadway play Winged Victory was brought to the screen in 1944, with most of its original cast intact. The story, concerning regular Joes from all walks of life joining the Army Air Force, is secondary to such theatrical setpieces as a camp show wherein several virile Hollywood leading men cavort about in drag. As a break from the all-male atmosphere, Hart adds a scene in which several wives and sweethearts discuss their fighting men; among these ladies is 23-year-old Judy Holliday. Reflecting the fact that most of the cast was actually serving in the Armed Forces at the time of filming, many of the actors are billed with their rank included: Pvt. Lon McAllister, Sgt. Edmond O'Brien, Cpl. Lee J. Cobb, and so on. While the patriotic elements of Winged Victory have faded in the intervening five decades, the film is worth a glance for its heady cast lineup of celebrities-to-be, including Peter Lynd Hayes, Red Buttons, Barry Nelson, and future director Martin Ritt. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This star-studded musical drama was largely financed by Theatre Guild, with all proceeds going to various wartime fundraising concerns. Most of the story takes place at the Stage Door Canteen, a Manhattan-based home away from home for soldiers, sailors and marines (the real-life Canteen on 44th street was too busy to lend itself to filming, thus the interiors were recreated in Hollywood). Within the walls of this non-profit establishment, servicemen are entertained by top musical, comedy and dramatic acts, and waited on by such Broadway luminaries as Lunt and Fontanne, Katharine Hepburn, Jane Cowl, Katherine Cornell, Tallulah Bankhead, Helen Hayes, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Sam Jaffe and Paul Muni. Though the plotline-one of the Canteen servers, a girl named Eileen (Cheryl Walker) falls in love with one of the visiting soldiers (William Terry), despite the establishment's strict "no dating" rules-is merely an excuse to link together a series of specialty acts, it is superbly and touchingly directed by Frank Borzage. Not all of the film has weathered the years too well: particularly hard to take is Gracie Fields' cheery ditty about "killing Japs!" For the most part, however, the film works, and the guest performers-including comedians Ray Bolger, Harpo Marx, George Jessel and Ed Wynn, and singers Ethel Waters and Kenny Baker-are in fine fettle. If nothing else, Stage Door Canteen offers the only appearance on film of the great Katherine Cornell, who offers a vignette of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. Incidentally, the actor playing "Texas", Michael Harrison, later gained fame as cowboy star Sunset Carson. Originally released at 132 minutes, Stage Door Canteen is now generally available in the 93-minute TV version. The six big bands that appear and perform in the film are those of Kay Kyser, Count Basie, Xavier Cugat, Guy Lombardo, Benny Goodman and Freddie Martin. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

If MGM's Red Skelton could make the mystery/comedy Whistling in the Dark, 20th Century-Fox's Milton Berle could show up in the mystery/comedy Over My Dead Body (Berle's reputation for lifting gags from other comics now extended to lifting plot material). Berle plays a mystery writer who forever writes himself into corners and is never able to finish a story. While visiting his wife (Mary Beth Hughes) at the office where she works, Berle overhears several men discussing the suicide of a coworker. Struck with a brilliant notion, Berle decides to confess to the murder of the dead man, certain that he'll be able to wriggle out of the situation and thereby have plenty of material for a story. Alas, it turns out that the deceased gentleman was murdered, and Berle is nearly sent to the chair. In emulation of the Bob Hope/Willie Best combination in The Ghost Breakers Milton Berle is teamed with a "scared" black elevator operator, played by a superb African-American radio and vaudeville comedian named Wonderful Smith. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Maybe Errol Flynn was never the war hero that he often played, but he was a capable boxer, and Gentleman Jim makes full use of this skill. Flynn stars as Jim Corbett, the 19th-century American pugilist who introduced "scientific" methods to bare-knuckle boxing. Originally an office clerk, Corbett is introduced to the then-illegal sport of fighting when one of the bank executives sponsors the young man's training at the Olympic Club. His arrogance wins Corbett a few enemies, including high-born lady Victoria Ware (Alexis Smith), whose dislike turns to casual affection when she realizes that Corbett is a sincere young fellow who can back up his boasts. What "Gentleman Jim" desires most in life is a match with reigning heavyweight champ John L. Sullivan (Ward Bond). Corbett and Sullivan finally meet in a bout governed by those new Marquis of Queensbury rules that Corbett has helped popularize. Twenty-one epoch-making rounds later, Corbett emerges victorious. At the victory celebration, Sullivan and Corbett graciously exchange mutual words of respect and affection. At this point, Corbett has totally won over the lovely Victoria -- but hasn't quite convinced his brawling brothers that "scientific" boxing is the wave of the future, and the film ends with a typical Raoul Walsh-directed battle royal. More faithful to the facts than most Errol Flynn biopics (but still with enough poetic license to drive historical purists up a wall), Gentleman Jim is broad, boisterous entertainment. Though it looks expensive, the film was made under Warner Bros.' standard pinchpenny restrictions; if you look closely at that moored ship where Corbett has one of his first professional fights, you'll notice that it's a leftover set from the 1940 Errol Flynn swashbuckler The Sea Hawk. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This fun-filled spin-off of the Rodgers & Hart Broadway musical by the same name, features Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney as two young children of vaudevillian parents who aren't included in their parents travels, so they set out to produce a show of their own. Rooney's the driver here and he's up against the administrators of a fogy state-run trade school, who think the whole show idea is nonsense. A listening judge gives them 30 days to put on the show and prove they don't belong in the jail-like school. The rest of the action involves the highly talented kids successful efforts to not only stage the show, but to bring the whole troupe to Broadway. ~ Rovi

This Damon Runyon yarn features William Gargan and Ann Sothern as Brooklynites Joe and Ethel Turp. The Turps are up in arms when their faithful old mailman (Walter Brennan) is fired. Unable to get satisfaction on a municipal level, Joe and Ethel plead their mailman's case to the President himself--not Roosevelt, of course, but MGM's idea of a president, as played by Lewis "Judge Hardy" Stone. Joe Turp gilds the lily by giving the President some Brooklynese advice on how to deal with certain foreign dictators. Joe and Ethel Turp Call on The President is at its best in its flashback sequences, depicting the aged Walter Brennan as a handsome young man (with teeth!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this musical romantic comedy of 1938, Deanna Durbin plays Alice Fullerton, a young woman of a "certain age" who is prone to developing crushes against her best judgment. Her parents have taken in an intriguing house guest, Vincent Bullitt (Melvyn Douglas), a successful international news correspondent who has come to town to work on some assignments for her father's newspaper. Alice falls hard for Bullitt, and she ditches her boyfriend Ken (Jackie Cooper), a local guy who seems provincial and pedestrian in comparison to Bullitt; unfortunately, complications ensue. The songs include You're as Pretty as a Picture. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

Director Sam Wood always seemed most comfortable with cozy family-oriented films like Lord Jeff. Freddie Bartholomew plays Geoffrey Braemer, a basically good kid who falls in with bad company. The orphaned Geoffrey is being used as part of jewel-theft scheme masterminded by his so-called aunt Doris Clandon (Gale Sondergaard) and her confederate Hampstead (George Zucco). Left holding the bag when his cohorts skip town, Geoffrey is saved from reform school by kindly Captain Briggs (Charles Coburn), who enrolls the boy in the Russell-Cotes Merchant Marine Training School. At first antagonistic, Geoffrey eventually makes friends with his fellow students, especially Irish boyo Terry O'Mulvaney (Mickey Rooney). A series of misunderstandings brings disgrace upon Geoffrey, but he redeems himself by delivering Doris and Hampstead into the waiting hands of Law-with a little help from his new shipmates, of course. A teenaged Peter Lawford makes his American film debut as Geoffrey's school chum Benny Potter. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi