Frank McCarroll Movies

Whip Wilson and Andy Clyde are back and Monogram's got 'em in Fence Riders. The Whipster comes to the aid of beautiful ranch owner Reno Browne, who is being victimized by rustlers Myron Healey and Riley Hill. To get Wilson out of the way, the villains frame him on a murder rap. With the aid of grizzled old Clyde, Wilson escapes to mete out justice. One question: how does one ride a fence? (Ouch!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At first glance, Cow Town seems to be a documentary, as an unseen narrator describes the changes made in the Old West by the advent of barbed wire. Before long, however, the audience is assured that this will be a typical Gene Autry western. Autry plays a ranch owner who incurs the wrath of his neighbors by placing barbed wire around his turf. The local cowboys are certain that the new "invention" will mean the end of their jobs, since there will no longer be a need for ranch hands to keep the cattle from roaming free. Feeding into these fears is a group of "concerned citizens," who turn out to be a band of cattle rustlers. Autry manages to round up the baddies, smooth the ruffled feathers of the cowboys, and sing several old favorites. The supporting cast includes Gail Davis, who'd later star in the Autry-produced TV series Annie Oakley, and ace stunt men Jock Mahoney and Ted Mapes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Johnny Mack Brown West of Wyoming concerns the efforts by cattle baron Simon (Stanley Andrews) to prevent the opening up of the rang to homesteaders. Government agent Brown comes calling when Simon begins resorting to cold-blooded murder. The leading lady is Gail Davis, a few years shy of her Annie Oakley TV stardom. Surprisingly, West of Wyoming contains none of the comedy relief that had characterized earlier Johnny Mack Brown oaters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Johnny Mack Brown stars in the rubber-stamp western Over the Border. Bringing Bart Calhoun (Marshall Reed) to justice for his complicity in a robbery/murder, Johnny assumes that his job is over. Not by a long shot! Calhoun's arrest leads to the uncovering of a wide-ranging conspiracy to smuggle silver from Mexico to the United States. With Calhoun's cooperation, Johnny exposes the "Mister Big" behind the whole operation. There isn't much action in Over the Border; the screenwriters seem more concerned with mystery and intrigue. Johnny Mack Brown is obviously getting too old for this sort of thing, but he carries his years -- and excess poundage -- quite well. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ostensibly a Jimmy Wakely musical Western -- the singer's final starring vehicle -- The Lawless Code is really a showcase for Riley Hill, a young supporting actor who had played young henchmen for years under the name Roy Harris. While Wakely is barely given enough to warble "Trail to Mexico," Hill appears front and center as Curly Blake, a young rancher whose uncle (Steve Clark) is murdered for his valuable land. Uncle and nephew had been estranged since Curly rejected an offer to sell the family spread to the Red Rock Land & Development Company. Curly is accused of the killing, but the real culprit is the company president, a smooth-talking ex-judge (Tristram Coffin). With assistance from traveling troubadour Wakely and his sidekick, Cannonball (Dub Taylor), Curly rescues lovely Rita Caldwell (Ellen Hall) from Steele's blackmailing henchmen (Kenne Duncan and Terry Frost), one of whom is made to spill the beans about the killing. Wakely and the Sheriff (Bud Osborne) set a trap for Steele, who is soon apprehended. A busy supporting player well into the television era, Riley Hill later played the recurring role of Marshal Riley on Marshall of Gunsight Pass (1950). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Charles Starrett once more dons the mask of mysterious do-gooder "The Durango Kid" in Columbia's Challenge of the Range. Wandering cowboy Steve Roper (Starrett) is hired by the Farmers Association to stem the activities of a group of gunmen who are driving ranchers off their land. The most likely suspect turns out to be innocent: the real culprits are within the Association itself. With the help of the chief suspect's son, Roper brings the crooks to justice. Cast as the son is onetime "Dead End Kid" Billy Halop, whose previous western credentials included the radio series Bobby Benson of the B Bar V Ranch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Durango Kid rides again in the person of Charles Starrett in Buckaroo From Powder River. The story concerns the efforts made by Steve Lacey (Starrett) to break up the outlaw family headed by Pop Ryland (Forrest Taylor). Posing as a hired killer, Lacey infiltrates the Ryland gang, rescuing the only "good" member of the family along the way. And when the necessity arises, Lacey dons the mask of the mysterious Durango Kid. The love interest is provided by Eve Miller, the laughs by Smiley Burnette, and the music by the Cass County Boys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Smugglers are working the border between Mexico and California in this action-filled and, of course, tuneful Gene Autry Western. Autry, sidekick Sterling Holloway, and the Cass County Boys get involved with fiery Elena Del Rio (Adele Mara), a singer in the local cantina who alternately throws knives at them and helps catch a gang of jewel smugglers taking advantage of local refugees. Chasing in and out of Joshua Tree National Monument, our heroes go up against a couple of supposedly law-abiding citizens, a peon (Martin Garralaga) who isn't what he pretends to be, and the local rural residents. Happily, everyone takes time out from the mayhem to perform Jack Elliott's "Twilight on the Rio Grande" and "The Pretty Knife Grinder," Smiley Burnette's "It's My Lazy Day" and "Great Grand Dad," Nat Simon and Charles Tobias' "The Old Lamplighter" and a couple of other selections. In addition to Joshua Tree National Monument, Twilight on the Rio Grande was filmed at Victorville, CA. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Adventures of Don Coyote is the third of five "streamliners", a group of under-an-hour features made by Mary Pickford and Buddy Rogers' Comet Productions. Richard Martin, best known for his semicomic portrayal of Irish-Mexican adventurer Chito Rafferty in RKO's Tim Holt westerns, plays the title character. Accompanied by his singing sidekick Sancho Val Carlo, Don Coyote defends a Mexican ranch against an incursion of Yankee villains. Frances Rafferty, who later played Spring Byington's daughter on TV's December Bride, plays the ranch-owner heroine. Attractively photographed in two-tone Cinecolor, Adventures of Don Coyote is one of the better Comet efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, Red Ryder and his sidekick prove that a man never committed the crime of which he has been accused. They then round up the real outlaws. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Larry "Buster" Crabbe and Al St. John -- "Our Old Pals," as they were billed -- get in trouble with a murderous Charles King in this typical "Billy Carson" Western from Poverty Row company PRC. Billy and railroad agent Dave Hanley (Karl Hackett) are discussing plans to run the new railroad through Red Rock, but their discussion is overheard by crooked hotel operator Steve Landreau (King), who unbeknownst to Billy kills Hanley for a map of the proposed line. In Red Rock, Billy discovers that Steve opportunistically has bought the local saloon, which he is planning to turn into a gambling den. Jealous of Billy's growing friendship with pretty Babs Darcy (Donna Dax), rancher Clay Kincaid (Edward Hall) becomes beholden to Steve, who wants his valuable land before news of the planned railroad arrives. Billy, who is suspicious of both Steve and Clay, confronts the latter in the saloon. In the ensuing gunfight, Steve and his men are apprehended. Clay repents, and Fuzzy (St. John) later officiates at his wedding to Babs. Busy B-Western heroine Lorraine Miller was cast as the leading lady in this film but was replaced in the last minute by Donna Dax, whom PRC borrowed from Columbia Pictures' large stable of starlets. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The first of Republic Pictures' Allan Lane Westerns, Silver City Kid was assembled for Don "Red" Barry, whom the studio had decided to groom for "A" pictures. Unfortunately, Lane did not only inherit Barry's plot but also his sidekicks Wally Vernon and Twinkle Watts, the latter Republic's rather belated answer to Shirley Temple. Jack Adams (Lane) and his friend Wildcat Higgins (Vernon) come to the aid of a buddy, whose land is about to be usurped by unscrupulous banker William Stoner (Frank Jaquet) and corrupt attorney Sam Ballard (Harry Woods). Unfortunately, the beleaguered rancher, Steve Clayton (Lane Chandler), is murdered by one of Ballard's henchmen (Glenn Strange), leaving behind a sister, Ruth (Peggy Stewart), and a young daughter, Twinkle (Watts). According to Ruth, Stoner and Ballard are after a rare vein of molypdenum running through the Clayton property and will stop at nothing to get their greedy hands on the land. But they have counted without Jack, whose six-guns settle the matter once and for all. Although saddled with the presence of Vernon, whose Brooklyn accent hardly suggested the wild and woolly West, not to mention the insufferable Miss Watts, Silver City Kid proved Lane to be a handsome and stalwart cowboy hero of the old style. Also of benefit to the film was the presence of Peggy Stewart, perhaps the era's most competent Western heroine. Although Miss Stewart disliked working with the egotistical Lane, she would be forced to appear opposite him in four additional Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide