Nelson McDowell Movies

Red Ryder rounds up a crooked sheriff in this western adventure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this his penultimate Western for low-budget company Monogram, Jack Randall assumed the identity of a murdered ranger in order to track down the killer. In the lawless town of Brimstone, the citizens are being terrorized by a gang of outlaws headed by Mason (Tom London), who, to no one's great surprise, proves to be the very man Jack has been trailing. The relieved citizens of Brimstone then elect Jack as their new sheriff. The murdered ranger's sister was played by Margaret Roach, the 19-year-old daughter of comedy producer Hal Roach. Ernie Adams replaced Glenn Strange (who himself had replaced Frank Yaconelli) as Randall's sidekick, Manny, and Nelson McDowell provided additional comic relief as Brimstone's busy undertaker. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This fine adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic tale about a cursed family opens with a title card that reveals how the Pyncheon family stole, cheated, lied, and murdered their way to wealth. But within the hearts of the family's bloodline lay fear of the curse of Matthew Maule, a man they crossed many years earlier. Jumping to the year 1828, upstart judge Jaffrey Pyncheon (George Sanders) is called to his family's beloved seven-gabled house where he is told by his father (Gilbert Emery) and brother Clifford (Vincent Price) that the home is to be sold in order to pay their debts. A bitter, loathsome man who deeply believes in Maule's curse -- and the legend that gold is hidden in the house -- Jaffrey takes the opportunity of his father's death to accuse the innocent Clifford of murdering their patriarch. Clifford is sentenced to life in prison, but in a bizarre quirk of legal fate, the house is left in the care of Clifford's lively fiancée Hepzibah (Margaret Lindsay), who immediately boots out the hateful Jaffrey. The passage of 20 years leaves the house in shambles and Hepzibah a bitter spinster. The arrival of two people -- Hepzibah's pretty young cousin Phoebe (Nan Grey) and a mysterious boarder named Matthew Holgrave (Dick Foran) -- spark Hepzibah into opening the old house as a business. Clifford is finally released from prison and returns home for a touching reunion, but after a serious a strange reports about him leak out, Jaffrey plots to have his brother committed. However, Clifford has some plans for his evil brother and a plan to end the family's curse. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide

Tex Ritter, Monogram' low-budget answer to Republic's Gene Autry, got himself a new sidekick in rangy Nelson McDowell in the otherwise dull Roll, Wagons, Roll. Executive producer Edward F. Finney only allowed two songs -- Roll Wagon Wheels, by Dorcas Cochran and Charles Rosoff, and Oh, Suzannah, by Stephen Foster -- and the Western included enough stock footage -- some dating back to the silent era -- that it barely qualified as a new feature film. Ritter and McDowell played army scouts attempting to lead a wagon train safely through hostile territory. The Indians, as it turns out, are under the influence of an evil white fur trader, Coleman (Reed Howes). The wagon master, Grimes (Tom London), who is in cahoots with Coleman, has Ritter and McDowell fired on a trumped-up charge of conspiring with the Indians but the two friends manage to alert the cavalry and the wagon train is saved in the nick of time. Muriel Evans. Ritter's blond leading lady, also appeared in his next film, Westbound Stage (1940). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Tex Ritter Monogram Westerns had a change of directors with Riders of the Frontier, Spencer Gordon Bennet having replaced Al Herman. But that was really the only difference between this entry and the previous seven. Ritter impersonated a notorious outlaw in order to infiltrate the gang that is slowly poisoning Sarah, the owner of the Rancho Grande (Marin Sais). The situation becomes a bit tricky when the real outlaw (Roy Barcroft) suddenly appears, but Tex and the the marshal manage to bring the guilty parties to justice and rescue poor Sarah within the allotted six reels. The music interludes were kept to a minimum this time, Ritter warbling only Rose of My Dreams and Ridin' Down to Town, both by house composer Frank Harford. Jean Joyce added a bit of romantic interest as Sarah's nurse, with Hal Taliaferro (formerly Wally Wales joining Jack Rutherford and the always watchable Roy Barcroft on the opposing side. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Allegedly based on two factual works, Bouck White's The Book of Daniel Drew and Matthew Josephson's The Robber Barons, RKO's The Toast of New York is a largely fanciful account of the career of 1870s financier "Jubilee Jim" Fisk. As played by Edward Arnold in his usual "tycoon" mode, Fisk was a likable scoundrel who finagled his way into the upper rungs of Wall Street as much for fun as for profit. The film conveniently ignores Fisk's involvement with the infamous Tweed Ring, and skims over his complicity in 1869's "Black Friday," one of the most disastrous events in American economic history. We are also offered a sanitized version of Fisk's notorious mistress Josie Mansfield, who as played by Frances Farmer is an apple-cheeked lass who regards Fisk only as a loyal friend. Cary Grant is along for the ride as "Nick Boyd," a thinly disguised version of Fisk's actual partner in crime Ned Stokes. Too costly to post a profit, Toast of New York is nonetheless fine non-think entertainment, kept alive by a superb supporting cast ranging from Donald Meek as Daniel Drew and Clarence Kolb as Cornelius Vanderbilt to such bit players as Laurel & Hardy perennial James Finlayson, who plays the inventor of a self-tipping hat! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Released to stony silence in February of 1937, this film was an atrocious musical western starring former silent screen cowboy Bob Custer. Custer played Santa Fe Evans, who -- with the cowboys of the Lazy D. Ranch -- auditions for a country radio show. Santa Fe's herd of cattle had been wiped out in a drought and the rancher plans to refurbish his stock from his prospected radio earnings. When Santa Fe's fiancée, Carol (Eleanor Stewart), learns that her younger brother (David Sharpe) is arrested for cattle theft, she blames Santa Fe. Excited over the rancher's vocal talents, the radio station follows Santa Fe as he sets out to clear Buddy's name. Along with "The Singing Cowboys" (Lloyd Perryman, Curley Hoag, and Rudy Sooter), Santa Fe warbles "Radio Gang Song" and "Travellin' Along", but takes time out to clear Buddy's name and catch the real rustler, Carver (Roger Williams). Hardly in a league with Gene Autry, Roy Rogers et al., Custer never made it as a singing cowboy; in fact, Santa Fe Rides was his final film. Ballyhooed as containing "bronzed sons of the West in a series of pulse-quickening adventures," this little horse opera was released by poverty row company Reliable Pictures Corp. The film was so bad that director Harry S. Webb felt forced to hide behind the pseudonym "Raymond Samuels." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Gun Smoke was the second of a brace of "B"-westerns starring the now-forgotten Buck Coburn. The plot is as standard as standard can be: Rancher George Culverson (Henry Hall) and daughter Jean (Marion Shilling) are menaced by villains Sneed (Philo McCullough) and McGee (Bud Osborne). Hero Steve Branning (Coburn), riding out of nowhere, comes to the Culverson's rescue. The desperate baddies kidnap the heroine, but Steve brings her back home safe and sound after making with the fists and six-guns. Benny Corbett, vilified by many western fans as the least funniest "comedy relief" in film history, actually garners a few laughs. Like the first Buck Coburn starrer, Circle of Death, Gun Smoke was produced by actor-stuntman Montie Montana. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arguably the best of Hoot Gibson's six Westerns for small-scale producer Walter Futter's Diversion Pictures, Lucky Terror once again presents the veteran star as a carefree drifter falsely accused of murder. This time, the victim is Jim Thornton (George Chesebro), a thief whose pockets are filled with gold. Arrested by the rotund sheriff (Robert Mckenzie), Lucky (Gibson) is defended in court by none other than Charles King, the veteran Bad Guy here playing an alcoholic shyster. King judicial advise to Lucky is to simply flee, which is exactly what our hero does. In the end, Thornton's death is declared an accident and Lucky catches the villains who had been terrorizing Lona Andre's Bonanza gold-mine. Comedy relief is this time provided by veteran silent screen actor Charles Hill Mailes (here billed simply "Charles Hill") as a traveling medicine show proprietor, and Frank Yaconelli as an Italian musician. Like most members of the cast, director Alan James also belonged to the silent era, where he had been billed under his real name, Alvin J. Neitz. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Texas Rangers vs. the United States Cavalry. That is basically the main thrust of the plot in this tuneful, fairly engrossing Gene Autry music Western. That Autry's singing-style is rather more endemic to 1936 than the late 19th century is merely part of the Autry phenomenon. While supposedly aiding Cavalry Colonel Summerall (Robert E. Homans), Indian sign interpretor Duval (Monte Blue) is instead plotting with the Comanches to attack a supply train. Ranger lieutenant Gene Autry and his sidekicks Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) and Rube (Max Terhune) attempt to warn the colonel but are instead jailed on a trumped up charge. The governor of Texas, however, reinstates Autry and Co. and the rangers save the cavalry from a massacre. The plot is, as always, merely a framework for the Autry magic, which includes serenading leading lady Kay Hughes, as the colonel's daughter, and a running gag that has Burnette pursued by an Indian (Chief Thundercloud) with a scalping complex. The only departure from the routine comes at the end when Autry actually marries the colonel's daughter, a union, so to speak, between the Texas Rangers and the United States Cavalry..Ride, Ranger, Ride was filmed at Newhall, California, by former editor Joseph Kane, who included plenty of stock footage to give the film a more sumptuous look than the stingy Republic Pictures would allow. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Briefly breaking away from her high-gloss modern soap operas, Kay Francis stars as Florence Nightingale in this reverent Warner Bros. biopic. The screenplay concentrates on Nightingale's humanitarian activities during the Crimean War of 1854-55. Defiant in the face of military bureaucracy and the male hierarchy, she organizes a volunteer group of nurses to tend to the military wounded, and also works tirelessly to update and improve the primitive, almost barbaric medical conditions of the Victorian Era. Of the supporting characters, only Ian Hunter as Fuller evinces any sort of humanity; the rest, especially Montague Love, are grim-visaged stereotypes. Critics were unkind to Kay Francis' performance in White Angel, with the New York Times speaking for many by suggesting that Francis was too overwhelmed by the historical importance of her character to deliver a believable performance. By today's standards, however, Francis is most effective despite her miscasting, delivering her difficult speeches with quiet and assured eloquence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Neither the best nor worst of Hoot Gibson's westerns for producer Walter Futter, Feud of the West lies somewhere in between. The old Hooter plays a rodeo performer named Whitey, performing some remarkable riding and roping stunts before the plot proper gets under way. Said plot concerns a reclusive hermit named Wild Horse Henderson (Nelson McDowell), a heroine named Molly (Joan Barclay) whose parentage is in doubt, and, of course, the titular feud between ranchers and rustlers. The "mystery" villain of the piece is better hidden than usual, managing to fool even a few veteran whodunit buffs. As always, Hoot Gibson seldom resorts to gunplay when he can solve problems with a quick quip or quicker fists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

William Colt MacDonald's 1934 story based on the Three Mesqueteers characters was brought to the screen the following year by RKO, who billed it "the Barnum and Bailey of Westerns" and seems to have rounded up every Western star not under exclusive contract. The Western, in fact, could boast of no less than 13 former silent screen cowboy heroes: Harry Carey, Hoot Gibson, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, Buzz Barton, Wally Wales (aka Hal Taliaferro), Art Mix (aka George Kesterson), Buffalo Bill Jr. (aka Jay Wilsey), Buddy Roosevelt, Franklyn Farnum, William Desmond, and William Farnum. Carey, Gibson, and Williams played Tucson Smith, Stony Brooke, and Lullaby Joslin, respectively -- the Three Mesqueteers -- who happen upon a stage robbery in progress. They catch the bandit (Ethan Laidlaw) red-handed rifling through the mail and discover that one of the letters is meant for them. Without their knowing, a young friend, the Guadalupe Kid (Steele), has bought a ranch in their names and is awaiting their arrival. The ranch, however, is located in an area controlled by greedy saloon proprietor turned political boss Steve Ogden (Sam Hardy), who takes umbrage to their presence to the point of hiring a professional gunslinger, Sundown Saunders (Tyler). Provoking a confrontation, Sundown challenges Tucson to his trademark sundown showdown. The wily Tucson realizes that Sundown prefers an encounter in the dusk because of failing eyesight and only lightly wounds his opponent. Although a recuperating Sundown turns down Tucson's request to join the fight against Ogden, in the ensuing shootout the gunslinger heroically takes a bullet meant for Tucson. After forcing a confession out of the crooked sheriff (Adrian Morris), the Mesqueteers confront Ogden who is killed in a fight with Tucson. Filmed on locations at Kernville and Newhall, CA, Powdersmoke Range was not the first film version of MacDonald's Mesqueteers. That honor goes to Law of the .45's, a cheap, independently made Western that had starred Guinn "Big Boy" Williams as Tucson and perennial sidekick Al St. John as Stony. (The film omitted the third mesqueteer, Lullaby Joslin, altogether). Despite the success of Powdersmoke Range, RKO failed to follow up with a regular series. Bob Steele would play the character of Sundown Saunders in an independently produced Western of that name in 1936 but the Three Mesqueteers as a group found a regular berth with Republic Pictures, which went on to produce 51 highly successful and influential B-Westerns between 1935 and mid-1943. Through several cast changes both Bob Steele and Tom Tyler would at one point or another play one of the mesqueteers, as would Robert Livingston, Ray "Crash" Corrigan, ventriloquist Max Terhune, John Wayne, Raymond Hatton, Duncan Renaldo, Rufe Davis, Ralph Byrd, and Syd Saylor. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide