Iris Meredith Movies

In the first entry in PRC's Texas Ranger series, Tex Wyatt (Dave "Tex" O'Brien) and Panhandle Perkins (Guy Wilkerson) are recruits assigned by Tex's stern father, Captain Wyatt (Forrest Taylor), to look into a series of cattle rustlings. Despite strict orders not to arrest anyone, Tex goes after nasty Pete Dawson (Bud Osborne) and is kicked off the force for disobedience. He joins the rustlers instead, working as a spy for Panhandle and ranger sergeant Jim Steele (James Newill). The three of them manage to catch the leader of the rustlers (I. Stanford Jolley), and Tex is reinstated as a ranger. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Irving Berlin-Morrie Ryskind Broadway musical hit Louisiana Purchase came to the screen with surprisingly few emendations in 1941. Bob Hope replaces Broadway's William Gaxton in the role of innocent political flunkey Jim Taylor, set up to take the fall for wholesale graft by a group of corrupt Louisiana politicians. Taylor's friendly adversary is bumptuous U.S. senator Loganberry (Victor Moore, repeating his stage role), whose efforts at reform only end up getting him in hot water as well. Loganberry solves his own problems by marrying Mme. Bordelaise (Irene Bordoni), the temptress who'd been sent out to place him in a compromising position, forcing Taylor to straighten out the mess himself in a hilarious climactic courtroom filibuster. ("If it's good enough for James Stewart, it's good enough for me.") Some of the satirical bite of the Broadway version had to be blunted for movie-audience consumption, though Paramount managed to avoid potential lawsuits by using a device which originated in the play: an amusing opening "opera bouffe" wherein it was established beyond all doubt that Louisiana was a totally mythical state! (At one point, a bevy of chorus girls sing the "any resemblance to actual persons living or dead" disclaimer.) On a historical note, Louisiana Purchase was Bob Hope's first Technicolor appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Convicted Woman was Columbia's annual "all girl" B picture, allowing studio executives to decide which of their female contractees would be retained and which would be dropped. Rochelle Hudson plays Betty Andrews, a jobless girl who through a series of unfortunate setbacks ends up in a girl's reformatory. Her fellow inmates include three-time-loser Hazel (Lola Lane), the nasty Duchess (June Lang), and such Columbia "regulars" as Iris Meredith, Lorna Gray, Mary Field, Beatrice Blinn, Dorothy Appleby, and hefty June Gittleson (aka June Bryde). Reporter Jim Brent (Glenn Ford) tries to secure a release for Betty, all the while exposing corruption among the prison officials. Also concerned with Betty's welfare is lady lawyer Mary Ellis (Freda Inescourt), who has some of the best scenes in the picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Like its predecessor The Man From Tumbleweeds, the 1940 Bill Elliot western The Return of Wild Bill was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, whose innovative choice of camera angles was always well worth watching. Returning to his home town after a long absence, Wild Bill Saunders (Elliot) discovers that his father has been mortally wounded by a gang of frontier hooligans. Adding intrigue to the proceedings is the fact that Katie Kilgore (Luana Anders), one of the film's two leading ladies (the other is Iris Meredith), is the sister of outlaw leader Matt Kilgore (George Lloyd). Seemingly a mere villainess, Katie reveals that she's a lot more complex than anyone imagines, carefully tipping off the honest cattlemen in the district whenever her brother goes on a rampage. Her curious predilection for working both sides of the fence costs Katie her life at fadeout time, but she remains in the memory far longer than any of the film's other plot contrivances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Texas Stagecoach was one of a group of 1940 Charles Starrett westerns directed by cult favorite Joseph H. Lewis. Outside of this, there's very little new herein. Starrett once more plays a frontier do-gooder who champions the cause of heroine Iris Meredith-but only after he and Miss Meredith spend a few awkward reels on opposite sides of the fence. The villain, as ever, is Dick Curtis, who hopes to gain control of a stagecoach line by forcing the operation into bankruptcy. Also as ever, the plot is resolved when Starrett and Curtis duke it out in the final scene (reviewers at the time complained that the climactic set-to wasn't anywhere near as violent as previous Starrett-Curtis donnybrooks). Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers provide the musical interludes, just as they'd done in so many earlier Starrett starrers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this 15-episode serial, Detective Spike Holland must solve the mystery of Garr Castle. He does so after he is hired to look into the disappearance of Valerie Howett's sister Elaine. Within the haunted walls of the castle he finds a maze of secret passages, tunnels, trapdoors, and the enigmatic masked man, the Green Archer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The only new things in Riders of Black River are the character names; otherwise, it's a by-the-numbers Charles Starrett western, right down to the usual Starrett supporting cast: Iris Meredith, Dick Curtis, Bob Nolan, Edmund Cobb et. al. Former Texas Ranger Wade Patterson (Starrett) returns to his home town, only to find that the territory is in the grip of cattle rustlers. For a while, it looks as though heroine Linda Holden (Meredith) is in cahoots with the bad guys, but Patterson quickly clears her name and takes on the crooks himself. The climax is a no-rules fistfight between Patterson and chief heavy Blaize Carewe (Dick Curtis). So often did Charles Starrett and Dick Curtis duke it out on screen that a feature film could have been made up of their battles alone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Former outlaw Charles Starrett goes straight and becomes a sheriff. In this capacity, he tries to bring his old partners in crime to justice. They don't cotton to this, and thereby hang the conflict. Everything is solved in a climactic fistfight with all-around villain Dick Curtis. Iris Meredith is the heroine, Hank Bell is the comedy relief, Edward LeSaint is the local authority figure, Bob Nolan provides the musical interludes, and Sam Nelson directs. In other words, Thundering West is virtually indistinguishable from the previous entries in Columbia's Charles Starrett western series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cowboy star Bill Elliot makes his first appearance in his familiar guise of "Wild Bill" in Columbia's Taming of the West. When a gang of cattle rustlers knocks off several sheriffs in quick succession, it's up to Wild Bill to get to the bottom of things. The moment he pins on his marshal's badge, our hero is marked for extermination by head villain Rawhide (Dick Curtis). Fortunately, the usually eagle-eyed villains are lousy shots when t comes to bumping off Wild Bill, and justice prevails. Iris Meredith takes a break from Columbia's Charles Starrett series to play Elliot's leading lady, while Dub "Cannonball" Taylor provides dubious comedy relief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Seldom was the identity of a "mystery" villain so obvious than in the 15-chapter Columbia serial Overland With Kit Carson. Bill Elliot plays the title character, who teams with cavalry lieutenant Brent (Richard Fiske) to rid the West of the mysterious megalomaniac known only as "Pegleg." While on the job, Carson falls in love with Spanish aristocrat Carmelita (Iris Meredith), who like the rest of the cast is heading Westward by wagon train. As the expedition moves ever forward, the elusive Pegleg does his best to sabotage the wagons and kill off anyone who tumbles to his true identity. He needn't have gone to all that trouble: it won't be hard for the viewer to guess who the villain really is once the cast list of Overland with Kit Carson is flashed upon the screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Spoilers of the Range looks so much like the Charles Starrett westerns that preceded and followed it that only a close scrutiny would reveal the differences. Hero Jeff Strong (Starrett) comes to the rescue of a group of victimized ranchers. The villains are a gang of crooked gamblers, who demand a valuable dam as payment for a $50,000 debt. The ranchers hope to earn the money by getting their cattle to market on time, but head bad guy Cash Fenton (Kenneth MacDonald) and his flunkey Lobo (Dick Curtis) intend to prevent this. Complicating matters for our hero is the animosity of heroine Madge Patterson (Iris Meredith), who thinks that Jeff is in league with the crooks. The members of the Starrett stock company-Curtis, Meredith, Edward LeSaint and the Sons of the Pioneers-go through their customary paces with their customary efficiency. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this adventure, a courageous Canadian Mountie must bring peace an embattled miner and an unscrupulous trader whose price mark-ups are beginning to hurt the community. They fight so frequently that when the avaricious proprietor is killed, the young man becomes the prime suspect. Fortunately, the Mountie proves his innocence while catching the real evil doers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide