James Newill Movies

In this western, a gang of evil cattle rustlers wreaks havoc upon a community of ranchers. Three Texas Rangers come to the rescue and find out the ring leader works as a local ranch foreman. The bad guys do not escape the trusty Rangers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

No, the "Pinto Bandit" doesn't go around stealing beans. This is another of PRC's "Texas Rangers" series, starring Dave O'Brien and Jim Newell. This time, the Rangers' principal foe is a masked desperado. Evidently, the villain's main purpose in life is to disrupt the mail service between two frontier communities. With O'Brien and Newell on the job, rest assured that the settlers will get their bills and circulars on time. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Texas Rangers ride again in the PRC oater Gunsmoke Mesa. As in earlier series entries, the rangers are played by Jim Newill (the handsome one), Dave O'Brien (the athletic one) and Guy "Panhandle" Wilkerson (the funny one). The villain is the appropriately named Henry Black (Jack Ingram), guardian of the young heir to a gold mine. Since Black was responsible for orphaning said heir, he has no reservations about knocking off the kid as well-but the Texas Rangers aren't about to let that happen. Better photographed than most PRC westerns, Gunsmoke Mesa was lensed by the prolific and efficient Ira H. Morgan. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A "Texas Rangers" series entry from PRC, this low budget western features Dave "Tex" O'Brien as a stranger in town introducing himself as the notorious bandit Spade Norton. Crooked saloon owner Red Hayden (I. Stanford Jolley) believes him at first but then the real Spade (Jack Ingram) turns up and all hell breaks loose. Guy Wilkerson and James Newill plays O'Brien's ranger colleagues, the latter performing Speed Hansen's "Someone Is Waiting", "Forget Me Not" and "When the Western Sun Is Sinking". ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

A would-be Western epic soundly defeated by an almost nonexistent budget, West of Texas was the third of 22 "Texas Rangers" oaters released by Gower Gulch company PRC from 1942-1945 in an attempt to compete with Republic's The Three Mesqueteers and Monogram's "Rough Riders" and "Range Busters." Rangers Tex Wyatt (Dave "Tex" O'Brien) and Jim Steele (James Newill) arrive in Gabe's Crossing, NM, to capture Bent Yeager (Henry Hall), a rancher accused of sabotaging the progress of the railroad. As it turns out, railroad representative Bart Calloway (Robert Barron) and lawyer Conlon (Tom London) have falsified land surveys so it appears that Bent's property is on government land. Happily, the third ranger, Panhandle Perkins (Guy Wilkerson), is working undercover as a member of Calloway's gang and the villains are brought to justice within the allotted 58 minutes. In between chasing the bad guys, O'Brien and Newill warble their own "Whistle a Song," "El Lobo," and "Tired of Rambling." West of Texas was reissued in a 40-minute version by PRC's successor Eagle-Lion in 1947. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In this western, the Texas Rangers round up rustlers by masquerading as the same. Trouble ensues when while in disguise one of the Rangers is accused of a killing. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In the second of PRC's ramshackle Texas Rangers Westerns, Tex Wyatt (Dave "Tex" O'Brien) is blamed for a murder actually committed by Ransom (Jack Ingram) and Holman (Charles King), a couple of thieves. Tex manages to escape and is reunited with his two ranger pals, Jim Steele (James Newill) and Panhandle Perkins (Guy Wilkerson), both of whom are working undercover as performers in a medicine show, a plot contrivance that allows baritone Newill to join Carl Shrum and His Rhythm Rangers in Shrum's "Ride, Ride Ride" and Tex Coe's "West Winds." All three rangers obtain jobs with Ransom's freight company, the owner luckily failing to recognize Tex. Everything comes out in the open, however, when lovely Martha Hobbs (Janet Shaw) inadvertently reveals that the newcomers are rangers, but the three heroes are saved in the nick of time by the sheriff's posse. As it turns out, Martha's uncle (Michael Vallon) is the real power behind the crimes. As always, Texas Rangers was defeated by the budget constrictions of PRC, a company known to insiders as "pretty rotten crud." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

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, Rovi

On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of commercial radio, 20th Century-Fox cooked up the pageantlike entertainment The Great American Broadcast. Opening with clips of such airwaves favorites as Dick Powell and Fred Allen (courtesy of earlier Fox films like Thanks a Million), the picture gets under way in 1918, as ambitious army buddies Bix Martin (John Payne) and Chuck Hadley (Jack Oakie) try and fail to establish themselves in the business world. At long last, our heroes enter the new field of radio broadcasting, where after several technical and tactical mishaps they achieve success. But Bix and Chuck are strictly small-timers, and soon they're left behind by the big-city stations. The partners break up, while Bix's songstress wife Vicki Adams (Alice Faye) seeks out a loan to get her husband back on his financial feet. When she approaches her wealthy ex-boyfriend Bruce Chadwick (Cesar Romero), Bix burns up and walks out on her. But old pal Chuck comes to the rescue, staging a reunion between Bix and Vicki during the first-ever coast to coast network broadcast. Rather shaky as history, The Great American Broadcast works best on a nostalgia level, offering guest appearances by such specialty performers as The Ink Spots, The Nicholas Brothers, and The Wiere Brothers (of Road to Rio fame). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Renfrew of the Royal Mounted rides again in the Criterion/Monogram "northern" Danger Ahead. There's not a whole lot of plot to speak of, as Renfrew (James Newill) gets involved with a crooked banker (John Dilson) and his raffish henchman (Dick Rich). One of the film's plusses is the presence of comedienne Dorothea Kent as the heroine. Refusing to take herself or the plotline seriously, Kent is a breath of fresh air in the otherwise formula-bound proceedings. Also good for laughs is Al Shaw, formerly of the Shaw & Lee vaudeville team, as a wisecracking janitor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Yukon Flight is one of several Monogram programmers starring James Newill as Renfrew of the Royal Mounted. This time Renfrew is on the trail of the operators of a crooked air freight service. The villains have been helping themselves to the cargo and bumping off clients who have complained. The film has a powerhouse opening, with one of the crooks' ex-partners strapped into the cockpit of a plane that's destined to crash: "He's takin' himself for his own ride!" laughs criminal mastermind William Pawley. Like all Renfrew pictures, this one was based on a story by Laurie York Erskine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Fighting Mad was the second of producer Phil Krasne's "Renfrew of the Royal Mounted" films to be released by Monogram (taking over from the defunct Grand National Pictures). In this endeavor, Renfrew (James Newill) and his young pal Kelly (Dave O'Brien) take on American gangster Cardigan (Milburn Stone), who muscles his way into the Great White North. Cardigan has enlisted the reluctant aid of heroine Ann (Sally Blane), who out of fear of being arrested on a trumped-up charge is helping the villain smuggle stolen loot across the border. Comedy relief is provided by Benny Rubin as a Lower East Side type who aspires to become a mountie. In the next "Renfrew" outing, Murder on the Yukon, the heroine was played by Polly Ann Young, sister of Fighting Mad's Sally Blane. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An uneven mix of '30s crook melodrama and Rose Marie-inspired mountie romance, Renfrew of the Royal Mounted of radio fame came to the screen in 1937, courtesy of the founder of Grand National, Edward L. Alperson. Chosen to play the strapping title role was James Newill, a Nelson Eddy wannabe whose introduction number, "Mounted Men," was almost a carbon copy of "Stout Hearted Men." Newill's Renfrew is assigned to look into a counterfeiting ring operating on the Canadian border with the United States. The ring is headed by lodge owner George Poulis (William Royle), who is coercing convicted engraver James Bronson (Herbert Corthell) into working for him. When Bronson's daughter, Virginia (Carol Hughes), discovers the truth, she convinces the engraver to flee. Renfrew, who has been chasing the crooks on horseback and by airplane, eventually saves the Bronsons from perishing in a meat locker. Filmed in Grand National's studios on Santa Monica Boulevard and at Big Bear Lake, CA, Renfrew of the Royal Mounted proved popular enough to warrant a series. Grand National collapsed two years later but the series was picked up by Monogram and a total of eight Renfrew movies were ultimately released. A former singer on the Burns & Allen radio program, James Newill later went on to co-star in PRC's "trio" series Texas Rangers, where he was reunited with Dave "Tex" O'Brien, who had played one of the crooks in Renfrew of the Royal Mounted. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi