Duncan Renaldo Movies
After being raised in several parts of Europe Duncan Renaldo arrived in the U.S. in the early '20s, having secured his passage as a stoker on a Brazilian coal ship (other sources say it was a Rumanian freighter that caught fire in Baltimore and left its crew stranded). He failed at his attempt to be a portrait painter, then tried to become a producer of short films; soon, however, he took up acting, signing with MGM in 1928. He played Latin lovers in late talkies and early silents. In 1932 he spent almost a year in prison on illegal entry charges filed by immigration authorities; he was later pardoned by President Roosevelt. After his release, he continued playing leads and supporting roles in minor films and serials. In the early '40s he was chosen as one of the Three Mesquiteers in a series of popular western films; within a few years he was starring in his own western series as The Cisco Kid, the role for which he is best known. He played the Cisco Kid in a popular TV series in the '50s, rarely appearing on the big-screen after 1950. ~ All Movie Guide
PRC's A Yank in Libya is distinguished by some of the oldest, grainiest stock footage ever seen in a mid-1940s film. Once past this aesthetic obstacle, however, the film isn't too bad. Walter Woolf King heads the cast as American war correspondent Mike Malone, on assignment in a papier-mache facsimile of Libya. Malone helps to squash a Nazi scheme to attack a British garrison, earning the everlasting gratitude of heroine Nancy Brooks (Joan Woodbury) and British consol Herbert Forbes (H. B. Warner). Reasonably amusing comedy relief is provided by radio dialectician Parkayarkus, aka Harry Einstein (the father of present-day comic actors Albert Brooks and Bob Einstein). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- H.B. Warner, Walter Woolf King, (more)
- 1943
In this '40s film Kay Kyser parades an entertainment group all over the globe providing laughs for the boys in battle. This film realistically portrays the role of the USO during the WW II time period. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mischa Auer
Bells of San Fernando was advertised as a romantic adventure, but it plays more like a Western. Donald Woods plays an Irish immigrant who teams with Mexican gal Gloria Warren to combat land baron Anthony Warde. Whenever the plot lags, Warren sings. Catch the name of "Renault Duncan" in the screenplay credits of Bells of San Fernando. It's really actor Duncan Renaldo, aka "The Cisco Kid" -- which may explain why the film looks like a thinly disguised "Cisco" episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Woods, Gloria Warren, (more)
- 1943
Though released after Hoppy Serves a Writ, the 1943 Hopalong Cassidy entry Border Patrol was filmed first, to capitalize on America's new "Good Neighbor Policy" with Mexico. Hoppy (William Boyd) and his pals California (Andy Clyde) and Johnny (Jay Kirby), investigate a group of crooks who've been smuggling alien laborers across the border. The villains treat their Mexican help as virtual slaves, killing off anyone who complains. When Hoppy and company invade the illegal work camp, they're subject to a kangaroo court and sentenced to be hanged. But with the help of the Mexican prisoners, our heroes not only escape, but bring the bad guys to justice. Border Patrol features Robert Mitchum in an unbilled bit, but it's difficult to determine whether or not this was his first movie appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William "Hopalong" Boyd, Andy Clyde, (more)
- 1944
At 50 minutes, Call of the South Seas must qualify as the shortest of Republic's non-western B films. Janet Martin plays Tahia, princess of a faraway tropical island. Tahia's people are being victimized by extradition-free crooks led by an unsavory type named Landrau (Roy Barcroft). Disguised as a scruffy beahcomber, FBI agent Kendall Gaige (Allan Lane) infiltrates Landrau's gang, and along the way finds time for romance with Tahia. A climactic motorboat chase during a volcanic eruption, staged by the legendary Lydecker brothers, provided stock footage aplenty for future Republic programmers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Martin, William Henry, (more)
- 1928
Walter Pidgeon was loaned out by his parent studio Warner Bros. to star in the Tiffany-Stahl production Clothes Make the Woman. Yet another variation of the "Anastasia" legend (with a bit of Josef Von Sternberg's The Last Command thrown in), the film casts Pidgeon as a former Russian peasant who emigrates to Hollywood and becomes a powerful movie producer (such things did happen!) While producing his latest epic, Pidgeon spots a familiar-looking female extra (Eve Southern). Sure enough, the girl turns out to be the "lost" Princess Anastasia, last of the Romanoffs. Having previously fallen in love with the Princess when he shielded her from harm during the 1917 Revolution, Pidgeon decides to produce a film based on her life and experiences, with himself as the leading man. But thanks to a tragic on-set accident, Anastasia is once more lost to the world -- this time permanently. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eve Southern, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1940
Republic's "Three Mesquiteers" western series hopscotched all over the calendar, with some entries taking place in the present, others in the far-distant past. As indicated by its title, Covered Wagon Days is a period piece, with heroes Stony Brooke (Robert Livingston), Rusty Joslin (Raymond Hatton) and Rico Rinaldo (Duncan Renaldo) riding into a silver mining camp. The villains keep busy by smuggling the valuable ore across the border, and to add insult to injury have framed Rico's brother Carlos (Paul Marion) on a murder charge. This time it takes only 56 minutes for the Mesquiteers to rout the villains and allow justice to triumph. As always, Covered Wagon Days is enhanced by excellent production values, thoroughly transcending the film's pinchpenny budget. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Raymond Hatton, (more)
- 1939
In this episode of the Three Mesquiteers series of westerns the trio must help two rival sides involved in a range war settle their differences. The story is set in 1906, and the rivals are homesteaders trying to take advantage of Roosevelt's Reclamation Act and the landowners who oppose the act and want to see the Act repealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Raymond Hatton, (more)
- 1937
This poverty-row epic stars William Bakewell as Bob, inventor of a futuristic motorboat engine. Bob's new device may be the salvation for the failing shipping business run by Drexel (Wilfred Lucas), the father of Bob's sweetheart Wynne (Arletta Duncan). But villainous Count Ribalto (Duncan Renaldo) enters the picture, cheating Drexel out of his savings and very nearly ruining his business. Putting his new engine into operation, Bob manages to save the day and send Ribalto packing. It's worth noting that the script for Crime Afloat was written by the film's villain, Duncan Renaldo, long before his career turnaround as TV's Cisco Kid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Bakewell, Arletta Duncan, (more)
Like 1940's Melody Ranch, the 1941 Gene Autry vehicle Down Mexico Way was designed as a "special", to be promoted separately from Autry's regular B-western series as an A-picture attraction. The story gets under way when a pair of con artists, Gibson (Sidney Blackmer) and Allen (Joe Sawyer), breeze into the town of Sage City claiming to be movie producers. The two scoundrels promise to film a movie in the little burg on the condition that the townsfolk pony up the necessary production fees. When Gene Autry and his sidekick Frog (Smiley Burnette) catch up with Gibson and Allen, the two huckster head across the border into Mexico-a big mistake, since reformed bandit Pancho Grande (Harold Huber) and his amigos don't cotton to being swindled. In addition to the expected musical interludes from Gene Autry, Down Mexico Way includes several Latino numbers, courtesy of the Herrera Sisters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls is a romantic drama set against the turbulent tapestry of the Spanish Civil War. Gary Cooper plays Robert Jordan, an idealistic American fighting with a Spanish guerilla band. He is assigned to blow up a crucial bridge in order to halt the enemy's progress. He falls in love with Maria (Ingrid Bergman), a young peasant girl who's joined the fight after being ill-used by enemy troops. Pablo (Akim Tamiroff), the eternally drunken leader of the guerillas, resents Jordan's attentions toward Maria, and he refuses to help Jordan in his sabotage work. Pablo's wife Pilar (Oscar-winner Katina Paxinou) takes over command of the guerillas and helps Jordan by arranging horses for the band's departure after their job is done. The man supplying the horses (Joseph Calleia) is killed, and Jordan is left to finish his task minus a means to escape. For Whom the Bell Tolls was a long, faithful adaptation of the Hemingway novel, with excellent performances, torrid love scenes, and first-rate Technicolor photography. Available for many years only in the 130-minute reissue version, it was restored to nearly its full original length of 168 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, (more)
Gene Autry rescues a young boy from a gang of kidnappers in this delightful musical-Western from Republic Pictures. Having lost their jobs with the rodeo, Gene and sidekick Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) are heading west when they discover a young British stowaway, Ronnie Willoughby (Clifford Severn Jr.), who mistakenly assumes that the two cowboys represent his father's large "Rancho San Quentin." Gene, however, doesn't have the heart to tell the boy that San Quentin is no ranch at all, but the state penitentiary. Along the way, the merry little group picks up a couple of pretty hitchhikers, runaway society bride-to-be Joyce Halloway (June Storey) and her kid sister, Patsy (Mary Lee), and they, too, keep mum about "Rancho San Quentin." In fact, Joyce nobly arranges for her own family ranch to be renamed after the prison lest the boy should learn the truth. Wrongly assuming that Gene and company are kidnappers, Ronnie's father, Frederick (Lester Matthews), makes a daring escape from San Quentin but Gene manages to make it appear as if the escapee is returning from a long and arduous cattle drive. The real kidnappers turn up soon enough, of course, and after the inevitable chase, Willoughby's establishes his innocence and Gene agrees to stay on as Joyce's foreman. Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and girl singer Mary Lee perform no less than seven musical numbers, including the title tune, "The Singing Hills," "Give out With a Song," Headin' for the Wild Open Spaces," and "Wooing of Kitty MacFuty." A television print entitled Keep Rollin' also exists, but without many of the songs and all the Mexican cantina production numbers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1941
It's "The Three Mesquiteers" again, this time played by Bob Steele (as Tucson Smith), Tom Tyler (as Stony Brooke) and Rufe Davis (as Lullaby Joslin). It all begins when young bank robber Gaucho (played by ex-Mesquiteer Duncan Renaldo) is mortally wounded during a holdup. As the lad lays dying, he requests that the Mesquiteers deliver $5000 in stolen funds to his mother (Rosina Galli). Our heroes balk at first, until they realize that the old lady is in danger of losing her ranch to villainous bank president Tyndal (William Ruhl). Critics in 1941 disapproved of showing the Mesquiteers playing fast and loose with the Law, but audiences were far less critical. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, (more)
- 1949
A young boy with problems is assisted by Cisco and Pancho. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1943
There's practically no western action in Hands Across the Border, but there's music aplenty. Roy Rogers stars as a wandering cavalier (named "Roy Rogers", naturally), who comes to the aid of entertainer Kim Adams (Ruth Terry). The daughter of a rancher, Kim does her patriotic bit by raising prize horses for the Army. But villainous Brock Danvers (Onslow Stevens) does his best to keep Kim's stock from reaching the Army, and that's when Rogers comes to the rescue. The final two reels of Hands Across the Border is a virtual nonstop parade of musical numbers by the likes of Hoagy Carmichael and Ned Washington, and featuring Rogers, Ruth Terry, Janet Martin and that zany European comedy trio The Wiere Brothers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers
- 1940
A fast-paced, enjoyable entry in the long-running Three Mesqueteers Western series, Heroes of the Saddle featured the three cowboy pals promising to look after Peggy Bell (Patsy Lee Parsons), the little daughter of mortally wounded rodeo champ Montana (Kermit Maynard). Legal technicalities, however, halt the adoption proceeding and Stony (Robert Livingston), Rusty (Raymond Hatton), and Rico (Duncan Renaldo) can only watch as the little girl is placed in the county orphanage. On a visit, the Mesqueteers discover that Peggy has been injured and Melloney the superintendent (sour-faced Byron Foulger) claims that the institution cannot pay for the necessary treatment. Stony wins the amount in a boxing match against "Killer" McCulley (Jack Roper), only to learn that Melloney is threatening the child to keep quiet about something. The "something" is the fact that Melloney and county supervisor Crone (William Royle) are not only mistreating the children in their care but cooking the books as well. Aided by a pretty nurse, Ruth Miller (Loretta Weaver of the Weaver hillbilly act), the Mesqueeters "kidnap" Peggy and the other kids and bring them to their spacious ranch. There is a final shootout before the three heroes can round up the gang and celebrate the election of a new county supervisor, nurse Ruth. A comic highlight of this Western has Duncan Renaldo pretending to be a department store dummy in order to fool drunken watchman Al Taylor. Heroes of the Saddle was one of the final films of ace villain William Royle, who later that year would appear in perhaps his best-remembered role as Sir Neyland Smith in the serial Drums of Fu Manchu (1940). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1945
The second of Monogram's 1945 trio of "Cisco Kid" westerns, In Old New Mexico stars Duncan Renaldo as Cisco and Martin Garralaga as Pancho. The plot concentrates on heroine Ellen (Gwen Kenyon), a nurse accused of murder. Gallant Cisco "kidnaps" Ellen from the authorities, then sets about to prove her innocence, all with the cooperation of a sympathetic sheriff. Cisco and Pancho stage an elaborate ruse to force a confession out of the genuine killer, which in real life would of course be thrown out of court-but whoever said that these films had anything to do with real life? After a third "Cisco Kid" entry, South of the Rio Grande, Duncan Renaldo would temporarily leave the series, returning with a vengeance three years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Duncan Renaldo, Martin Garralaga, (more)
- 1947
On February 17, 1947, two efforts from Paramount's Pine-Thomas productions were tradeshown in tandem. The first was I Cover Big Town; the second was Jungle Flight.The latter film stars Robert Lowery and Douglas Blackley as Kelly Jordan and Andy Melton, troubleshooting freight pilots engaged in shipping mining equipment to a remote Latin-American company. Hoping to make a quick financial turnover, Melton overloads his plane, and as a result dies in a fiery crash. These leaves Jordan to "fly solo" in every sense of the phrase, attempting to rescue the victims of a second plane crash--and to save runaway wife Laurey Roberts (Ann Savage) from her crooked husband Tom Hammond (Douglas Fowley). Barton MacLane glowers his way through the role of the mine's owner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lowery, Ann Savage, (more)
- 1966
Jungle Gold is the 100-minute cutdown version of the 12-episode Republic serial The Tiger Woman. Linda Stirling makes her serial debut as the Tiger Woman, an athletic young lady who aids hero Allan Lane in his efforts to track down criminals in the jungle town of Alta Vista. Lane is a representative of an oil firm whose fields are being sabotaged by persons unknown. The Tiger Woman is blamed for the sabotage, but she is able to expose the real criminals and their motives, and also to discover her own true identity. The thrilling "cliff hanger" climaxes are somewhat blunted by repetition in this reedited feature, but Perils of the Darkest Jungle still proves beyond doubt that Republic was head and shoulders above everyone else in the chapter-play business. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Carefully measuring the success of Republic's Clyde Beatty serial Darkest Africa, Columbia top-billed wild animal hunter Frank "Bring 'Em Back Alive" Buck in the 15-chapter Jungle Menace. The story takes place in the mythical Asian province of Seemang, where rubber planter Edward Elliot (John St. Polis) owns a huge and profitable plantation. When one of Elliot's shipments is hijacked by river pirates, his daughter Dorothy (Charlotte Henry) and her planter friend Tom Banning (William Bakewell) narrowly escape with their lives. Things get worse when Elliot himself is shot by an unknown assailant, at which point soldier-of-fortune Frank Hardy (Buck) takes a hand in matters. For the rest of the serial, Hardy tries to ascertain the identity of the mysterious villain who wishes to drive Elliot off his property, while poor Dorothy is subjected to one jungle peril after another. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Buck, Reginald Denny, (more)
