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- 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)
Western favorites Ray "Crash" Corrigan and Hoot Gibson head the cast of the 12-chapter Republic serial The Painted Stallion. Corrigan plays American federal agent Steve Clark, on assignment in Santa Fe to draw up a trade agreement with the newly installed Mexican governor. Meanwhile, Walter Jamison (Hoot Gibson) leads a wagon train from Missouri, hoping to take advantage of the new agreement. Among Jamison's passenger are famed frontiersman Jim Bowie (Hal Taliaferro) and a very youthful Kit Carson (Sammy McKim). The destinies of all these personalities intersect when villainous ex-governor DuPrey (LeRoy Mason) schemes to undermine the treaty and take over the New Mexico territory for his own vile purposes. Somewhere along the way, Davy Crockett (Jack Perrin) joins the "good guys" in their efforts to thwart the despicable DuPrey. Years after the release of The Painted Stallion, film historian William K. Everson waxed rhapsodic over a particulary exciting chapter ending-then commented that he hoped never to see that particular ending again, just in case it proved to be less exciting than he remembered. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson, Sammy McKim, (more)
- 1937
The poverty-row origins of Special Agent K-7 are made doubly obvious by its all-bit-player cast. Walter McGrail essays perhaps the largest role in his talkie career as police detective Lanny, who resents the ongoing interference of the local FBI branch. Hoping to show up the feds, Lanny tackles a baffling espionage case all by his lonesome. Things heat up when his gal-reporter sweetheart Ollie (Queenie Smith) is framed for murder by the villains. The actual killer is so obvious to the audience that one contemporary suggested that he shone like a beacon on the screen. Leading lady Queenie Smith, best known for her performance of the soubrette Elly in Show Boat (1936), went on to a long career in character roles, and for a while played the landlady in the "Bowery Boys" series of the 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter McGrail, Queenie Smith, (more)
- 1936
Moonlight Murder takes place virtually in its entirety at the Hollywood Bowl. Despite dire warnings by a sinister mystic (Pedro de Cordoba), opera-star Gino D'Acosta (Leo Carrillo) insists that he will sing in the Bowl's current production of Il Trovatore. He gets no farther than the "Anvil Chorus" before he drops dead in full view of the audience. It turns out that D'Acosta was murdered, placing everyone in the cast under suspicion. As night segues into morning, detective Steve Farrell (Chester Morris) -- whose past mistakes have put him in hot water with his boss -- teams up with lady-scientist Toni Adams (Madge Evans) to piece the clues together. The hot-potato issue of euthanasia is raised during the course of Moonlight Murder, and as a result the film turns out to have one of the most sympathetic and reasonable culprits in "B"-picture history. Trivia alert: One of the suspects is played by Duncan Renaldo, who later co-starred with "victim" Leo Carrillo on TV's The Cisco Kid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Leo Carrillo, (more)
In this drama, a manicurist is mistaken for the winner of a large sweepstakes and finds herself pursued by fortune hunters. One of them wants to marry her for the publicity and a stage contract. The trouble really begins when the real winner shows up. She is more than happy to let the manicurist get all the attention, provided she gets the money. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Farr, William Bakewell, (more)
- 1934
Wisecracking Public Stenographer Ann McNair (Lola Lane) spends most of her time fending off the Roamin' Fingers and Rushin' Hands of her employers. En route to another job, Ann's car stalls on a lonely stretch of road. She is rescued by handsome Jim Martin (William Collier Jr.), who at first behaves as boorishly as all the other men in Ann's life. Eventually, however, Jim falls genuinely in love with Ann, permitting her at long last to drop her hard-boiled veneer. Esther Muir, best remembered as the "wallpapered woman" in the Marx Bros.' A Day at the Races, steals the show as the heroine's best pal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lola Lane, William Collier, Jr., (more)
- 1934
This Poverty Row potboiler stars Sally O'Neil as Diana Wyman, a madcap heiress who manages to run through most of her family's fortune in record time. Cut off from her inheritance, Diana petulantly leaves for parts unknown. The executor of the Wyman estate, who happens to harbor a crush on Diana, dispatches his young assistant George Duncan (Paul Page) to track the girl down. Duncan catches up with our heroine in New Orleans at Mardi Gras time, and in a twinkling they've fallen in love with each other. Reviewers were so bored by The Moth that they reserved their best notices for bit player Fred Kelsey, typecast as usual as a bombastic detective. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally O'Neil, Paul Page, (more)
- 1932
Produced by one of Hollywood's few women executives, Fanchon Royer, this inexpensive "Zorro" rip-off features future Cisco Kid Duncan Renaldo as identical twins separated in childhood by an Indian raid. The remaining twin, Kenneth, later graduates from West Point and falls in love with beautiful Dorothy Brandon (Edwina Booth). Traveling in Mexico with her aunt (Dot Farley), the latter is abducted by lecherous bandit Lopez (Manuel Paris). She is rescued in the proverbial nick of time by El Zorro, a notorious masked outlaw who bears a striking resemblance to Kenneth. When Dorothy pays too much attention to El Zorro, a jealous Kenneth trails the outlaw to his remote hacienda. The ranch is attacked by Lopez and during the struggle to save it, Kenneth realizes that El Zorro is his long-lost twin. Together, the brothers defeat Lopez and Dorothy agrees to marry El Zorro/Johnny, who promises to give up banditry in favor of mining. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edwina Booth, Duncan Renaldo, (more)
- 1931
A major undertaking for M-G-M and the first non-documentary production to be filmed in Africa, Trader Horn starred the veteran Harry Carey in the title-role, Aloysius "Trader" Horn, a white explorer in Darkest Africa. Travelling up a heretofore undiscovered river, Horn and his young companion Peru (Duncan Renaldo) experience strange and disturbing behavior from the native population. As Horn explains: "When the Masai and the Kukua Tribes get together, the devil is certainly involved." Along with their native tracker Renchero (Mutia Omoolo), Horn and Peru encounter Mrs. Edith Trent (Carey's wife Olive Golden), whom Horn calls "the bravest woman in all of Africa," and who is determined to trek above the perilous Opanga Falls in search of her missing daughter Nina, rumored to be the captive of the Isorgi tribe. Although refusing to let Horn and Peru accompany her -- because "the presence of white males with guns will only startle the warriors into violence" -- Mrs. Trent consents to let the men follow her at a distance. Horn discovers the elderly woman's slain body soon after and pledges to continue the search for her missing daughter. After encountering sundry ferocious wildlife fauna along their way, our heroes finally locate Nina (Edwina Booth), who instead of being kept prisoner turns out to be a sadistic white goddess ruling the tribe with an iron fist. Having immediately sentenced the intruders to the stake, Nina has a change of heart in the last moment and agrees instead to accompany them back to civilization. After braving a series of hair raising perils, during one of which Ranchero sacrifices his life to protect his charges, the group are shown to safety by a tribe of pygmies. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Carey, Edwina Booth, (more)
- 1929
FBO's little red-headed cowboy hero Buzz Barton and grizzled Frank Rice once again rights the wrongs of the West in this pleasant oater which was augmented with a music score and various sound effects. This time, the two friends head below the border to the Mexican village of Cajón. The villagers are terrorized by a mysterious outlaw known only as El Lobo and divided in the question of marriage between the mayor's son, Francisco (Duncan Renaldo) and the fiery Dolores (Natalie Joyce). The mayor himself (Tom Lingham) favors a match between Dolores and American Pete Sangor (Bill Patton), while Red Hepner (Barton) and sidekick Hank Robbins (Rice) actively campaign on behalf of Francisco. Red is jailed after pelting Sangor with tomatoes and is thus of no use when the American kidnaps Francisco. During their subsequent search for Francisco, Red and Hank learn that Sangor is actually El Lobo and the film ends with the inevitable showdown on Cajón's main street. Veteran comedian Milburn Morante, who had replaced Rice as Hank Robbins in the previous "Red Hepner" release, The Little Savage, returned, this time in a supporting role. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buzz Barton, Frank Rice, (more)
- 1929
The first of two film versions of Thornton Wilder's novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey begins at the end. The titular bridge, which stands in 18th-century Peru, collapses, killing five people. The natives believe that the bridge's destruction was the result of Divine intervention. Using this as a cue, the film flashes back on the lives of the five victims, allowing the audience to determine whether or not their deaths were deserved. Top-billed as a wanton Spanish dancer/courtesan is Lily Damita, who later gave up her career to become the first wife of Errol Flynn. Originally a silent film, Bridge of San Luis Rey was hastily fitted with an opening and closing reel of dialogue to take advantage of the "all-talkie" craze of 1929. The film was remade in 1945, with perennial "other woman" Lynn Bari in the Lily Damita role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ernest Torrence, Raquel Torres, (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)
