Warner P. Richmond Movies

Filmed in less than glorious two-strip Cinecolor, this average Eddie Dean western benefited from Dean performing "Ride on the Tide of a Song", "Journey's End"and "I Can Tell by the Stars". The story surrounding all this warbling, however, was the standard one of a gang of thugs interfering with the building of the telegraph. Headed by Drake Dawson (Terry Frost) and a crooked lay judge (Warner P. Richmond), the gang stirs up trouble among the local Indians, who are persuaded that the telegraph may mean the end of the buffalo. Enter retired rangers Eddie Dean, Soapy Jones (Roscoe Ates) and Stormy Day (Al "Lash" La Rue), who are persuaded back in harness to secure the prompt continuation of the building project. Carrie Bannister (Sarah Padden), the widow of a slain ranger captain, persuades her friend Chief Black Fox (Chief Yowlachie) to help secure the telegraph rather than oppose its construction. On their way to gather more information on the outlaws, Soapy and Skinny (Robert "Buzzy" Henry, Mrs. Bannister's young son, are ambushed by Dawson's men. Discovering an abandoned gun near a wounded Skinny, Soapy recognizes the weapon as belonging to the murdered Captain Bannister. When Eddie learns that Dawson himself is carrying a matching gun, Bannister's murderer has finally been found. The rangers arrive just in time to round up the gang and, peace finally restored, a recovered Skinny is made an honorary ranger. A truncated black and white version of this film was released in 1948 under the title of Prairie Outlaws, presumably in order to cash in on the appearance of Al "Lash" La Rue, who by then had his own starring series. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In the penultimate "Trail Blazers" B-Western, the often difficult Ken Maynard found himself summarily replaced by Chief Thundercloud, a somewhat original casting concept for Monogram, a stolid poverty row company that rarely took chances. Thundercloud joined veteran "Trail Blazers" Hoot Gibson and Bob Steele and yet another newcomer, Rocky Camron (aka Gene Alsace), in pursuing nasty "Honest John" Travers (Cy Kendall), a banker who rules the Johnstown area with an iron fist. "Honest John's" supremacy is threatened by the arrival of beef packing company buyer Carl Beldon (George Eldredge), there to purchase cattle from the very same ranchers Travers is trying to freeze out. When Beldon mysteriously disappears and rancher Bob Thornton is mortally wounded by renegades, U.S. Marshals Gibson, Steele and Thundercloud are assigned to investigate. With the assistance of Thornton's pretty daughter Alice (Jennifer Holt) and Sheriff Rocky Camron), the three "Trail Blazers" manage to get the goods on "Honest John," proving that the banker's henchman, Chuck Walters (Charles King), killed both Thornton and Beldon. In no less than her fifteenth B-Western, leading lady Jennifer Holt, daughter of Jack and sister of Tim, suffered the indignity of having her first name misspelled "Jenifer" in the on-screen credits. She shared the humiliation with legendary Native-American athlete Jim Thorpe, whose name read "Thorp." Monogram was just that kind of company. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Monogram's answer to Republic's Gene Autry, Tex Ritter was never successful in his choice of sidekicks. In Pals of the Silver Sage he had to contend with bucolic Slim Andrews, who at least was a personal friend if no bargain in the comedy department. But this time he was also saddled with one Sugar Dawn, a very resistible child actress who would reappear in The Golden Trail) (not to mention haunt Tom Keene in no less than five consecutive oaters). Ritter, Andrews and little Miss Dawn filmed Pals of the Silver Sage in picturesque Tejon Ranch near Lebec, California, but that was the really the Western's only recommendation. Orphaned Sugar Dawn is in danger of losing her ranch unless she can make the deadline for a cattle delivery. But foreman Jeff (Dawn?) (Carleton Young), who is also the girl's cousin, is in the employ of nefarious neighbor Vic Insley (Glenn Strange). Enter Tex Wright (Ritter) and his sidekick Cactus (Andrews) who concoct a scheme to trap the villains. Tex is mistaken for a rustler along the way but everything is cleared up within the allotted 52 minutes. Ritter sang Prairie Fairy Tale by Johnny Lange and Lew Porter but otherwise kept the warbling to a minimum. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In his sixth of nine Monogram releases of 1940, Tex Ritter played a U.S. Marshal coming to the aid of a beleaguered schoolmarm. The latter was played by blonde Dorothy Fay, who had appeared in two previous Westerns with Ritter. By this time they were dating and would soon marry, a lifelong union that produced 1980s television personality John Ritter. Investigating a series of rustlings, Ritter and his bucolic sidekick Slim Chance (Slim Andrews) discover that the only school in the valley is threatened with closure by nasty town boss Jim Rader (James Pierce). Rader, as it turns out, is also behind the rustlings, but he had obviously not counted by Marshal Ritter and his flying fists. Backed by Romaine Lowdermilk and His Ranch House Cowboys, Ritter and Andrews performed Fleming Allen's title-tune, Johnny Lange and Lew Porter's Poor Slim and My Tonto Basin Home by Garland Edmundson. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

As in his previous two Westerns, Mexicali Kid and Wild Horse Canyon (both 1938), Jack Randall goes in search of his brother's killer in this low-budget series entry from Monogram. All three films were penned by line producer Robert Emmett Tansey, but the economy in both thought and deed was alarming even for a threadbare outfit such as Monogram. Randall played the title role in Trigger Smith, a former lawman whose brother, the Marshal of Piru, is killed during a bank heist. Trigger and his sidekick, Lopez (rotund Frank Yaconelli), obtain jobs as hands at a ranch belonging to Jean (Joyce Bryant) and her brothers, Buck (juvenile trick roper Bobby Clark) and Bud (Dennis Moore). The latter proves to be in cahoots with the bank robbers, but is killed in the climactic melee. Moore must have been able to portray this character in his sleep; it was identical to the one he had played in the previous Randall entry, Wild Horse Canyon, even down to heroically taking a bullet meant for Jack. The last scene of the film was lifted almost intact from Randall's debut Western, Riders of the Dawn (1937). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In what must have seemed like a good idea at the time, Grand National pictures attempted to build a series of westerns around a singing cowgirl, played by Dorothy Page. In Ride 'Em Cowgirl, Page acquits herself nicely as Helen Rickson, who tries to combat the villains all by her lonesome. Though she is helped along by muscular barbed-wire lineman Oliver Shea (played by character actor Milton Frome in a rare romantic lead), it is clear that Helen is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. The studio's advertising copy claimed that Dorothy Page did all her own stunts, from roping to riding to shooting, and from the looks of things this was a true assertion. That Ride 'Em Cowgirl was not a particularly good western didn't seem to concern anybody at the studio, which quickly churned out two additional Dorothy Page vehicles, Water Rustlers and (what else?) The Singing Cowgirl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Amazingly, this Jack Randall series Western from Monogram was almost a remake of Randall's previous effort, Mexicali Kid. Both films were written by the series' line producer, Robert Emmett Tansey, and both starred Randall as a cowboy searching for his brother's killer. As in Mexicali Kid, Randall seeks refuge at a Western ranch where he reveals the foreman (Warner Richmond in this instance) to be the head of a gang of rustlers. Richmond, who is in cahoots with the rancher's son (Dennis Moore), naturally proves to be the same villain who killed Jack's brother. Jack sets a trap for the gang and Moore turns heroic just in time to be mortally wounded by his boss. Rotund Frank Yaconelli played Randall's sidekick and pert ingénue Dorothy Short (of Reefer Madness fame) provided feminine appeal as Moore's innocent sister. Launched by Monogram as a singing cowboy in 1937, Randall's vocal abilities were soundly trashed by the critics and his later films were devoid of musical interludes. By 1939, the series was running on empty and Randall's follow-up to Mexicali Kid and Wild Horse Canyon, Trigger Smith (1939), trotted out the revenge story for an astonishing third time in a row, a record even for Monogram and Robert Emmett Tansey. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Released in typical "roadshow" manner with tag-lines such as "Where lust was called just!" and "A throbbing drama of shackled youth!", this exploitation melodrama set in Appalachia was ostensibly an outcry against the outmoded mountain custom of grown men marrying teenagers. The local schoolmarm (Diana Durrell) and her district attorney boyfriend (Frank Martin) work feverishly on the governor to raise the age of consent. Their efforts, however successful, are too late for young Jennie Colton (Shirley Mills) who is forced into an unseemly union with blackmailing Jake Bolby (Warner Richmond), a man close to thirty years her senior. The girl is saved in the nick of time by her age appropriate boyfriend Freddie Nulty (Bob Bollinger) and an ostracized dwarf, Angelo. The latter shoots and kills Bolby "in the act," so to speak. Despite impoverished production values and atrocious acting by the majority of the cast members, Child Bride at least appears to take its drama serious. Until, that is, two-thirds of the way through when producer Raymond Friedgen and veteran director Harry J. Revier finally show their hands. The sequence, a sort of coming-of-age scene between the prepubescent Mills and Bollinger, culminates in a completely gratuitous nude swim by Mills, made lurid by cross-cutting to villain Richmond, lustfully leering at the girl from a cliff above. The scene was obviously Child Bride's main selling point and the reason for its longevity on the exploitation circuit. Despite all that, little Shirley Mills, who earlier had played Ruth Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), actually makes a very appealing little heroine and her acting is flawless throughout. Mills, Warner Richmond and veteran Hollywood dwarf Angelo Rossitto (who for unknown reasons is billed "Don Barrett") appear to be the sole professionals among the cast members, some of whom are almost too realistic-looking for comfort. Typical for low-budget affairs such as this, Miss Mills' last name was misspelled "Miles" in the credits and in the usual outrageous art-work. Needless to say, the film was banned outright in many places -- a fate it shared with the later similarly themed Lolita -- not only because of subject matter and the gratuitous child nudity but also because Rossitto appeared to literally get away with murder. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This 15-chapter Columbia serial is largely set on a remote Carribean island (which looks suspiciously like Catalina). Reporter Larry Kent (Don Terry) arrives on the island to investigate the disappearance of another newshound. It turns out that somewhere in the area is buried a valuable treasure, for which there exists half of a map. Toni Morrell (Gwen Gaze), the daughter of an old salt whose murdered partner knew the location of the treasure, joins forces with Larry to solve his friend's disappearance-and, hopefully, dig up the buried loot. They are opposed at every turn by the evil Collins (Walter Miller), who has a seemingly endless supply of weapons, land mines and henchmen at his disposal. Adding to Larry and Toni's burden is the presence of the mysterious Dr. X (Hobart Bosworth), who is hard at work developing a new and powerful explosive. And as if that weren't enough, Larry is obliged at several junctures to battle an unknown assailant disguised as a 17th century pirate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Just before going on a brief one-man strike for better wages, Gene Autry starred in the Republic musical western Prairie Moon. In this one, a trio of tough Chicago orphans are relocated to the Wild West and ensconsed in their late uncle's ranch. The three street punks-Brains (Tommy Ryan), Nails (Walter Tetley) and Slick (David Gorcey)-are the sons of Chicago gangster who was put "on the spot" while hiding out at the ranch. With Autry's help, the kids learn to assimilate themselves to the Wide Open Spaces, and even manage to break up a gang of cowboy racketeers. Shirley Deane, late of 20th Century-Fox's "Jones Family" series, is an appealing heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The third entry in a series of 22 Jack Randall Westerns, Stars Over Arizona was the last to be directed by the veteran Robert North Bradbury. Apparently losing confidence in the Randall vehicles early on, Monogram producer Maurice Conn would henceforth assign Randall lesser talents such as J.P. McGowan, Robert Hill, and Raymond K. Johnson. Randall played Jack Dawson, a government agent assigned to return the kidnapped son of Arizona's governor. The kidnapper proves to be Ace Carter (Warner Richmond), a nasty cattle rustler operating out of Tuba City, AZ, and the governor sends enforcement consisting of four former convicts who all owe Jack their lives. Although one of the convicts betrays him, Jack manages to rescue the kidnapped youngster (Sherry Tansey) and bring Carter and his gang to justice. Randall's sidekick, Grizzley, played earlier by George Cooper, was here portrayed by weatherbeaten Horace Murphy, an appealing comic character actor. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Two government agents are assigned to bust up a gold smuggling ring located on the Mexican border. One of the agents, a beautiful, talented singer, goes undercover as a singer in one of the Mexican clubs. Using her considerable wiles she then begins trying to seduce the ring leader. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on Clarence E. Mulford's Mesquite Jenkins, Tumbleweed from 1932, Heart of the West addresses the issue of fences on the hitherto free range. Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) and Johnny Nelson (James Ellison) have been hired to head a cattle drive by Trumbull (Sidney Blackmer), but then learn that their would-be employer is waging a war against young rancher Jim Jordan (Charles Martin). The latter is erecting fences on his part of the range in order to keep his cattle pure. At first, Hoppy is less than willing to accept Jim's offer of a job, but he agrees once it becomes clear that Trumbull has been using Jim's Black Valley as a safe conduit for cattle rustlings. Heart of the West, which came complete with a title song by Sam Coslow and Victor Young, was partially filmed along California's Kern River. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide