Barbara Bestar Movies
- 1956
Secretary Clara Gibbons (Barbara Bestar) tells Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) that her employer, stockbroker Henry Orleon, has left town with all the company records--after paying her a month's salary in advance. Clara further insists that Orleon is up to no good because her "mama" says so, and "mama" is always right. It turns out that the slippery Mr. Orleon has masterminded a widespread uranium stock swindle with the unwitting aid of wealthy philanthropist Mrs. Lorrington (Claudia Bryar). This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of May 3, 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The Killers from Space in this low-budget sci-fier are a group of aliens bent on conquering the earth. To this end, they overtake the mind and body of atomic scientist Peter Graves, using the poor man as a combination spy and saboteur. When Graves realizes this, he tries to warn mankind, but no one believes him. Marching defiantly back to the aliens' Bronson Canyon headquarters, where the slimy villains are busily syphoning off electrical power from a nearby generator, Graves vows to stop the extraterrestrials at any cost...including his own life (or what there's left of it). The makeup used for the aliens is laughable, but the film works so long as it concentrates on Graves' plight. Produced and directed by W. Lee Wilder, the brother of the more celebrated Billy Wilder, Killers from Space was distributed in the US by RKO Radio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Graves, James Seay, (more)
- 1954
Masked crimefighter El Latigo fights the baddies and works for justice in this wild western. Man with a Steel Whip was a popular 1950s Republic studio serial. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1953
No relation to the 1973 Burt Reynolds vehicle of the same name, White Lightning is a passable programmer about a champion ice hockey team. Stanley Clements plays Mike, an arrogant young hockey player who immediately alienates his new teammates. Team manager Jack (Steve Brodie) tries to convince Mike to quit grandstanding, but to no avail. The plot rears its ugly head when a group of gangsters try to coerce Mike into fixing a few games. At long last, Mike's responsibility to his fellow players is awakened, and a happy ending is had by all (except the gangsters). White Lightning was the first Monogram "B" picture to be released by Monogram's successor Allied Artists; it would not be the last. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Clements, Steve Brodie, (more)
- 1953
Safari Drums was the ninth entry in Monogram's "Bomba the Jungle Boy" series. Johnny Sheffield once more stars as Bomba, while his usual director Ford Beebe calls the shots. The villain is an avaricious guide (Douglas Kennedy) who has murdered a famed geologist. The killer is a member of a film-making unit that has come to Africa to lens a documentary. His motivation for the murder was a fortune in diamonds. Bomba disposes of the baddie by summoning aid from his animal friends. Ironically, this same solution was used in the like-vintage Tarzan and the She-Devil -- and as everybody knows, Johnny Sheffield used to play "Boy" in the Tarzan pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Sheffield, Douglas Kennedy, (more)
- 1949
This Allan "Rocky" Lane western offers nothing new under the sun. Lane's fans expected nonstop action, and that's what they got. Our hero is called upon to halt a series of gold-shipment robberies. Someone is supplying the crooks with routing information, enabling them to await the arrival of the stagecoaches, guns in hand. The audience is on to the identity of the "mystery villain" long before Lane, but being able to second-guess the hero was part of the fun back in 1949. Without giving anything away, note that the supporting cast of Navajo Trail Raiders includes Eddy Waller as a coach driver, Barbara Bestar as Waller's pretty daughter, Hal Landon as Barbara's beau, and Robert Emmet Keane as a crusading journalist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allan Lane, Eddy Waller, (more)
