Don Rowan Movies

In this entry in the long running saga of the "Dead End Kids," the East Side boys leave the Big Apple and go to California to seek their fortunes. They'd rather not have to work for their money, but end up working on the ranch of an aged Italian woman who treats her employees kindly (unlike other farmers of the era, who often treated their migrant workers worse than animals). Her son disappeared as a baby and one of the boy's decides to convince her that he is the long lost child in hopes of getting an inheritance. After a while, he is so moved by her kindness that he changes his mind and tries to help her for real when the truckers team up with a union to keep her harvest from reaching the market. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Amid the political chaos sweeping across the world in 1939, a new terror arises -- the Purple Death -- and people around the world succumb at random by the hundreds, then thousands, with the identifying symptom being a purple spot on the victim. The authorities are baffled as to the cause or the treatment, and panic is spreading. Dr. Alexis Zarkov (Frank Shannon) determines that the Purple Death is linked to extraterrestrial events. Along with Flash Gordon (Larry "Buster" Crabbe) and Dale Arden (Carolyn Hughes), Zarkov finds an alien spaceship, which they recognize as being from the planet Mongo, home of their old enemy, Ming the Merciless, spreading some sort of dust in the Earth's upper atmosphere. Flash, Dale, and Zarkov head for Mongo, where they discover that Emperor Ming (Charles B. Middleton), whom they believed had been killed at the end of their battle with him on Mars (told in Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars), is still alive. He is threatening not only to conquer all of Mongo, but is attacking Earth again, using a "Death Dust" spread by his spaceships that will eventually destroy everyone on Earth.

Flash, Dale, and Zarkov form an alliance with their old friend, Prince Barin (Roland Drew), the rightful ruler of Mongo, who with his wife, Princess Aura (Shirley Deane) -- Ming's own daughter -- rules the peaceful kingdom of Arboria, resisting Ming's military might with their small fleet of ships, the aid of neighboring free kingdoms, and the help of a tiny handful of officers within Ming's own palace who remain loyal to the prince. Their first task is to secure a neutralizing agent for the Death Dust, which exists in the frozen northern kingdom of Frigia, but before they can do that, they have to free the imprisoned Frigian military leader General Lupi (Ben Taggart), who has been captured by Ming. Flash rescues the general, who is about to be used as the subject of a scientific experiment, and secures the aid and gratitude of the Frigians. This barely slows Ming in his plans for conquest, however, and over the next 11 chapters, Flash Gordon and his friends and allies -- including Ronal (Donald Curtis), Roka (Lee Powell), and Captain Suden (William Royle) -- take their battle for the safety of the Earth and the freedom of Mongo to the far reaches of the planet. Battling Ming and his villainous henchmen -- including Captain Torch (Don Rowan) and Lady Sonja (Anne Gwynne) -- from Mongo's frozen northern wastes to its uncharted deserts, Flash and his allies outmaneuver and generally outfight and outwit Ming's larger, better equipped army and spaceship fleet, but they are nearly undone by the spies that Ming has placed in Barin's own household. The bravery of the Earth hero and his friends, and the patriotism and sacrifices of Mongo's people ultimately prove too much for the evil emperor, who finally faces impending destruction from one of his own fiendish inventions. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

A man is wrongfully convicted of a crime and sent to prison. Realizing that he is the victim of political shenanigans, he dutifully does his time. Eventually he comes up for parole, but the crooked official behind his incarceration, fearing that the prisoner will expose him, makes sure that parole is denied. The innocent inmate has only one consolation-- the prison nurse believes him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Monogram's low-budget Jack Randall Western series went through a change of supervisor/writer with this entry -- Lindsley Parsons replacing Robert Emmett Tansey -- but the improvements, if any, were hardly noticeable. Randall (the brother of better-known B-Western star Robert Livingston) played a Civil War veteran returning to find his father murdered and the family stage line in the hands of Cartwright (Davidson Clark). The quick-tempered Slade (Don Rowan) is convicted of the crime but the real culprit is, of course, the aforementioned Mr. Cartwright, a supposedly solid citizen. Producer/writer Parsons delivered no surprises and Spencer Gordon Bennet's direction was perfunctory at best. The comedy relief, such as it was, was provided by Al St. John, who brought his popular (and endurable) Fuzzy Q. Jones characterization with him from Gower Gulch company Spectrum's Fred Scott musical Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A bad seed tries to keep his older brother from making the same mistakes in this crime drama. The latter is a prize fighter who is becoming entangled with the mob. The younger one is already connected and doesn't want to see gangsters exploiting his elder sibling. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Diminutive Danny (Frankie Darro) is Wanted by the Police in this Monogram actioner. Danny is basically a good boy, but he's fallen into bad company-specifically, a gang of toughs who have a habit of taking automobiles that belong to others. The hero's Irish mother (Lillian Elliot) finally figures out what's been going on and begs Danny to cease and desist. When this fails, Mom enlists the aid of Danny's sister Kathleen (Evalyn Knapp) and Kathleen's police-officer boyfriend Mike (Robert Kent) to right old wrongs and set Danny on the proper course. Wanted by the Police was partially remade as the 1948 "Bowery Boys" entry Angels Alley, which also featured Frankie Darro. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide