Carl Stockdale Movies

In this war comedy, an army reject becomes a war hero by rounding up a ring of Nazi spies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Tim Holt and sidekicks Ray Whitley and Emmett Lynn join an outlaw gang in this RKO Western filmed on-location at Victorville, CA, and at the Walker and Jauregui movie ranches. When their friend Pop Edwards is shot (in the back, no less) by Doc Randall (Robert Fiske) and his crew, Jeff (Holt), Smokey (Whitley), and Whopper (Lynn) take it upon themselves to avenge him. They do so by infiltrating the gang, and, in time, are awarded assistance by the sheriff (Hal Taliaferro) and café singer Mary Loring (Betty Jane Rhodes). The latter sings "My Grand Pap" and "Old Monterey Moon," both by Whitley and Fred Rose. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This classic fantasy was based on a story by Stephen Vincent Benet. Jabez Stone (James Craig) is a simple New England farmer who has been suffering from a long run of bad luck. One day he mutters that he'd sell his soul for a little money and a decent crop. Moments later, who should appear but The Evil One himself, Mr. Scratch (Walter Huston). Scratch offers Stone seven years of wealth and good fortune in exchange for his soul; Stone, assuming it's some sort of joke, agrees. Soon Stone's fields are plentiful and money is rolling in, but his financial success comes with a price; he becomes a cold and greedy tyrant, losing the affection of his family and the respect of his peers. In time, Stone realizes that he's made a terrible mistake and that Scratch won't let him out of their deal without a fight. Desperate to regain his soul, Stone turns to the greatest legal and oratorical mind of his day, Daniel Webster (Edward Arnold), who challenges Scratch to put his contract with Stone to the test in a fair trial. While a critical success and a favorite of film buffs, The Devil and Daniel Webster fared poorly at the box office; it was eventually released under five different titles and clipped to 85 minutes in hopes of winning a larger audience, though it was restored to a 107-minute length for release on home video. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Having previously portrayed Wild Bill Hickok on screen, cowboy hero Bill Elliot impersonates another famed frontiersman in The Return of Daniel Boone. Somehow finding himself in the 19th century west, Daniel Boone takes on a pair of clever crooks, one of whom (Walter Soderling) serves as mayor of a small prairie town. The despicable duo has been growing wealthy by imposing huge taxes on the local populace, but Boone ain't a-gonna stand for that much longer. The more amusing than usual comedy-relief subplot involves a pair of pretty twin girls, who manage to drive Boone's sidekick Cannonball (Dub Taylor) plumb loco. Director Lambert Hillyer, whose career in westerns extended all the way back to the William S. Hart days, wraps everything up in a tight 60 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Scattergood Pulls the Strings was the second in a series of B pictures based on the long-running radio series Scattergood Baines. Guy Kibbee returns as Baines, the philosophy-dispensing proprietor of the general store in the village of Coldriver. Living up to the film's title, Scattergood manages to solve practically everyone's problems in the course of the film's brief running time. He is especially effective in helping a pair of young lovers (Susan Peters and James Corner) achieve their life's ambition, and in reuniting a 10-year-old boy (Bobs Watson) with his long-missing father (silent screen veteran Monte Blue). If this film were any more heartwarming, it would catch fire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his first starring Western for RKO, young Tim Holt must not only carry on his father's freight business but also hunt down his murderer. A certain Matt Gardner (Cliff Clark) wants to corner the freight business to Pecos and persuades young Zack Sibley's wagon master (Wade Crosby) to switch sides. Zack also earns the enmity of Gardner's son Coe (Malcolm McTaggart), who takes umbrage to the youngster's flirtation with pretty Helen Lee (Martha O'Driscoll). It all comes to a head during a food shortage in Pecos, a near-disaster that persuades the wagon master to switch sides once again. When the dust settles, Zack learns that old man Gardner is actually Carl Anderson, the man who murdered his father. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Retired frontier postal inspector Dan Clark (George O'Brien) is summoned back to active duty when the stagecoach line owned by heroine Crinnie (Virginia Vale) is targetted by outlaws. The perpetrator of this outrage is Crinnie's own uncle (Carl Stockdale), in cahoots with her principal rival Dude Elliot (Roy Barcroft). Travelling incognito, Clark takes a job as stagecoach driver in hopes of bringing the criminals out in the open. Stage to Chino represented the directorial debut of Edward Killy, one of the most prolific members of RKO Radio's assistant-director staff. At the time of its release, much was made of the fact that the film featured several former silent-film luminaries in the supporting cast, including Elmo "Tarzan" Lincoln, Billy Franey and Bruce Mitchell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An heiress gets a crash course in the simple life when she marries a penniless man in this comedy. Calvin Jordan (Henry O'Neill) is the prosperous owner of a successful steel mill, and the apple of his eye is his daughter Cora (Myrna Loy). Cora stands to inherit Calvin's firm, and he's taken it upon himself to find a good husband for her. However, free-spirited Cora doesn't think much of her father's skills as a matchmaker, and makes it clear she's going to marry whomever she pleases. One day, Cora meets Bill Overton (Robert Taylor), a jobless and homeless man camping out on a park bench. After bumming fifty cents from a cop, Bill offers to take Cora out to dinner; instead, they end up gambling, and turn the four bits into a bankroll. After a few too many celebratory drinks, Bill and Cora decide true love and good fortune are shining upon them, and they get married the same evening. However, the next day the newlyweds realize they are indeed husband and wife, and after defying her father Cora can't count on her dad's help in paying the bills anymore. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The "Lady" of the title is horse-farm owner Penelope Hollis (Ellen Drew), but during the first half of this film, bookie Marty Black (George Raft) only has eyes for Penelope's prize two-year-old. After losing his gambling joint, Marty finds himself with half ownership of the horse as his sole asset. He tries to persuade Penelope to continue racing the horse, but she will have none of this and packs the nag back to her Kentucky farm. Through Marty's persistence, the horse is entered in an important stake race, but in the process is "ridden out" and rendered useless. The enraged Penelope refuses to have anything to do with Marty again unless he changes his reckless ways-which of course he does. The best moment in The Lady's From Kentucky comes at the end, when supporting players Hugh Herbert ("Woo woo!") and ZaSu Pitts ("Oh, dear, oh, my") imitate each other's catch-phrases, a gag repeated the following year by Mae West and W.C. Fields in My Little Chickadee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frontier Pony Express is a fast-paced Roy Rogers program western which could stand up on its own with any big-budgeted "A" picture. Per the title, Rogers plays an express rider, working the California-to-Kansas City route. While the Civil War rages in the East, our hero must contend with Yankee and Rebel forces who've encroached upon his home turf, both trying to win California over to their side. Meanwhile, businessman Lassiter (Edward Keane), ostensibly on the Confederate side, is actually a mercenary who hopes to play one army against the other so that he can move in and take over the territory himself. There's an awful lot of plot in this 58-minute oater, but Roy Rogers still finds time to serenade leading lady Mary Hart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lawless Valley is one of the best of George O'Brien's series westerns for RKO Radio. Falsely accused of orchestrating a stage robbery with his conveniently deceased father, O'Brien spends the rest of the film trying to clear his name. Along the way, he uncovers the perfidy of land baron Fred Kohler Sr. (in his last film role), who's been committing murders all over the place to grab up every piece of the surrounding territory. Kohler even tries to inveigle heiress Kay Sutton into a forced marriage with his son to strengthen his land holdings. Forcing a confession from corrupt sheriff Earle Hodgins, O'Brien is able to tighten the noose around Kohler's neck, but not before a fistic set-to reminiscent of the similar O'Brien-Kohler donnybrook in 1924's The Iron Horse. Adding to the enjoyment of Lawless Valley is the presence in of Fred Kohler Jr., appropriately cast as Fred Kohler Sr.'s offspring. At one point, Kohler Jr. stands up to his father, whereupon Kohler Sr. growls "Careful, son--you're talkin' to your dad, you know!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed on location, Hawaiian Buckaroo is certainly the most novel of the Smith Ballew westerns. Pineapple plantation worker Jeff Howard (Ballew) and his pal Mike (Benny Burt) go to work on a cattle ranch run by haughty Paula Harrington (Evelyn Knapp). It doesn't take long for our heroes to figure out that Paula's foreman Riga (Georges Regas) is a crook. Acting quickly, Jeff and Mike prevent Riga and his confederates (Harry Woods and Pat O'Brien -- no, not that Pat O'Brien) from depleting Paula's stock for their own purposes. Ethnic humor is provided by black actor Fred "Snowflake" Toones, while Honolulu cabaret entertainer Princess Luana shows up unbilled. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Directed competently by the veteran William Nigh, this ultra low-budget Western from diminutive Crescent Pictures Corp. features something as unusual as a hero who is also a medical doctor. The Homestead Act of 1862 not yet enforced in Johnson County, Iowa, the local homesteaders find themselves terrorized by a gang night riders. Town leader Jed Johnson (Carl Stockdale, whose property is under threat from the land grabbers, is inclined to answer force with force but is persuaded by Dr. Keith Kenton (Tom Keene) to instead found a Land Claim Association and try the usurpers in court. Jed is murdered by Frago (Matthew Betz), and his children, Mary Lee (Lorraine Hayes) and Danny (David Sharpe), blame Keith. The secret leader of the gang, John Abbott (Robert Fiske), persuades Danny to head a protective agency and the homesteaders are conned into signing over half their income to Abbott. Keith, meanwhile, secures a guarantee from the governor that law and order must be enforced but returns to Johnson City to find another of the homesteaders (Horace B. Carpenter) killed and Danny accused of being in cahoots with Abbott. Appointed special agent by the governor, Keith arranges for Abbott and Danny to be tried in court. When Frago attempts to kill a witness, Abbott is convicted of being behind the crimes. Well-acted in most parts, The Law Commands was the seventh of eight westerns Tom Keene made for Crescent Pictures. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide