Glenn Strange Movies

More so than most wartime films, Mission to Moscow must be viewed within the context of its times. Requested by President Roosevelt to make a film supportive of America's Russian allies, Warner Bros. turned to the memoirs of Ambassador Joseph H. Davies, who spent several years prior to WWII in the Soviet Union. As played by Walter Huston, Davies is a pillar of incorruptable integrity, reporting the facts "as I saw them" (only in later years was Davies revealed to be something less than a paragon of virtue who was willing to alter opinions for political, personal and financial expedience). Sent to Moscow by FDR as a means of finding out if Russia is a potentially trustworthy ally in case of war, Davies and his family are given the royal treatment by the Commissars, who display the social, technological, agricultural and artistic advances made under the Stalin regime. Invariably, the Russian citizens are shown to be singing, smiling, freedom-loving rugged individuals-in contrast to the Nazis, who are depicted as humorless automatons. In its efforts to present the USSR in the best possible light, the film glosses over the notorious Purge Trials of 1937, presenting the trials as scrupulously fair and the defendants as unabashed traitors to the Soviet cause. At one point, Russia's annexation of Finland in 1939 is "justified" by Davies' explanation that the Soviets merely wanted to protect their tiny neighbor from Nazi domination! It is unfair to label Mission to Moscow as Communistic or even left-wing, since it was merely parroting the official party line vis-a-vis US/Soviet relations in 1943. Even so, screenwriter Howard Koch found it very difficult to get film work after the war because of his contributions to this "Pinko" project (conversely, Jack Warner pulled a Pontius Pilate, washing his hands of the matter by insisting that he was strongarmed into making the film). Seen objectively, Mission to Moscow is top-rank entertainment, superbly and excitingly assembled in the manner typical of Warners and director Michael Curtiz. The huge cast includes Gene Lockhart as Molotov, attorney Dudley Field Malone as Winston Churchill, Maynart Kippen as a benign, pipe-smoking Stalin, Charles Trowbridge as Secretary Cordell Hull, Leigh Whipper as Hailie Selassie, Georges Renavent as Anthony Eden and Alex Chirva as Pierre Laval, along with the more familiar faces of Ann Harding (as Mrs. Davies), George Tobias, Eleanor Parker, Moroni Olsen, Minor Watson, Jerome Cowan, Duncan Renaldo, Mike Mazurki, Frank Faylen, Edward van Sloan, Louis-Jean Heydt, Monte Blue, Robert Shayne and even Sid (sic) Charisse. Original prints of Mission to Moscow include a 6-minute prologue delivered by the real Joseph Davies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this "Billy the Kid" series western, Billy (Buster Crabbe) is framed by an outlaw gang. Fortunately, state governor Arnold (Karl Hackett) is in Billy's corner, and surreptitiously helps Our Hero prove his innocence and bring the crooks to heel. But he'd better hurry: part of the bad guys' frame involves the kidnapping of Mary (Marjorie Manners), the governor's daughter. Al St. John as usual provides genuine laughs as Billy's sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones. Though Buster Crabbe's PRC westerns were as a group pretty threadbare, Western Cyclone is definitely better than usual. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Western drama, Steve Upton (Randolph Scott) is the sheriff of a Utah community in 1860. Upton's best friend, Cheyenne Rogers (Glenn Ford), was once an outlaw, but under Steve's guidance, he's gone straight and tries to earn an honest living. However, while Cheyenne is in town to pay Upton a visit, the local bank is robbed and Cheyenne is the prime suspect. Through Cheyenne is quickly convicted, Upton is convinced his friend is innocent, and the sheriff helps the former outlaw break out of jail; together, they hit the trail trying to find the real culprits and clean up the town. The Desperadoes had the distinction of being the first Technicolor feature released by Columbia Pictures. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Juilliard-educated former opera-singer George Houston once again played vigilante turned champion of justice Tom Cameron, known colloquially as "The Lone Rider," in this low-budget PRC series entry. Cameron comes to the aid of his friend, the sheriff of Big Horn (Dennis Moore), who's having trouble with a bandit (Carl Sepulveda) masquerading as the legendary outlaw Joaquin Murietta. Sepulveda has been hired by a saloon keeper (Glenn Strange) to scare the area's prospectors into selling or abandoning their claims. Leading lady Vicki Lester refuses to sell, and her house is promptly torched. Enter heroic Cameron, who in between warbling such tunes as "I'm the Best Man in the West" and "Down the Moonlit Trail," manages to put a stop to Strange's reign of terror. Al St. John was once again Houston's comic sidekick, Fuzzy Jones, and the Western also featured future singing cowboy Eddie Dean in a bit part. Lester had "appropriated" her screen moniker from Janet Gaynor's character in A Star Is Born (1937). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

"The Range Busters" -- "Crash" (Ray "Crash" Corrigan), Dusty (John "Dusty" King), and "Alibi" (Max Terhune) -- go up against yet another licentious saloon owner in this Western series entry from Monogram. As it turns out, the saloon proprietor, Brand Bolton (John Merton), is actually in the employ of Sundance's corrupt mayor (Budd Buster), who dabbles in a bit of stage robbing on the side. Lawman "Crash" Corrigan, who is thought by everyone to have been killed by a local thug, The Maverick (Glenn Strange), is actually very much alive and manages to collect enough evidence to not only prosecute Bolton but also go after the mayor. But first he and "Dusty" must free disgruntled saloon girl May Meadows (Jean Brooks) and "Alibi," who have been kidnapped. Leading lady Brooks later played Kim Hunter's mysterious sister in the Val Lewton thriller The Seventh Victim (1943). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this western, Roy plays both the villain and the hero. As the bad-guy, he heads a ring of rustlers. The trouble begins when the gang runs across good-Roy and mistake him for their wicked leader. Good-Roy plays along so he can bring the gang to justice. Unfortunately, bad-Roy shows up and mayhem ensues. Fortunately good-Roy prevails and justice is served, but not before he sings a few cowboy songs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Monogram's Tom Keene western series continued its winning streak with 1942's Western Mail. As was customary, Keene is a good guy posing as a bad guy to get the goods on the other bad guys. While operating undercover, Keene befriends Lucky (Fred Kohler Jr.), the gone-astray brother of heroine Julia (Jean Trent). When the chips are down, Lucky proves he's still a right guy by laying down his life for Keene, thereby paving the way for a happy ending for our hero and the lovely Julia. Frank Yaconelli does his usual as Keene's Mexicano comic sidekick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It should be obvious to fans of husky, muscle-bound cowboy star Johnny Mack Brown that he does not play the title role in Little Joe, Wrangler. That honor goes to Brown's perennial comic sidekick, Fuzzy Knight. Neither Brown nor Knight are the focal point of the story, however: Instead, Tex Ritter carries the dramatic weight of the yarn as a sheriff facing expulsion because of his inability to capture a notorious bandit. Wrongly arrested as that bandit, Johnny Mack Brown teams with Ritter to hunt down the genuine culprit. Meanwhile, Fuzzy Knight and the Jimmy Wakely Trio combine their musical talents to warble the title song. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Monogram's "Rough Riders" rolled along smoothly with the 1942 entry Down Texas Way. Once again, the star trio consists of Buck Jones as Buck Roberts, Tim McCoy as Tim McCall, and Raymond Hatton as Sandy Hopkins. The plot, as always, finds Buck, Tim and Sandy cast as undercover US Marshals who pretend to be strangers to one another for the purpose of confounding the villains. This time, Sandy is framed for murder by a gang of frontier racketeers who hope to take over a small town as their headquarters. Working separately (and ostensibly on the wrong side of the law), Buck and Tim rescue Sandy from a lynch mob and foil the crooks' dastardly schemes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's hard to dislike the Roy Rogers musical western Romance on the Range, but it's equally hard to get too enthusiastic about it. Rogers plays the owner of a western ranch who suspects that something is amiss with his highly secretive foreman Banning (Edward Pawley). Assuming a phony name, Roy gets a job as a ranchhand on his own spread, eventually discovering that Banning is secretly the head of a bandit gang which has been fencing stolen furs at the local trading post. Innocently caught in the middle of all this is postmistress Joan Stuart (Linda Hayes) who falls in love with Rogers while unaware of his true identity. As Steve, veteran movie heavy Harry Woods plays a relatively benign role in Romance on the Range. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, "the Lone Rider," and his pardner catch the masked gunman that robbed a stage. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide