Monte Blue Movies

A product of the Indiana orphanage system, the part-Cherokee-Indian Monte Blue held down jobs ranging from stevedore to reporter before offering his services as a movie-studio handyman in the early 1910s. Pressed into service as an extra and stunt man, Blue graduated to featured parts in D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915). Thanks to his work with Griffith and (especially) Cecil B. DeMille, Blue became a dependable box-office attraction of the 1920s, playing everything from lawyers to baseball players. He was a mainstay of the fledgling Warner Bros. studios, where the profits from his films frequently compensated for the expensive failures starring John Barrymore. In 1928 he was cast in his finest silent role, as the drink-sodden doctor in White Shadows on the South Seas. After making a successful transition to talkies, Blue decided to retire from filmmaking, taking a tour around the world to celebrate his freedom. Upon his return to the U.S. in 1931, Blue found that he had lost his fortune through bad investments, and that the public at large had forgotten him. By now too heavy-set to play romantic leads, Blue rebuilt his career from the bottom up, playing bits in "A" pictures and supporting roles in "B"s. He was busiest in the bread-and-butter westerns produced by such minor studios as Republic, Monogram and PRC; he also showed up in several serials, notably as "Ming the Merciless" clone Unga Khan in 1936's Undersea Kingdom. Movie mogul Jack Warner, out of gratitude for Blue's moneymaking vehicles of the 1920s, saw to it that Monte was steadily employed at Warner Bros., and that his name would appear prominently in the studio's advertising copy. While many of his talkie roles at Warners were bits, Blue was given choice supporting roles in such films as Across the Pacific (1942), Mask of Dimitrios (1944) and especially Key Largo (1948). Extending his activities into TV, Blue continued accepting character roles until retiring from acting in 1954. During the last years of his life, Monte Blue was the advance man for the Hamid-Morton Shrine Circus; it was while making his annual appearance in this capacity in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that Blue suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 73. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
1942  
 
In this drama, a dedicated forest ranger begins suspecting that a recent series of fires has been caused by arson. He investigates in a neighboring town. There he meets a beautiful rich girl, and they fall in love and get married. Unfortunately, the other rangers do not react well to the female's intrusion into their domain. Meanwhile, the daughter of a lumber baron, who has always secretly loved the ranger, is deeply disturbed by the nuptials. When the fires begin running wild, the two women rally together and help. Unfortunately, they are trapped by a wildfire and the ranger must save them by parachuting into their locale. While en route, he discovers that it is the pilot of the airplane who has been setting the fires. The two get into a fight, the arsonist torches the plane and jumps, and the ranger lies unconscious on the airplane floor as it spirals into a fatal nose dive. Fortunately, he wakes up just in time to jump out. He lands near the women, and together they put out the blaze. Later they learn that the arsonist died when his chute drifted into one of the blazes he himself had set. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Fred MacMurrayPaulette Goddard, (more)
1942  
NR  
Add Casablanca to QueueAdd Casablanca to top of Queue
One of the most beloved American films, this captivating wartime adventure of romance and intrigue from director Michael Curtiz defies standard categorization. Simply put, it is the story of Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), a world-weary ex-freedom fighter who runs a nightclub in Casablanca during the early part of WWII. Despite pressure from the local authorities, notably the crafty Capt. Renault (Claude Rains), Rick's café has become a haven for refugees looking to purchase illicit letters of transit which will allow them to escape to America. One day, to Rick's great surprise, he is approached by the famed rebel Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) and his wife, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), Rick's true love who deserted him when the Nazis invaded Paris. She still wants Victor to escape to America, but now that she's renewed her love for Rick, she wants to stay behind in Casablanca. "You must do the thinking for both of us," she says to Rick. He does, and his plan brings the story to its satisfyingly logical, if not entirely happy, conclusion. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Humphrey BogartIngrid Bergman, (more)
1942  
 
Add Reap the Wild Wind to QueueAdd Reap the Wild Wind to top of Queue
Cecil B. DeMille's Technicolor historical spectacle Reap the Wild Wind was to have starred Gary Cooper, but Cooper's prior commitment to Goldwyn's Pride of the Yankees compelled DeMille to recast the leading role with John Wayne. The film, set in the mid-19th century, centers around Key West, Florida, where piracy reigns unchecked. Wayne plays the captain of a salvage business, working on behalf of Raymond Massey to rescue valuables from the merchant ships wrecked by pirates. During one expedition, Wayne is rescued from drowning by Paulette Goddard, the hoydenish manager of a rival salvage firm. Goddard arranges for Wayne to go to work for her boss, Ray Milland, and a romantic rivalry ensues. Later on, Goddard's cousin Susan Hayward is lost at sea when her ship is attacked by pirates. Wayne is accused of engineering the wreck, thanks to the duplicity of Massey, the real brains of the pirate operation. Wayne and Milland both don deep-sea diving gear and swim to the bottom in search of evidence. When Milland is attacked by an octopus, Wayne saves his rival's life at the expense of his own. Massey is exposed, and Milland wins Goddard. Essentially a standard maritime meller, Reap the Wild Wind takes on the veneer of importance thanks to DeMille's epic treatment of the material. Though competition is fierce, Ray Milland steals the show with a truly offbeat characterization (he even gets to indulge in a little ventriloquism!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Ray MillandJohn Wayne, (more)
1941  
 
Add Riders of Death Valley [Serial] to QueueAdd Riders of Death Valley [Serial] to top of Queue
The Saturday matinee crowd got two cowboy stars for the price of one in this lavishly budgeted western serial starring former singing cowboy Dick Foran and Buck Jones. The latter contributed deadpan humor to the proceedings, making Jones perhaps the highest paid B-western comedy relief in history. The two heroes defend the Death Valley borax miners from an outlaw gang headed by Wolf Reade. An extraordinarily strong cast -- for a serial, at least -- supported the stars, headed by Charles Bickford as Reade, Leo Carillo, Lon Chaney, Jr., and silent screen star Monte Blue. Leading lady Jeanne Kelly later changed her name to Jean Brooks and starred in the atmospheric RKO thriller The Seventh Victim (1943). Universal claimed to have spent $1 million on this serial and made sure to get their money's worth by endlessly recycling the action footage in serials and B-westerns for years to come. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Read More

1941  
 
Add Bad Man of Deadwood to QueueAdd Bad Man of Deadwood to top of Queue
A mystery man works behind the scenes in this tuneful Roy Rogers western in which the local theatre owner attempts to ruin the honest businessmen of Deadwood. Even the sheriff, Jordan (Monte Blue), answers to nasty Jake Marvel (Ralf Harolde), whose reign of terror forces the decent people to become outlaws themselves. Enter Bill Brady, aka Brett Starr (Rogers), a sharpshooter with Professor Mortimer "Gabby" Blackstone's (George "Gabby" Hayes) traveling medicine show. Although a fugitive from justice, Bill comes to the aid of the beleaguered citizens, discovering along the way that a trusted friend isn't quite who he claims to be. Roy sings his own and Fred Rose's "Sundown on the Rangeland", Rose and Ray Whitley's "The call of the Dusty Trail" and Jule Styne and Sol Meyer's "Joe O'Grady". ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Roy RogersGeorge "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
1941  
 
The Great Train Robbery is not a remake of the 1903 landmark film of the same name; if it had been, it wouldn't have run any longer than eight minutes. This 1941 production isn't even a western, but instead a modern-day melodrama starring Bob Steele as a railroad detective. Steele takes it upon himself to halt the activities of his crooked brother (Milburn Stone), who apparently has stolen an entire gold train, passengers and all. The criminal's modus operandi (a rather cold-blooded one, involving mass murder) was later reworked into two Republic westerns, the first starring Bill Elliot and the second featuring Rex Allen. Claire Carleton is on hand in Great Train Robbery to play a nightclub singer who requires rescuing by two-fisted Steele. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Bob SteeleClaire Carleton, (more)
1941  
 
In this serial, onetime football hero Slingin' Sammy Baugh stars as Tom King, a Texas Ranger on the hunt for the Nazis who killed his father. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Read More

1941  
 
The down-home Weaver family stars in this countrified drama set in Peaceful Valley where if things went any slower they'd be going backwards. Things pick up a bit when someone steals $50 from a widow. The townsfolk are outraged and Judge Weaver finds himself accusing the widow's cleaning lady of the crime. Unfortunately, the judge is very wrong. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Leon WeaverFrank Weaver, (more)
1941  
 
Fred MacMurray is a breezy New York street photographer; Mary Martin is a small town girl hoping to make her fortune in the Big Apple. Fred and Mary meet, bicker, fall in love, fall out of love, fall in love again, and so it goes. The main story is occasionally leavened by subplots involving such indispensable supporting players as Lynne Overman, Akim Tamiroff, Cecil Kellaway, Eric Blore and Iris Adrian. Robert Preston is the second lead who loses Mary Martin to Fred MacMurray, though Preston and Martin would re-team on Broadway 25 years later in the musical I Do, I Do. Instantly capturing the audience's attention with a remarkable opening "single take" which establishes the personalities of several apartment dwellers, New York Town is a diverting and agreeable Paramount romantic comedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Fred MacMurrayMary Martin, (more)
1941  
 
Add Sunset in Wyoming to QueueAdd Sunset in Wyoming to top of Queue
Not to be confused with his later Home in Wyomin', Gene Autry's Sunset in Wyoming is essentially a musical with western interludes. This time, Autry champions the cause of a group of ranchers who are being victimized by the apparent megalomania of lumber baron George Cleveland. Upon palavering with Cleveland, Autry discovers that the lumberman himself is not to blame for the despoiling of the territory: the real villain is Easterner Robert Kent, who is presently engaged to Cleveland's daughter Maris Wrixon. Forced to enter the rarefied world of High Society, Autry settles Kent's hash and ultimately claims Ms. Wrixon for himself. The best scene finds comical sidekick Smiley Burnette duded up as a butler, which is far more enjoyable than the climactic flood scenes, most of which were obviously culled from previously Republic productions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Gene AutrySmiley Burnette, (more)
1941  
 
Add Sullivan's Travels to QueueAdd Sullivan's Travels to top of Queue
In Preston Sturges' classic comedy of Depression-era America, filmmaker John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea), fed up with directing profitable comedies like "Ants in Your Plants of 1939," is consumed with the desire to make a serious social statement in his upcoming film, "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" Unable to function in the rarefied atmosphere of Hollywood, Sullivan decides to hit the road, disguised as a tramp, and touch base with the "real" people of America. But Sullivan's studio transforms his odyssey into a publicity stunt, providing the would-be nomad with a luxury van, complete with butler (Robert Greig) and valet (Eric Blore). Advised by his servants that the poor resent having the rich intrude upon them, Sullivan escapes his retinue and continues his travels incognito. En route, he meets a down-and-out failed actress (Veronica Lake). Experiencing firsthand the scroungy existence of real-life hoboes, Sullivan returns to Hollywood full of bleeding-heart fervor. After first arranging for the girl's screen test, he heads for the railyards, intending to improve the lot of the local rail-riders and bindlestiffs by handing out ten thousand dollars in five-dollar bills. Instead, Sullivan is coldcocked by a tramp, who steals Sullivan's clothes and identification. When the tramp is run over by a speeding train, the world at large is convinced that the great John L. Sullivan is dead. Meanwhile, the dazed Sullivan, dressed like a bum with no identification on his person, is arrested and put to work on a brutal Southern chain gang. With its almost Shakespearean combination of uproarious comedy and grim tragedy, Sullivan's Travels is Sturges' masterpiece and one of the finest movies about movies ever made. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Joel McCreaVeronica Lake, (more)
1941  
 
PRC Pictures' final 1941 release, Law of the Timber was based on a story by North Woods specialist James Oliver Curwood. Given that leading man Hal Brazeal has about as much charisma as a spoonful of potato salad, leading lady Marjorie Reynolds offers the most interesting characterization in this tale of the logging business. When her father is killed, Reynolds takes over his logging concern, working day and night to fill a government order on time. Someone is sabotaging her efforts, as witness the scene in which a train is dynamited (the special effects are a bit shaky; this action highlight looks more like a Lionel commercial). Veterans Monte Blue and J. Farrel McDonald also appear in this so-so programmer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

1941  
 
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

Read More

Starring:
Guy KibbeeSusan Peters, (more)
1940  
 
Evidently Paramount had a great deal of faith in Mystery Sea Raider, else why would a mere B picture be permitted to run nearly 80 minutes? Onslow Stevens has the largest role as Carl Cutler, a prosperous importer who unexpectedly becomes a German spy when WW2 breaks out. Taking over a freighter in mid-ocean somewhere in the Caribbean, Cutler transforms the vessel into a Nazi raider, then does his best to decimate the British fleet. But Cutler has failed to take into consideration the resourcefulness of ship's captain Jimmy Madden (Henry Wilcoxon), who with the help of the Nazi's unwitting cohort June McCarthy (Carole Landis) manages to strike a blow for Democracy in the final footage. Though set in the 1940s, Mystery Sea Raider seems more like a WW1 melodrama, with both Allied and German forces displaying gallantry and even chivalry in the face of death. This sort of romanticism would be dispensed with after Pearl Harbor, whereupon no enemy officer would ever be cut any slack in a Hollywood film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Carole LandisHenry Wilcoxon, (more)
1940  
 
Cecil B. De Mille directed this lavish all-star spectacular paying tribute to America's neighbors to the North. In 1885, as Louis Riel (Francis J. McDonald) tries to organize Indians and French settlers into a fighting force that will battle against the ruling British, Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers (Gary Cooper) arrives in Canada to arrest Jacques Corbeau (George Bancroft), one of Riel's associates who is wanted for murder in the U.S. Rivers promptly falls for nurse April Logan (Madeleine Carroll), which triggers jealously in the straightlaced Mountie sergeant Jim Brett (Preston S. Foster), who is also in love with April. Meanwhile, April's brother, Ronnie Logan (Robert Preston), also a member of the North West Mounted Police, is in love with Louvette (Paulette Goddard), Corbeau's sister and a fiery "half-breed" who lives among the Indians. When Dusty arrives in Canada, he joins forces with the mounties, who are looking for Corbeau on another murder charge, and soon joins the fight against Riel's rebel factions. De Mille imported 300 pine trees for his "forest" set, believing that a woods created on the controlled environment of a soundstage would look more "real" onscreen than location shooting in Canada. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Gary CooperMadeleine Carroll, (more)
1940  
 
Add Road to Singapore to QueueAdd Road to Singapore to top of Queue
The story goes that such stars as Fred MacMurray, Jack Oakie and Burns & Allen had turned down The Road to Singapore before the leading roles went to Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. More conventionally structured than future "Road" efforts, the film casts Crosby as Josh Mallon, the irresponsible son of shipping magnate Joshua Mallon IV (Charles Coburn). Though the elder Mallon wants his son to enter the family business and marry longtime fiancee Gloria Wycott (Judith Barrett), Josh would rather pal around with his carefree sailor buddy Ace Lannigan (Bob Hope). On the eve of his wedding, Josh escapes with Ace to Singapore, where the two of them cook up a get-rich-quick scheme involving a highly unreliable spot remover. The boys' friendship is strained when they both fall in love with cabaret dancer Mima (Dorothy Lamour), who is on the lam from her jealous partner Caesar (Anthony Quinn). Hiding out from the authorities, the three protagonists wind up in the midst of a native ceremony, where Ace and Mima rescue Josh from a hasty marriage to a local temptress. When Gloria shows up to drag Josh back to the altar, Mima nobly gives him up, pretending to be in love with Ace. Eventually, however, big-hearted Ace realizes that Mima belongs with Josh, and thus concocts another scheme to lure his pal back to the Far East. Though many of the earmarks of the "Road" series are evident in Road to Singapore (the "patty-cake" bit, the presence of such guest stars as Hope's radio stooge Jerry Colonna, etc.), the film lacks the spontaneous quality of the later Hope-Crosby-Lamour starrers. Even so, it's an awful lot of fun, especially when Bob and Bing team up on the novelty number "Captain Custard" and Dorothy croons her requisite "moon and stars" romantic ballads. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Bing CrosbyDorothy Lamour, (more)
1940  
 
Teenaged soprano Gloria Jean plays the Little-Miss-Fixit heroine in Universal's Little Bit of Heaven. The most precocious member of an impoverished 10th Avenue family, little Midge (Gloria Jean) makes an impulsive appearance on a "man in the street" radio interview show. Catapulted to stardom, Midge becomes the primary support for her family, all of whom begin behaving atrociously and overspended insanely. The only one who doesn't go over the top is Midge's lovable Grandpa (C. Aubrey Smith), with whom our heroine concocts a scheme (straight out of Shirley Temple!) to teach her relatives a lesson. In the previous Gloria Jean starrer If I Had My Way, Universal featured several former Broadway favorites, including Blanche Ring and Julian Eltinge, in cameo roles: the studio repeats this stunt in Little Bit of Heaven, showcasing such silent-movie greats as Maurice Costello, Noah Beery Sr., Charles Ray, Monte Blue, William Desmond and Pat O'Malley as the heroine's "adopted uncles". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Gloria JeanRobert Stack, (more)
1940  
 
Filmed on location at Mesa, AZ, this minor Paramount western featured newcomer Ellen Drew as "Slats" Dangerfield, a young girl returning to her grandmother's ranch in Texas. Old Mrs. Dangerfield (May Robson) is experiencing a rash of cattle rustlings and, fed up with her no-good grandson Carter's (John Miljan) handling of the emergency, she contacts an old beau, Ranger Captain Ben Cadwallader (Charley Grapewin) of the Texas Rangers. Cadwallader assigns young Ranger Jim Kingston (John Howard) to infiltrate the gang, which the stalwart young man does with the expected results. Do "Slats" and Jim fall in love despite her initial dislike of the ranger? And does Mrs. Dangerfield's unsympathetic grandson Carter turn out to be in cahoots with the rustlers? Although not a direct sequel, this well-apportioned B-Western was obviously produced to capitalize on the popularity of the studio's 1936 The Texas Rangers. Robert Ryan, in his fourth film, appears in an unbilled bit part. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Ellen DrewJohn Howard, (more)
1940  
 
Add Young Bill Hickok to QueueAdd Young Bill Hickok to top of Queue
This Roy Rogers vehicle is a followup (though not a sequel) to 1940's Young Buffalo Bill. Definitely a "premature anti-fascist", singing frontiersman Bill Hickok (Roy Rogers) tries to thwart the takeover of West by foreign invaders. John Miljan is frontier fuhrer Nicholas Tower, who hires a gang of storm troopers-er, henchmen-to do his dirty work. Southern belle Louise Mason (Jacqueline Wells) initially aligns herself with Tower because he is ostensibly anti-Damyankee, but she finally turns against him when she realizes what he's up to. Calamity Jane also appears in the person of comic actress Sally Payne, while Gabby Hayes shows up as a character named-but of course-Gabby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Roy RogersGeorge "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
1939  
 
Metropolitan Pictures' Port of Hate was directed by one of the studio's two chief executives, Harry S. Webb (the other, Albert Ray, was presumably busy on the company's Bob Steele western series). The story takes place on a faraway island (probably nearby Catalina), where soldiers of fortune Bob (Kenneth Harlan) and Don (Carleton Young) have located a valuable bed of pearls. A secondary plotline involves heroine Jerry Gale (Polly Ann Young, sister of Loretta), who is innocently involved in a murder. One of the more important roles is essayed by oriental actor Shia Jung, who earned the film's best reviews. Also featured are such silent-film veterans as Monte Blue, Jimmy Aubrey and Reed Howes, all of them hampered by shoddy cinematography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Polly Ann YoungKenneth Harlan, (more)
1939  
 
The late cinema historian William K. Everson once wrote an article titled "Movies Out of Thin Air", referring to films that were comprised almost exclusively of stock footage from earlier productions. A prime example of this sort of patchwork entertainment is the 1939 Paramount production Geronimo, which though advertised and distributed as an "A" picture was largely and economically cobbled together from existing film vignettes. Essentially a western remake of Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), the film concentrates on the rocky relationship between crusty Cavalry general Steele (Ralph Morgan) and his shavetail lieutenant son (Richard Cromwell). The boy is taken under the wing of kindly Captain Starrett (Preston Foster), who is also occupied with bringing renegade Indian warrior Geronimo (played by Native American actor Chief Thundercloud, unbilled despite his title-character status) to justice. The fly in the ointment is treacherous gunrunner Gillespie (delightfully played as a snivelling coward by Gene Lockhart) who for a price agrees to help Geronimo decimate the local white population. Nominal heroine Ellen Drew has one of the least demanding assignments in movie history, spending two-thirds of the film in a coma after being injured in a stagecoach accident! Among the previous Paramount epics represented in Geronimo via stock footage are Frank Lloyd's Wells Fargo and Cecil B. DeMille's The Plainsman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Preston S. FosterEllen Drew, (more)
1939  
 
A big city lawyer returns to his tiny home town to enter the firm of his late father. His father's partner is happy to have him, but the partner's lovely daughter is even happier.. Every one is happy until the young attorney decides to represent the local villain, a ruthless factory owner who cares more for money than his employees. When the abused workers go on strike, the partner drops the factory owner's account, but the young slicker stays with the magnate. This upsets the partner's daughter. Tragedy and chaos follow when gangsters get involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Susan HaywardJoseph Allen, Jr., (more)
1939  
 
Even geniuses have to eat, and when Mark Twain was offered a substantial sum of money to slap together a quickie sequel to his classic novel Tom Sawyer, he responded with the pulpish but entertaining Tom Sawyer, Detective. Billy Cook is sublimely cast as Tom, while Donald O'Connor steals the film in the more colorful role of Huckleberry Finn. When local deacon Uncle Silas (Porter Hall) is accused of murder, Tom and Huck endeavor to prove his innocence by solving the mystery themselves. Complicating matters is the fact that the "dead man" (William Haade) is seen roaming around very much alive. The film's highlight is a spooky episode in a mausoleum, with our intrepid heroes working overtime to convince each other that they ain't really scared. Janet Waldo, later one of the most versatile voiceover actresses in the business, plays Tom's puppy-love interest Ruth Phelps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Billy CookDonald O'Connor, (more)
1939  
 
Add Days of Jesse James to QueueAdd Days of Jesse James to top of Queue
Donald Barry plays the legendary outlaw of the title in this Roy Rogers Western which, needless to say, plays fast and loose with history. Returning to Missouri from the gold fields of California, Gabby Whittaker (George "Gabby" Hayes) is persuaded by his granddaughter, Mary (Pauline Moore), to deposit his earnings in the Northfield bank, which is then promptly robbed. Assigned by the Bankers' Association to track down the presumed culprits, Jesse James and his brother Frank (Harry Worth), Roy Rogers soon learns that the Jameses are innocent in this particular crime, which was instead committed by the bank's greedy president, Sam Wyatt (Arthur Loft). Before Rogers can capture the wily banker, he must contend with the interference of Captain Worthington (Harry Woods), a railroad detective more interested in pocketing the 50,000-dollar reward than see justice done. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Roy RogersGeorge "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
1939  
 
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

Read More

Starring:
Roy RogersMary Hart, (more)

BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster Inc. © 2009 Blockbuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Portions of Content Provided by All Movie Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.© 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.