Monte Blue Movies

Written by John P. McCarthy (who also directed), Robert Emmett Tansey, and, rather incongruously, former real-life outlaw Al Jennings, this musical Western marked the screen debut of Tex Ritter, a former Broadway and radio crooner. Ritter played Tex (of course), a lawman going undercover as a bandit in order to infiltrate a gang of claim jumpers. As it turns out, the leader of the gang, Evans (Ted Adams), is using the ranch of Don Esteban del Valle (Martin Garralaga) and his daughter, Dolores (Joan Woodbury), as his headquarters, dragging the innocent rancher into a scheme to take over the local mines by any means possible, including murder. In between his detective work, Ritter finds time to sing such song as "Out on the Lone Prairie," "My Sweet Chiquita," and "You Are Reality," the latter composed by leading lady Joan Woodbury, the wife of actor Henry Wilcoxon. Ritter was discovered for films by Edward F. Finney, the former promotional director for Republic Pictures, who released the Ritter series through newcomer Grand National. Despite the crowd-pleasing presence of comic sidekick Fuzzy Knight and Ritter's horse, White Flash, Song of the Gringo proved an inauspicious opener. According to Ritter himself, Finney had his star outfitted with a hideous-looking toupee; and director John P. McCarthy, a holdover from the silent era, proved an unwise choice as well. Both hairpiece and McCarthy were gone by the second instalment, Headin' for the Rio Grande (1936), replaced by Ritter's natural receeding hairline and Robert North Bradbury, yet another veteran but at least one with an eye for pacing. Ritter, who achieved perhaps his lasting fame singing "Do Not Forsake Me" over the main titles to Fred Zinneman's High Noon (1952), was the father of 1970s television star John Ritter. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Generous stock footage from Paramount's silent Zane Grey series enhances the production values of the entertaining "pocket" western Desert Gold. Though most of the storyline is taken up the romance between young pioneers Dick Gale (Tom Keene) and Jane Belding (Marsha Hunt), the most compelling character is young Indian chief Maya, played by Buster Crabbe. Faithfully guarding the gold deposits which rightfully belong to his people, Maya finds his hands full fending off the villainous incursions of claim-jumping Chetley Kasedon (Monte Blue) and his gang. Dick Gale casts his lot with Maya, forming a united front against the villains. Featured among the supporting cast are new Paramount contractees Robert Cummings as an eastern tenderfoot, and Glenn (later Leif) Erikson as Kasedon's brother. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Prison Shadows was put together by the Mercury Productions division of Puritan Pictures, the same folks responsible for the above-average horror thriller Rogue's Tavern. Eddie Nugent plays rising young boxer Gene Harris, who is thrown into jail on a manslaughter charge after one of his opponents dies in the ring. Out on parole, Gene can't get over the fact that he has blood on his hands and is reluctant to climb back into the ring. But his crooked manager has already exploited Gene's grief by advertising him as "Killer" Harris, so our hero figures he's got nothing to lose. Reluctantly, he agrees to another fight -- and once again, his opponent is killed. By this time, the audience is way ahead of Gene in suspecting that there's some sort of criminal conspiracy going on, with the luckless boxer pegged as the fall guy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In G Men, Warner Bros. "bad boy" James Cagney plays James "Brick" Davis, a young lawyer whose education has been financed by soft-hearted racketeer McKay (William Harrigan). When Cagney's best pal, detective Eddie Buchanan (Regis Toomey), is killed in a gangland shooting, James decides to become a G-Man. Though scrupulously honest, Davis is looked upon with suspicion by his fellow agents because of his association with the crooked McKay. He proves he's a "good guy" when his former girlfriend, Jean Ann Dvorak, now the wife of mobster Brad Collins (Barton MacLane), tips him off to a "Little Bohemia"-style gangster hideaway. Jean later sacrifices her own life to help James rescue his new girl, nurse Kay McCord (Margaret Lindsay), from the vengeful Collins. Based on Gregory Miller's book Public Enemy No. 1, G-Men was reissued in 1949, with an added prologue featuring David Brian as an FBI trainer who advises his students not to laugh at the old-fashioned costumes and slang in the 1935 film; seen today, it is Brian's superfluous opening comments that seem hopelessly dated, while the film itself is as exciting and entertaining as ever. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Zane Grey adaptation stars Dean Jagger as Adam and Gail Patrick as Ruth, two rugged individuals heading to gold country by riverboat. The couple's burgeoning romance is interrupted when Adam inadvertently gets involved in a murder. On the lam from the authorities, he links up with grizzled old prospector Dismukes (Edward Ellis), the titular wasteland wanderer. In typical Zane Grey fashion, hero and heroine are ultimately reunited by a series of convenient coincidences -- but there's still villainous Big Ben (Buster Crabbe) to contend with. Hefty vaudeville headliner Trixie Friganza also shows up in a choice supporting role. Previously filmed by Paramount in 1924 (in Technicolor, no less), Wanderer of the Wasteland was remade by RKO Radio in 1945. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second of eight low-budget versions of Peter B. Kyne short stories, Hot Off the Press starred Jack LaRue as Bill Jeffry, a reporter who leaves The Evening Call in favor of rival Star Bulletin. When one of the Star's intrepid newsboys, Mickey Karnes (Mickey Rentschler), is attacked, Bill, who was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time, finds himself falsely accused of the cowardly deed. Investigating the situation with the help of a friendly district attorney (Edward Hearn) and fellow reporter Jimmy (Fuzzy Knight), Bill manages to unmask the real criminal -- Evening Call publisher J.C. (Monte Blue). In return, he wins the love of stenographer Brenda Johnson (Virginia Pine). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Fearing that her unsavory past will be revealed, a young girl is prepared to kill her erstwhile benefactor in this hectic low-budget thriller directed by former serial star Charles Hutchison. A young child, Jane (Betty Jane Graham), is caught pick-pocketing and custody is awarded to crooked politician Al Murray (Monte Blue). The girl grows into a pretty young woman (Lucile Browne) and despite their now filial relationship Al falls in love with his charge. She loves dashing socialite Bill Coleman (William Bakewell), however, and Al threatens to expose her sordid past. A bump to the head takes care of that tricky situation and the supposedly dead politician is stuffed into a suitcase. A train wreck follows and Bill is forced to make a daring rescue when learning that Al is still very much alive. The revitalized Al is arrested and charged with attacking the innocent Jane. Produced by poverty row company Peerless, this little action thriller was filmed on rented stages at Hollywood's Talisman Studio. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Zane Grey's frequently-filmed story Border Legion was produced in 1934 under the title The Last Round-Up. Randolph Scott plays Jim Cleve, one of several volunteers keeping the US-Mexican border safe on behalf of American settlers. Ostensibly the hero, Cleve is actually out-heroed by the film's nominal villain, outlaw leader Jack Kells (Monte Blue). It is Kells who brings about the story's happy ending, sacrificing his own life to ensure the blissful future of young lovers Cleve and Joan Randall (Barbara Fritchie). The Last Round-Up was one of ten Paramount-produced Zane Grey adaptations starring Randolph Scott, whose association with westerns would endure until his retirement from the screen in 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paramount Pictures' annual college musical of 1934 is a pip, as they used to say. Jack Oakie plays Finnegan, a conceited gridiron hero whose prowess on the football field is exceeded only by his appreciation of the ladies. But his strutting manner and accompanying overbearing ego have alienated his one-time best friend Larry Stacey (Lanny Ross), a serious, more scholarly type who deeply resents the adulation heaped on Finnegan. Things go wrong for Finnegan after he graduates, as he pins his hopes on a job offer from a business firm that folds soon after. He finally shows up at Stacey's department store, where Larry -- the owner's son -- has taken over as general manager; and Larry, finally having the advantage over Finnegan, seeks to humiliate him in the course of helping him out with a menial job. But as it turns out, Larry is no sterling success either -- he's turned his father's once-thriving department store into a haven catering only to the very rich, of whom there were precious few in the midst of the Great Depression; Larry is also such a self-involved prig in his own way, wallowing in self-pity where Finnegan wallows in self-adulation, that he scarcely notices that his own secretary (Helen Mack) is almost dying in her unrequited love for him. In order to save his business, Larry's father, J. P. Stacey (eorge Barbier), turns to Finnegan, the football hero who used to sell 60,000 tickets a week on the playing field -- Finnegan understands ballyhoo, and what the public wants, and is put in charge of the store, and also becomes captain of a football team fielded by the store. Soon the place is jumping, especially when Finnegan brings back his old college team waterboy Joe (Joe Penner) and his duck mascot Goo-Goo, and fetching blonde cheerleader/singer Mimi (Lyda Roberti). Larry is reduced to running a department in the store and finally decides its time to step up and take on Finnegan head-to-head, joining the store's football team. But there's treachery and dirty tricks afoot -- in between a bright score by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel -- when Stacey's takes on a team fielded by their arch-rival store, Whimple's, in a bitter grudge-match fueled by the two owners' mutual dislike for each other. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Police officer Tom Malone is the only honest man left who can salvage his crooked city after his partner is killed on his motorcycle by a wealthy playboy on a careless joyride. With criminals and crooked city officials at every turn, it will take courage, duty, and decency for Tom to make right what has for so long been terribly wrong. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

Just before his demotion to the ranks of minor character actors, Monte Blue starred in an above-average series of programmers for Allied Pictures (one of the many forerunners of Monogram). In The Stoker, Blue plays Dick, a wealthy young man who is betrayed by his faithless wife Vera (Natalie Moorehead). Dropping out of sight, Dick goes on the bum along the waterfront, eventually landing a job as a ship's stoker on a vessel bound for South America. He ends up on a below-the-border plantation, where he rescues the pretty owner (Dorothy Burgess) from the skullduggery of bandit leader Santono (Noah Beery Sr.) For an actor who was considered a has-been, Monte Blue gives a persuasively virile performance, though he's a bit thick in the middle to be thoroughly convincing as a "young" hero. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in the Mississippi Valley, The Flood spends the bulk of its running time concentrating on a romantic triangle. Heroine Eleanor Boardman is married to William V. Vong, but she's in love with muscular Monte Blue. Only the titular deluge, brought about by a bursting dam, solves this domestic dilemma. The climactic flood sequences are a bit disappointing, especially after the dialogue has raised audience expectations to a fever pitch. Silent-picture leading man Monte Blue never did click as a talkie star, and within a few years he was rebuilding his career from the ground up as a bit player. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide