Sherry Tansey Movies
The youngest of the three acting Tansey brothers, Sherry Tansey began his long screen career in 1916, billed in the style of the day as Master Tansey. He was Sheridan Tansey in the classic tearjerker Over the Hill to the Poorhouse (1920), and as an adult, played weakling brothers, henchmen, and members of the posse in countless low-budget oaters under the names James Sheridan and Sherry Tansey. Often working for older brother Robert Emmett Tansey, Sherry's credits lasted well into the sound era, his last known screen appearance coming in 1941. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
An average entry in the otherwise above-average Monogram/"Lone Star" Western series starring John Wayne, this film is noteworthy for containing one of the last screen appearances of Joseph De Grasse, a major silent screen actor-director, who -- with his screenwriter wife Ida May Park -- created scores of well-received Universal melodramas in the 1910s. De Grasse appears all too briefly here as Wayne's father, murdered during a robbery of his express office. Wayne, playing John Mason, chases after the killer, an outlaw whose face is hidden behind a polka dot neckerchief. Mason is injured during the chase and brought to the home of Alice Gordon (Marion Burns) by newfound friend Ben McClure (Reed Howes). Nursed back to health by Alice, with whom he is falling in love, Mason sets a trap for the killer and his gang by announcing that he is guarding a valuable gold shipment. The killer is revealed to be Rudd, Alice's brother (Dennis Moore, here billed "Denny Meadow"), whom John challenges to a duel. Feeling betrayed by Mason's love for Alice, Ben secretly substitutes the bullets in his former friend's gun with blanks. Persuaded by Alice that John has done nothing untoward, a repentant Ben arrives just in time to save his friend from certain death but is himself felled by a bullet fired by villainous barkeep Yakima Canutt in a final, well-staged, shootout. What there is of comic relief in this rather dour Western is provided by gangly Nelson McDowell, an actor seemingly born to portray comic undertakers, which is exactly what he plays here. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Marion Burns, (more)
- 1935
Based on William Colt MacDonald's Law of the Forty-Fives, this ultra low-budget Beacon Western stars Guinn "Big Boy" Williams and Al St. John as Tucson Smith and Stony Martin, a couple of drifters coming to the defense of elder rancher Hayden (Lafe McKee). Like their neighbors, the rancher and his pretty daughter, Jean (Molly O'Day), have been terrorized by a gang of land grabbers. Tucson and Stony quickly become suspicious of Hayden's attorney, Gordon Rentell (Ted Adams), who seems to know a great deal about the mysterious disappearance of British businessman Sir Henry Sheffield. When the latter (Broderick O'Farrell) is found imprisoned in Rentell's basement, the truth is revealed. Having learned that there is oil in the area, Rentell and his men have been systematically buying up land from their own victims. When the sheriff (Fred Burns) arrives to take Rentell and his men to jail, Tucson reveals that he has become a vigilante after his own father had been murdered. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Molly O'Day, (more)
- 1935
John Wayne goes up against a nasty vice lord in this, his second Western under the new Republic Pictures banner. Hired against his father's wishes to lead a wagon train, John Dawson (Wayne) at first battles then befriends the outlaw Kit (Al Bridge) and his gang, whom he supplies with food. The friendship comes in handy back in Frontier, OK, where Ace Holmes (Warner P. Richmond) has been terrorizing the citizenry in general and John's father, Milt (Sam Flint), in particular. When the latter is killed, John takes on the responsibility of sheriff, deputizes Kit and his men, and together they clean up the town. Filmed at Lone Pine, CA, and using plenty of stock footage from Ken Maynard's silent era The Red Raiders (1927), The New Frontier was directed by editor Carl Pierson. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Muriel Evans, (more)
- 1935
In this adventurous North-western set in the Canadian wilderness, a courageous Mountie risks it all to bring in the crooks who killed his partner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
An apparently lost entry in the long-running Bob Steele Western series produced by A.W. Hackel, The Rider of the Law presented the diminutive Steele as an Arizona lawman trailing the Tolliver brothers, a gang of outlaws. Steele catches up with the brothers in Apache City, where they are blackmailing the local bank president. As he has done so many times before, our hero then engages in a bit of subterfuge by pretending to be an Easterner. Thus catching the Tollivers off guard, he manages to discover their mountain hideout and there is a final shootout. Like all of Steele's early Westerns for Hackel's Supreme Pictures, The Rider of the Law was directed by his real-life father, Robert North Bradbury. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
In his second Western for Poverty Row producer A.W. Hackel, former football star Johnny Mack Brown goes in search of both his long-lost father and foster-sister. Mistakenly believing that they murdered his young son Johnny, John Wellington (William Farnum) kills three ruffians and becomes a wanted man. Young Johnny (Barry Downing), who had survived the attack, is instead raised by rich Sir George Thorne (Lloyd Ingraham). The latter's old-fashioned ideas causes him to lose both his son-in-law, Gentry Winters (Frank Ball), and young granddaughter, Gale. In his search for the missing girl, Johnny ( now Mack Brown) learns that Winters has been killed by Trent (Earl Dwire), an outlaw whose advances Gale (Beth Marion) had spurned. Aiding Johnny in his quest to capture Trent is one Rand who, it turns out, is none other than the missing John Wellington. Although initially opposed to Johnny's courting of Gale, Wellington/Rand changes his mind in due time and heroically takes a bullet meant for his son. After finishing off the murderous Trent in a final confrontation, Johnny can begin to plan a more peaceful future with Gale. According to contemporary reports, Between Men was filmed in six days at Lone Pine, CA. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Mack Brown, Beth Marion, (more)
- 1935
In this western, cattlemen and sheepherders battle it out to see who really can make their home on the range. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1934
If you can accept blonde, blue-eyed Marion Davies disguising herself in blackface, chances are you'll swallow the rest of Operator 13. Davies plays a Belle Boyd-like actress who agrees to become a Northern spy during the Civil War. She assumes the identity of an octoroon servant and heads into Southern territory. Marion meets dashing Confederate captain Gary Cooper, and instantly falls in love with him. Later, she assumes the disguise of a Southern belle to prevent Cooper from recruiting Southern sympathizers in the north. This time Cooper falls for Davies, which makes it hard for her to carry out her mission. After several more reels of espionage and romantic interludes, including a gently kinky sequence in which Cooper and Davies are handcuffed together, the lovers part company, promising to meet again when the war is over. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Marion Davies, (more)
- 1931
A couple of ranchers, Bob Lane (Lane Chandler) and Travis (Bob Card) fight over the pretty daughter (Karla Cowan) of a cantina owner in this no-budget western released by William Pizor's Imperial Distributing Corp. Bob is convinced by his snobbish family to give up the cantina girl, Nieta, in favor of the more suitable Doris Hart (Lorena Carr). He follows their advice but is soon falsely accused of poisoning the local watering hole. The real culprit is Travis, whose little daughter (Betty Lou Gay) Bob saves from dying in the desert. Returning the child, Bob and Doris agree to let the authorities deal with the ungrateful Travis. This rather incoherent story was filmed near Palm Springs by the Tansey brothers, John and Robert Emmett. Chandler later complained that the brothers never paid him his full salary. Producer-director Robert Emmett Tansey also wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym "R.E. Barringer." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1927
Produced by Gower Gulch company Action Pictures, this minor silent Western starred Buddy Roosevelt as a ranch foreman who rescues lovely Helen Calhoun (Elsa Benham) from a runaway carriage and her wastrel brother Ted (Sherry Tansey aka James Sheridan) from both the devil hop and a crooked gambler (Richard R. Neill). Usually a supporting character, mustachioed Hank Bell was awarded co-star billing this time around as a tough deputy sheriff helping Roosevelt catch the villain. Nothing out of the ordinary, Code of the Cow Country was directed with economy in mind by Oscar Apfel. A veteran stock company actor from Cleveland, Apfel earlier co-wrote and co-directed (with Cecil B. DeMille) The Squaw Man (1914), the first feature film to be produced entirely in Hollywood. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buddy Roosevelt, Hank Bell, (more)
- 1926
Tight-lipped silent Western hero Bob Custer played the Tiger in this low-budget oater from assembly-line producer FBO. Returning from the war, the Tiger (or El Tigre, as he is also known) switches identity with a war buddy (James Sheridan), who is suffering from the effects of nerve gas and therefore incapable of getting to the bottom of the strange feud brewing between his family and the neighboring Claytons. With the help of lovely Helen Hawksby (Violet Palmer), the Tiger manages to settle the feud to everyone's satisfaction. The son of director Robert Emmett Tansey, young supporting player James Sheridan later changed his name to Sherry Tansey. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1923
This Horatio Alger-type drama stars John Striker. Titus Burke (Walter Lewis) is a thief, and the sheriff gathers up a posse to capture him. Burke's wife Martha (Mary Alden) convinces their son Angus (Joseph Drew) that their lives are in danger and, as a result of his fear, Angus shoots the sheriff dead. The mother is also killed in the fray. Although he's only a boy, and an orphan, Angus is tried for murder. He is found not guilty and a kind-hearted man gets him a job on the local newspaper. The small-minded townsfolk don't want him around, however, and he is sent away. Twelve years later he returns (played by Striker) and takes over the paper. In spite of opposition, he proves his worth and helps to save the town from a group of swindlers. Now firmly established in the town that once shunned him, he is able to settle down with his childhood sweetheart Lydia (Margaret Courtot). ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marguerite Courtot, Miriam Battista, (more)
