Stanley Blystone Movies
Wisconsonite actor Stanley Blystone was the brother of director John G. Blystone and assistant director Jasper Blystone. Entering films in 1915, the burly, muscular, mustachioed Blystone excelled in gruff, villainous roles; he was particularly menacing as a crooked ringmaster in Tom Mix's The Circus Ace (1927). In the talkie era, Blystone was busiest at the 2-reel comedy mills of RKO, Columbia and Hal Roach, often cast as brutish authority figures at odds with the comedy leads. In the Three Stooges' Half Shot Shooters (1936), he plays the sadistic Sgt. McGillicuddy, who reacts to the Stooges' ineptness by taking aim with a long-range cannon and blowing the three comedians right out of their boots! Blystone was much in demand as both "action" and "brains" heavies in Columbia's westerns and serials of the 1940s. Extending his activities to television in the 1950s, the 71-year-old Stanley Blystone was en route to Desilu Studios to play a small role on the TV series Wyatt Earp when he collapsed on the sidewalk and died of heart failure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1940
Back at Hal Roach Studios for the first time since 1938's Block-Heads, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy star in the uneven but generally rewarding A Chump at Oxford. The boys are cast as street-sweepers who hope to better their lot in life by attending night school. Fate intervenes when Stan and Ollie are instrumental in the capture of a bank robber, whereupon they are rewarded by the bank's grateful president (Forbes Murray) with an all-expenses-paid education at England's Oxford University. Arriving on the venerable old campus dressed in Eton jackets, our heroes are pounced upon by a group of prankish students and subjected to all manner of practical jokes. After spending most of the night trying to escape from a maze, Stan and Ollie are installed in their "new quarters"-which turns out to be the bedroom of the Dean (Wilfred Lucas). This sort of collegiate nonsense comes to an end when it is discovered that simple-minded Stan is actually Lord Paddington, the brainiest student and finest athlete that ever attended Oxford. According to Meredith the valet (Forrester Harvey), His Lordship wandered away from the university upon being rendered an amnesiac by a blow on the head. An accidental tap on the noggin restores Stan to his aristocratic Lord Paddington status, whereupon he beats up a crowd of bullying students and deposits them one by one in a nearby ditch. Though Ollie is aghast to learn that Stan-er, His Lordship-has no recollection of their previous friendship, he decides to stay on at Oxford as Paddington's manservant. After having been humiliated once too often by his vain and condescending employer, Ollie angrily packs his bags and prepares to head for home, when yet another bop on His Lordship's skull causes him to revert to lovable, bumbling old Stan again. Originally intended as a four-reeler (running approximately 45 minutes), A Chump at Oxford was completed in the spring of 1939, whereupon Laurel and Hardy were loaned out to producer Boris Morros to star in The Flying Deuces. When shooting was finished on the latter film, the team was summoned back to Roach to film a 2-reel "prologue" for Oxford, bringing the film's running time up to 63 minutes. The new footage consisted of a reworking of the boys' 1928 comedy From Soup to Nuts, with temporary servants Stan and Ollie unintentionally wrecking a dinner party held by Mr. and Mrs. Vandevere (played by veteran L&H supporting players James Finlayson and Anita Garvin). The patchwork stucture of A Chump at Oxford works against its overall effectiveness, but the scenes in which Stan Laurel undergoes a complete change of character as the genius-level Lord Paddington more than make up for the film's earlier shortcomings. One of the students (the tall, mustachioed one) is played by Peter Cushing, in his second Hollywood film appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, (more)
- 1943
This clever Three Stooges comedy opens, like many of their films do, with a sign: "Drs. Heart-Burns and Belcher." But that's not referring to the Stooges -- they're merely the night janitors, and not very good ones. They have the usual round of mishaps, the funniest being when Curly gets his head stuck in a fish bowl. Even after Larry and Moe free him from the globe, he's not quite right, so they stick him behind the fluoroscope and discover he has swallowed a fish. They retrieve it by sticking a fishing line -- with bait -- down his throat. Their work is further interrupted by a trio of crooks. While escaping the police, one of them was shot in the shoulder, and they insist that the Stooges -- who they have mistaken for doctors -remove the slug. The wounded crook insists on being anesthetized, which confuses the trio until they're told, "That means he wants to be knocked out!" "Ohhh---" they reply knowingly, and they knock him cold with a hammer. But the wounded crook slides off the gurney, out the window and into a waiting police car. To fool the other two gun men (who apparently aren't much smarter than the Stooges), Moe and Larry stick Curly under the sheet. The police finally show up looking for the crooks and both the gunmen and Stooges go running. While the crooks are nabbed, the Stooges wind up in a strange storage area with a bunch of mannequins, a gigantic, spooky jack-in-the-box, a frightened night watchman and a vat of plaster. Curly falls into the plaster and his ghostly white visage scares everyone he encounters until the short comes to a rather abrupt end. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
Up until its surisingly mundane finale, A Lawless Street is one of the best of the Randolph Scott westerns of the 1950s. Scott plays famed marshal Calem Ware, whose strenous activities on behalf of law and order have exacted a toll on his personal life. Keeping the peace in the town of Medicine Bend, Ware hopes to someday be reconciled with his ex-wife Tally Dickinson (Angela Lansbury), now a touring musical comedy star. Just as Tally arrives in Medicine Bend, Ware is forced to deal with big-time criminals Thorne (Warner Anderson) and Clark (John Emery), not to mention their hired gun Baskam (Michael Pate). Will he do his duty and rid the town of his outlaw element, or will he hang up his guns as Tally wants him to? One of the highlights of A Lawless Street is a lively saloon-hall number performed by Angela Lansbury, who is quite a dish in her revealing stage wardrobe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randolph Scott, Angela Lansbury, (more)
- 1953
The much-maligned Vera Ralston turns in an acceptable performance as star of Republic's A Perilous Journey. Though seemingly inspired by MGM's Westward the Women, the film was actually based on The Golden Tide, a novel by Vingie Roe. In the year 1850, a group of 49 young women charter a full-rigger to sail for California to offer themselves as wives to the gold prospectors. As indicated by the title, the journey is indeed fraught with peril (not to mention a few geographical inaccuracies). Vera Ralston plays Francie Landreaux, who has undertaken the voyage in search of her no-good gambler husband. Instead, she finds romance in the arms of rough-and-ready Shard Benton (Scott Brady). A Perilous Journey is pepped up by several song numbers, written by Victor Young and Edward Heyman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vera Ralston, David Brian, (more)
Ostensibly based on the life of World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, whose smiling visage opened each of the 13 chapters, this fanciful serial depicted the travails of a globe trotting airline company. It seems that a villain known only as The Dragon (Arthur Loft) is determined to sabotage the company, who in desperation hires daredevil pilot Ace Drummond (John King) to investigate. By the time of the serial's 13th and final chapter -- "The World Akin" -- Drummond has not only managed to destroy The Dragon but also reunited lovely Peggy Trainor (Jean Rogers) with her long lost father (Montagu Shaw) and discovered a hidden mountain containing a fortune in jade. A former band singer with Ben Bernie, the rather bland John King later became "Dusty" King and enjoyed a minor career in B-Westerns. A legendary serial queen, blonde Jean Rogers gained her lasting reputation that same year when Universal cast her as Dale Arden in Flash Gordon. An edited feature version of Ace Drummond was released later in 1936 as Squadron of Doom. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Less than a week after the press preview of his second starring feature Man in Blue, Robert Wilcox was seen on-screen in his first starrer, Armored Car. Wilcox plays detective Larry Willis, who goes undercover as an armored-car guard. Larry deliberate messes up his job so that he'll be fired, thereby convincing a gang of hijackers that he's desperate enough to join them. Our hero works his way into the confidence of "intellectual" head crook Walinsky (Irving Pichel), much to the displeasure of the boss' distrustful henchman Petack (Cesar Romero). Things get hairy when the hoods threaten the life of heroine Ella (Judith Barrett), forcing Larry to blow his cover. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Wilcox, Judith Barrett, (more)
Gene Autry battles a crooked mine owner in this his signature western from Republic Pictures. Years earlier, Gene promised to take watch over his employer's son Tom (Edward Norris), a young hothead who enjoys the so-called finer things in life. Tom has to be corralled out of the wicked city after finally inheriting the old homestead but life in the supposedly pastoral Arizona hamlet of Solitude proves less than idyllic when greedy copper miner E.G. Blaine (Arthur Loft) begins poisoning the water supply. Not patient enough to let law abiding Gene handle things, Tom takes matters into his own hands and is promptly slapped with a murder charge. Since the local authorities are controlled by Blaine, Gene has Judge Bent (Edmund Elson secure a change of venue for the upcoming trial but the enemy may have an ace up his sleeve. When not shooting it out with Blaine and his henchmen, Gene, Smiley Burnette, leading lady Jacqueline Wells and girl singer Mary Lee perform "Good Old-Fashioned Hoedown", "Swingin' Sam, the Cowboy Man", "When the Cactus is in Bloom", "I'm an Old Cowhand", "Where the River Meets the Range", "I'm in the Jailhouse Now", "You Are My Sunshine", "Ninety-Nine Bullfrogs" and Ray Whitley's title tune. Back in the Saddle has been restored to its original length by the Westerns Channel and Gene Autry Entertainment. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1937
A superior Gene Autry Western in every way, Boots and Saddles features child prodigy Ra Hould (aka Ronald Sinclair) as Edward, Earl of Granville, a young Briton arriving in the West to claim his inheritance: a sprawling ranch. Foreman Gene Autry and sidekick, Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette), who had promised Master Edward's late father that they would turn the boy into a true Westerner, are shocked by the young nobleman's haughty demeanor and his plan to sell the indebted property to the highest bidder. Gene, however, manages to change the boy's mind in the last minute, much to the dismay of the potential buyer, Jim Neale (William Elliott), a wealthy neighbor to whom Edward's father was indebted. Planning to sell ponies to the army, Gene, Frog, and young Edward quickly alienate the local commander, Colonel Allen (Guy Usher) , whose daughter, Bernice (Judith Allen), Gene mistakes for a servant wench. Allen, however, changes his mind about purchasing Gene's horses after observing the wonder horse Champion in action, proposing instead a race between Gene, Neale, and their crews for the profitable contract. Not about to lose out to Gene, his rival for Bernice's attentions, Neale decides to play dirty but Gene still manages to win the race. At the finishing line, Frog reveals Neale's treachery, and Bernice and Gene make up. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Merrill McCormack, Gene Autry, (more)
Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant star in this inspired comedy about a madcap heiress with a pet leopard who meets an absent-minded paleontologist and unwittingly makes a fiasco of both their lives. David Huxley (Grant) is the stuffy paleontologist who needs to finish an exhibit on dinosaurs and thus land a $1 million grant for his museum. At a golf outing with his potential benefactors, Huxley is spotted by Susan Vance (Hepburn) who decides that she must have the reserved scientist at all costs. She uses her pet leopard, Baby, to trick him into driving to her Connecticut home, where a dog wanders into Huxley's room and steals the vital last bone that he needs to complete his project. The real trouble begins when another leopard escapes from the local zoo and Baby is mistaken for it, leading Huxley and Susan into a series of harebrained and increasingly more insane schemes to save the cat from the authorities. Inevitably, the two end up in the local jail, where things get even more out of hand: Susan pretends to be the gun moll to David's diabolical, supposedly wanted criminal. Naturally, the mismatched pair falls in love through all the lunacy. Director Howard Hawks delivers a funny, fast-paced, and offbeat story, enlivened by animated performances from the two leads, in what has become a definitive screwball comedy. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, (more)
Just after completing It Happened One Night, director Frank Capra churned out a bread-and-butter picture titled Broadway Bill. Warner Baxter plays the carefree scion of a wealthy, highly-respected family. Baxter's cold but socially correct wife Helen Vinson forces her husband into the family business, but Baxter would rather spend his time at the racetrack. He buys a nag named Broadway Bill and tries to build the horse into a winner--if he doesn't bankrupt himself first. Only Baxter's sister-in-law Myrna Loy and black stable hand Clarence Muse have faith in Broadway Bill. The horse wins a crucial race, but dies suddenly at the finish line. Baxter is comforted and given encouragement by Loy, who is now his sweetheart, Vinson having long since washed her hands of her "irresponsible" husband. Broadway Bill was remade by Capra as Riding High (1950), utilizing generous portions of stock footage and even going so far as to rehire several of the original film's cast members (Douglass Dumbrille, Clarence Muse, Charles Lane, Raymond Walburn, Margaret Hamilton, Frankie Darro) to recreate their roles and match up their scenes from the earlier production. Long withheld from distribution due to Riding High, Broadway Bill was made available for videocassette in the mid-1980s. Keep an eye out for Lucille Ball as a blonde telephone operator and Alan Hale Sr. as a racetrack announcer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, (more)
- 1938
Set on the eve of California's entry into the Union, this fact-based Western features Buck Jones as an undercover agent out to bring justice to American bandits swiping land from Mexicans. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Carmen Bailey, (more)
- 1940
Set during the war of 1812, Hal Roach's Captain Caution is an unusual swashbuckler in that the "hero" is actually the heroine. Louise Platt plays Corunna, the daughter of Captain Dorman (Robert Barrat), skipper of the American vessel The Olive Branch. When Dorman is killed in battle, Corunna courageously assumes command of the ship, with the help of muscular first mate Dan Marvin (Victor Mature). While trying to bring a valuable cargo to America, the Olive Branch is captured a number of times by the British, but on each occasion Corunna and Marvin manage to wriggle free and carry on their mission. Making life tougher for Corunna is the presence of the lacivious Slade (Bruce Cabot), who'd like to claim both the girl and the ship as his own personal property. Based on a novel by Kenneth Roberts (Northwest Passage), Captain Caution is currently available on video in a computer-colorized version; the reader is advised to hold out for the black-and-white original. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Louise Platt, (more)
- 1940
Escaped gangster Steve McBirney (Marc Lawrence), vowing to get even with Oriental sleuth Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler), lies in wait at a spooky wax museum run by demented plastic surgeon Dr. Cream (Henry Gordon). Chan is lured to the museum's opening day ceremonies on a ruse, along with a variety of strange characters ranging from a girl reporter (Joan Valerie) to a radio announcer (played by real-life announcer Ted Osborn). The subsequent murder spree is complicated by the fact that no one-not even the wily Chan--can tell the wax effigies from real thing. The explanation of the film's events-and the revelation of the killer-are quite a surprise. With Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum, 20th Century-Fox's "Chan" series reached its peak: from here, it could only go downhill. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler
- 1938
This spy thriller is centered upon the actions of the Cipher Bureau, a part of a government agency devoted to intercepting and decoding secret messages. The protagonist must destroy a ring of thinly disguised German spies. The film contains a lot of interesting information about how codes are deciphered and other things such as the ways that broadcast music can contain secret codes. The spies on both sides get involved in a gun battle. The good guys save the day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leon Ames, Charlotte Wynters, (more)
- 1935
In this western about the adventures of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a fur trapper is robbed and killed by a local thug. Although he is caught by the Mounties and thrown in jail, his partner soon breaks him out. It turns out they are both part of a gang headed by a ruthless killer -- who is a woman! ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
Rather than the usual cattlemen vs. sheep men conflict, this above-average Rex Allen western contrasts ranchers of all kinds with the Hurley Lumber Mill company, whose destructive business methods cause flashfloods that threatens to destroy all the grazing land in Pine Valley. Assuming to be the sole heirs to the Zeke Reynolds estate, a ranch with plenty of possibilities for timber interests, Carrie Hurley (June Vincent) and her brother Dan (Fred Graham) are dismayed to learn that the dear departed also saw fit to include Slim Pickens and distant relative Jacqueline Reynolds (Mary Ellen Kay) in his bequest. Having already murdered an inquisitive forest ranger (Russ Conway), the Hurleys are not about to share the lucrative Reynolds property but the homicidal brother-and-sister team bargains without Slim's boss, Rex Allen. When not battling the glacial Carrie Hurley and her henchmen, Allen and The Republic Rhythm Riders (who received introductory billing) perform "I'm Leaving on the Pine Valley Stage" "Under Colorado Stars" and the traditional "Down By the Riverside". ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rex Allen, Mary Ellen Kay, (more)
- 1950
County Fair is an amiable racetrack drama starring Rory Calhoun. A veteran horse trainer, Calhoun has developed a somewhat unsavory reputation. He redeems himself by arranging for near-impoverished matron Florence Bates to win an important race. It's all for the love of a good woman--in this case, Bates' niece Jane Nigh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rory Calhoun, Jane Nigh, (more)
- 1939
This adventure is the last entry in the "Renfrew of the Mounties" series. This time the tuneful Mountie travels to the north woods where he must thwart an American mobster's plot to swipe a large gold shipment. Interspersed amongst the action are two songs: "You're Easy on the Eyes," and "Crimson Sunset." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Newill, Warren Hull, (more)
- 1933
Gangsters and cowboys don't mix as a recently returned World War I veteran soon discovers in this drama. The trouble is set in the hometown of Tom Allen, the returned G.I. He returns to find that one of his friend's has been murdered and that another friend has been framed for it. The real killer is the son of a mine owner in cahoots with Chicago gangsters and together they take-on Tom. He beats them all and the mobsters return to Chicago, the bad son is convicted, and Tom gets a beautiful girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Keene, Betty Furness, (more)
- 1931
Billed as "The Ace of Screen Dare-Devils," stuntman Richard Talmadge usually starred in films that suffered from strained or nonexistent budgets. Dancing Dynamite seems to be a bit more expensive than the usual Talmadge vehicle, but only by a few bucks. The star plays Dick Barton, a Catalina fisherman with aspirations to crash High Society. Tired of hearing Barton's incessant chatter about the rich and famous, his pal Bull Evans (Stanley Blystone) bets Dick that he could never hobnob with the upper classes. Dick takes that bet, and before the film is over he has rescued wealthy Murray Van Lane (Harvey Clark) from bankruptcy -- and as a bonus, he marries Van Lane's lovely daughter Helen (Blanche Mehaffey). Rychard Cramer, usually cast as a sadistic villain, is a hoot as a dimwitted detective. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Talmadge, Blanche Mehaffey, (more)
Virtually everybody except President Roosevelt was in the lavish MGM backstage musical Dancing Lady. Joan Crawford stars as Janie Barlow, an impoverished dancer reduced to working in a seedy Manhattan burlesque house. While on a slumming party with his society friend, wealthy young Tod Newton (Franchot Tone) spots Janie in the burleycue chorus line and immediately falls in love with her. When the joint is raided, Tod pays Janie's bail, but she resists his entreaties to become his mistress, promising instead to pay back every cent she owes him "honestly." With Tod's help, Janie is able to secure work in a big-time Broadway musical being staged by Patch Gallegher (Clark Gable), who is certain that the girl is an untalented opportunist and does everything he can to sabotage her audition. When he realizes that the girl "has something," he refuses to admit it but does, grudgingly, hire her for the show. Through a combination of skill and damned hard work, Janie ends up as the star of the show, whereupon Tod, worried that he'll lose the girl to the Great White Way, buys the show and promptly closes it. But Janie, who's fallen in love with Patch, teams with her new sweetheart to restage the show with their own meager savings -- and surprise of surprises, it's a smash hit. Truly an embarrassment of riches, Dancing Lady introduced Fred Astaire to the movie-going public, solidified the popularity of MGM's new tenor Nelson Eddy, and offered a wide berth for the comedy antics of Ted Healy and his Three Stooges -- Moe Howard, Curly Howard and Larry Fine (Larry, performing his role in a Jewish dialect, has a wonderful double-take bit with a jigsaw puzzle which turns out to be a portrait of Adolf Hitler). As a bonus, the film offers spectacular musical production numbers, not to mention the enduring song hit "Everything I Have is Yours." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, (more)
- 1938
In this drama, a gangster finds the woman of his dreams, but before he can have her he must frame her fiance. Meanwhile the Asian lover he dumped plots her revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1949
Based on a novel by Charles Huckelmann, Deputy Marshal was a "special" by the standards of cost-conscious Screen Guild productions. The film stars Jon Hall and Frances Langford, who were Mr. and Mrs. at the time. Hall plays the title character, aka Ed Garry, while Langford essays the role of Janet Masters, a Wyoming ranchowner threatened by land thieves. While Garry does the dirty work so far as keeping the villains at bay, Janet gets to sing a couple of pleasant songs. Deputy Marshal was promoted on its novelty value; the film was photographed by Carl Berger with the Garutso Balanced Lens, a deep-focus apparatus that simulated a 3-D effect. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Hall, Frances Langford, (more)
- 1939
Gail Patrick plays a brilliant but naive country lawyer brought to the city to defend gangster Sidney Toler. She is subsidized by pillar of society Otto Kruger, who is actually the "big boy" behind the city's rackets. Ms. Patrick must prove that Toler didn't own a weapon that he is accused of pointing at a terrified states' witness. She believes in her client's innocence, but honest district attorney Robert Preston steers her to the side of Right. Patrick is exonerated of a complicity charge, and bad guys Toler and Kruger are carted off to prison. Ironically, Gail Patrick was later the executive producer of the TV series Perry Mason. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gail Patrick, Robert Preston, (more)
- 1939
Not exactly famous for its innovative story lines, Monogram's Jack Randall Westerns were mostly written by genre hack Robert Emmett Tansey. After employing the old wheeze about a cowboy searching for his brother's killer in no less than three consecutive entries (Mexicali Kid, Wild Horse Canyon, and Trigger Smith), Tansey blithely trotted out the one about the cowboy impersonating an outlaw in order to infiltrate a gang of crooks. Randall, as Jack Clark, and his sidekick, Lopez (Frank Yaconelli), come to the aid of Don Careta (Julian Rivero) and his daughter, Wanda (Edna Duran), whose hidden silver mine has become the object of desire for a gang lead by Careta's evil brother, Manuel (Octavio Giraud), the even more unscrupulous Carga (Stanley Blystone), and Manuel's mistress, Nicki (Carmen Bailey). Impersonating a notorious gunman, Jack gains the trust of Carga but his real identity is always in danger of being revealed by Piute (James Sheridan, aka Sherry Tansey), Carga's henchman. Everyone is soon searching for a secret map to the mine but in the end Jack and Lopez emerge victorious. The villains carted off to jail, Jack proposes to Wanda. The brother of supervising producer/screenwriter Robert Emmett Tansey, Sherry Tansey played bit parts in most of the Randall oaters but obtained a featured role this time around. A general purpose supporting actor, Tansey enjoyed a long, 125-Western screen career that lasted from the silent era through the early '40s. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Yaconelli
