Jim Thorpe Movies
- 1932
My Pal the King may not be the best of Tom Mix's talkie westerns, but it is the one that comes closest to the spirit of his silent films -- and it's the one that everyone seems to remember the most. The scene is a mythical European kingdom, where 10-year-old King Charles (Mickey Rooney) yawns his way through cabinet meetings dominated by the scheming, covetous Count DeMar (James Kirkwood). Escaping his royal environs, Charles scurries to the town square (actually the village set from Frankenstein!) where visiting Wild-West showman Tom Reed (Mix) is leading a parade. Quickly befriending Tom, Charles and his entourage are invited to a special presentation of Reed's travelling circus. Reciprocating, Charles welcomes Tom into the palace, where the down-to-earth Westerner introduces the young monarch to the concept of democracy. Sensing that Charles is being swayed by Tom's egalitarian point of view, the evil DeMar kidnaps the boy and traps him in the catacombs of the Count's country estate. As Charles's underground prison slowly fills with water, Tom and his buddies race to the rescue. In the best tradition of Universal Pictures, My Pal the King offers a million dollars' worth of entertainment on a very modest budget; in addition, the film offers the modern viewer a tantalizing glimpse of what Tom Mix's real-life Wild West Show must have been like (among the performers is former Olympic champion Jim Thorpe). The film falters only when star Mix comes "out" of the picture, exhorting the kids in the audience to imagine what it must be like for King Charles to experience his first western show; impressive though he is on a physical level, Mix was never much of a verbal actor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Mix, Mickey Rooney, (more)
- 1932
The air-mail pilots who fly from a small airport in the Rocky Mountains are determined but not paid well, and there are occasional fatal crashes. It's a tradition of long standing that when this happens, chief pilot Mike Miller (Ralph Bellamy) makes the next flight himself. Daredevil Duke Talbot (Pat O'Brien) is hired; he starts an affair with Irene Wilkins (Lilian Bond), wife of pilot Dizzy (Russell Hopton). A fierce snowstorm rages when Dizzy next takes off. He crashes and is killed, so Mike makes the next flight. He crashes in an inaccessible valley, but survives. Although Duke has now run off with Irene, when he hears about Mike's crash, he decides to fly to the rescue. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1932
In this western, a Pony Express rider believes himself to be a Native American. The trouble begins when an Anglo outlaw begins stealing the fastest horses from the organization. The outlaw then blames the local Indians for the thefts. The gallant young rider learns of the scheme and rounds up the real culprits. Along the way he learns that he is really a white man who had been abducted and raised by the Indians. He is pretty happy because now he is free to marry the white woman he loves. The racist attitudes in this film are a reflection of its time, 1932, and of the whims of the powerful Hays Office, which censored all Hollywood films. As Hays considered miscegenation (the so-called mixing of races) immoral, the hero had to become a white man to marry a white woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Barbara Weeks, (more)
"Suggested" by the book The West That Was by legendary showman William F. Cody, this 12 chapter Universal serial was merely another slam-bang affair in which Cody (Tom Tyler) and his younger sidekick, Dave Archer (Rex Bell), battle a nasty claim jumper, Jim Rodney (Francis Ford), and his gang. Resenting the interference in his plans, Rodney not only incites the local Indian tribe to attack the town but also blackmails the local community to elect him sheriff. Not one of the era's better serials, Battling with Buffalo Bill still manages to engage no less than 10 former silent cowboy stars in the cast, somewhat of a record. Of course, most of the gentlemen in question were finding the new audible Hollywood an inhospitable place and were just happy to be working, even for the lousy wages offered by Universal producer Henry MacRae. Leading man Tom Tyler, who had replaced Tim McCoy, would become a regular serial hero in the sound era, bringing such comic book heroes as "Captain Marvel" (1940) and The Phantom (1943) to life. A former Fox star, second-billed Rex Bell was the husband of Clara Bow and a future lieutenant governor of Nevada. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1931
In this gridiron drama, a college football coach and ex-All American will stop at nothing to have a winning team. The trouble begins as Dastardly Dan Curtis sends an injured player into a big game. The ploy works and the team wins; unfortunately, the player ends up hospitalized. Later he changes his ways and proves it during an important game by refusing to send a player with a massive head injury into the game. They lose the game, but he regains the respect and affection of those around him. The film includes clips of several football legends including Jim Thorpe, Roy Riegels, Howard Jones and Russ Saunders. The story is based on a novel by Francis Wallace, a former member of Knute Rockne's coaching staff. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Peggy Shannon, (more)
