Tom Tyler Movies

Produced by a company bearing the hilariously ill-fitting moniker of Big Productions, Inc., this parsimonious silent Western starred the strapping Tom Tyler as a rancher who discovers oil on his property. A gang of cutthroats do their best to sabotage Tyler's good fortune, but in the end, justice prevails. Australian-born starlet Lotus Thompson lent feminine appeal, and J.P. McGowan (who also produced and directed), Harry Woods, and Barney Furey took care of the skullduggery. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this is '40s western a U.S. marshal chases a band of big-name bandits into no-man's territory (land outside of U.S. government jurisdiction) as he's trying to locate his little brother. He ends up facing off with none other than the James Boys, the Daltons and other notorious fellows. Badman's Territory proved so successful that the formula was repeated several times by RKO and other studios. ~ All Movie Guide

The advertising tag "four years in the making" is usually so much press-agent puffery. In the case of the 1926 silent version of Ben Hur, it was the unvarnished truth--and the filmmakers had the scars to prove it. The story behind the film is now part of Hollywood folklore: the cast and production crew changes (star George Walsh summarily dumped in favor of Roman Novarro, director Charles J. Brabin replaced by Fred Niblo, writer-supervisor June Mathis-who'd spearheaded the project in the first place-abruptly fired); the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on the troublesome location shooting in Italy--money that was lost when most of the footage proved unusable; the extra expenditure of refilming in Hollywood; and the huge chunk of the film's profits eaten up by the 50% royalty deal set up with theatrical producers Klaw and Erlanger, who controlled the rights to General Lew Wallace's novel. The end result reflected the turbulent production conditions: Ben Hur is an extraordinarily uneven experience, with moments of cinematic brilliance and pulse-pounding thrills alternating with long stretches of stagey boredom. The film follows the original Wallace story to the letter: Judah Ben-Hur (Novarro), a wealthy Jew living under the reign of the Caesars, is betrayed by his best friend, ambitious Roman centurion Messala (Francis X. Bushman). Ben-Hur's family is sent to prison, while he himself is condemned to the galleys. During a violent sea battle, Ben-Hur saves the life of galleon commander Quintus Arrius (Frank Currier). The grateful commander adopts Ben-Hur as his son and bankrolls his desire to become a champion charioteer. Thirsting for revenge, Ben-Hur agrees to race against his old nemesis Messala. The latter is fatally injured during the race; with his dying breath, Messala reveals that Ben-Hur's family, previously reported dead, are actually alive--but living as lepers. The story is subtitled A Tale of the Christ because, at various junctures in his life, Ben-Hur has been touched by the hand of Jesus. Ben-Hur must totally embrace Christ's edict of love and forgiveness before he can be reunited with his family. As Jesus is crucified in Jerusalem, Ben-Hur's mother (Claire McDowell) and sister (Kathleen Key), having also embraced the Christian philosophy, are miraculously cured of their leprosy. Most of these plot elements, together with the romance between Ben-Hur and the lovely Esther (May McAvoy), reappeared in the 1959 remake of Ben-Hur--which, fortunately, did not include the ridiculous subplot involving the alluring Iras (Carmel Myers), who attempts to seduce Ben-Hur just before the big race. The film's highlights--the sea battle, the now-legendary chariot race--were produced on a far grander scale than in the 1959 version; unfortunately, both highlights took place in the first half of the picture, leaving the viewers with a rather dreary, drawn out denouement (the remake wisely placed the sea battle in part one, and the race in part two). The Technicolor Nativity sequences were condemned in 1926 as being in poor taste, but when seen today are beautifully handled and restful on the eye (oddly, no one complained about the nude female revellers during a later Technicolor pageant scene!) Ben Hur cost $4 million and grossed $9 million on its first release. The aforementioned royalty arrangement left MGM with only a $1 million take. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the best "psychological" westerns of the 1940s, RKO Radio's Blood on the Moon stars Robert Mitchum as itinerant cowboy Jim Garry. Riding into a Texas Indian reservation, Garry finds himself embroiled in a deadly feud between cattle ranchers and homesteaders. He befriends both Amy Lufton (Barbara Bel Geddes), daughter of wealthy cattle man John Lufton (Tom Tully), and smooth-talking mercenary Tate Rilling (Robert Preston). What neither Garry nor Amy realize is that Rilling is a snake, conspiring with crooked Indian agent Jake Pindalest (Frank Faylen) to make off with Lufton's cattle. At first aligning himself with Rilling, Garry finally figures out that his so-called friend is up to no good and casts his lot with Lufton, leading to a bloody showdown. Based on the novel by Luke Short, Blood on the Moon was given top-grade treatment by director Robert Wise, an alumnus of RKO Radio's editing department. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A streamlined, fast-paced silent B-Western, this Tom Tyler vehicle was one of several oaters featuring a very young, still brunette, Jean Arthur. She plays Eunice Morgan, the daughter of a businessman (Fred Gambold) who loses his Western ranch to an unscrupulous employer (LeRoy Mason). Unbeknownst to Morgan, there is oil on the property and it is up to ranch foreman Tyler to catch the villain before he can get the deed notarized. The stalwart Tyler does just that and wins the love of Arthur in return. Tyler's usual sidekick, juvenile actor Frankie Darro, was joined by Buck Black, a toothy ten-year old who had played a young Theodore Roosevelt in Lights of Old Broadway (1925). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Edward G. Robinson plays orchid-loving gangster Little John Sarto, who aspires to "real class." During a power struggle with usurping mobster Jack Buck (Humphrey Bogart), Sarto is taken for a one-way ride, but he escapes his would-be assassins and hides out in a monastery overseen by Brother Superior (Donald Crisp). Sarto insists that he'd like to become a monk himself, but in fact he's using the monastery as a hideout, the better to mount his counterattack against Buck. Eventually Sarto's resolve is weakened by the kindness of the monks, and he decides to turn over a new leaf. He sees to it that Buck is brought to justice, and also fixes up his true-blue "moll," Flo Addams (Ann Sothern), with good-hearted Texas rancher Clarence Fletcher (Ralph Bellamy). (News flash! Bellamy gets the girl for once!) Sarto, now known as "Brother Orchid," returns to the monastery for good, declaring that he's finally found the real class. Though Edward G. Robinson didn't want to play another gangster, he agreed to star in Brother Orchid in exchange for being allowed to essay the lead in Warner Bros.' historical drama A Dispatch From Reuter's (1940). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed on a B-picture budget, Buck Privates was Universal's biggest box-office hit of 1941, firmly securing the movie popularity of the studio's hot new team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The story is fairly evenly divided between the antics of Bud and Lou-here cast as sidewalk salesmen Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown-and the romantic triangle involving Randolph Parker III (Lee Bowman), Judy Gray (Jane Frazee) and Bob Martin (Alan Curtis). Escaping the wrath of policeman Mike Collins (Nat Pendleton), Slicker and Herbie duck into a nearby movie theater, which unbeknownst to them has been converted into a US Army recruiting center. As the boys are reluctantly inducted into the Service, wealthy draftee Parker hopes to pull a few strings to avoid putting on a uniform, while Parker's former chauffeur Martin willingly answers his call to the Colors. Once ensconced in boot camp, Slicker and Herbie continually run afoul of their sergeant, who is none other than their old nemesis Mike the cop. Meanwhile, Parker and Martin vie for the attentions of USO hostess Judy, who'll have nothing to do with Parker until he proves his worth as a soldier. Poor Slicker and Herbie are shunted into the background as the romantic subplot is resolved, but at least our heroes get to steal the film's closing scene. It's hard to believe that anyone cared about the Parker-Martin-Judy triangle with Abbott & Costello on hand to perform their classic "dice game", "awkward squad", "turn on the radio" and "boxing ring" routines-not to mention their timeless verbal exchanges, the best of which finds Bud convincing Lou that if he marries an underage girl, she'll eventually be older than he (it plays better than it reads!) As a bonus, the film spotlights the Andrews Sisters, performing such top-ten tunes as "Apple Blossom Time" and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy". Even from the vantage point of six decades, with the WWII draft but a dim memory, it is easy to see why Buck Privates was such a huge success. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A mysterious crook by the name of "The Poet" is robbing Wells Fargo stages and creating havoc in the Old West. The sheriff is having no luck discovering the desperado's identity; when he comes across James Wylie (Dennis Morgan), a gambler who is running from the law in Carson City, he blackmails him into going undercover and tracking the outlaw down. Wylie takes the next coach out, joined by two tantalizing women, Ann (Jane Wyman) and Emily (Janis Paige). Emily is just a saloon singer (which affords her the chance to croon "I'm So in Love" and "Going Back to Old Cheyenne"), but it turns out that Ann is more unusual -- she's the wife of The Poet. The two team up to track him down (encountering The Sundance Kid and his gang along the way) -- and discover that they make a pretty good team. A popular TV series of the same name was loosely based upon the movie; starring Clint Walker, it ran for 7 years starting in 1955. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

Former silent screen cowboy Tom Tyler headlined this average Universal serial as a Northwest Mounted Police officer chasing his own brother (Earl McCarthy), who has been framed in a killing. The real culprits, outlaws Pierce LaRue (Leon Duval) and "Black" MacDougal (William L. Thorne), also murdered pretty Ann Louise's (Jacqueline Wells) father for his gold claim, a prize they attempt to hold on to by any means for 12 two-reel instalments. According to the serial's publicity, Clancy of the Mounted was based on a poem by Robert W. Service. Leading lady Jacqueline Wells, a 1934 WAMPAS baby star, previously acted under the name Diane Duval and would later bill herself Julie Bishop. Former silent screen Western stars Tom London (aka Leonard Clapham), Edmund Cobb, and Fred Humes play bit parts as Mounties in this serial. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A "big" western by Allied Artists standards, Cow Country is directed with his usual panache by horse-opera expert Lesley Selander. Adapted from a novel by Curtis Bishop, the film stars Edmond O'Brien as Ben Anthony, an adventurer-for-hire who casts his lot with Texas cattleman Walt Garnet (Robert H. Barrat). The villains want to drive Anthony and his fellow ranchers off their land, but Ben's six-guns prevent this, at least temporarily. Meanwhile, Linda Garnet (Helen Westcott), Walt's daughter and the fiancee of the film's chief bad guy Harry Odell (Bob Lowery), aligns herself with Ben when Odell proves to be spectacularly unfaithful with saloon chirp Melba Sykes (Peggie Castle). Barton MacLane rounds out the cast in one of his standard loud, abrasive roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the fourth of 18 inexpensive Tom Tyler Westerns produced by Reliable Pictures and filmed on location in Newhall, California, Tom and his sidekick, Windy (Ben Corbett), are hired by John Baker's Bar X Ranch. Baker (Lafe McKee) offers a $1,000 reward to anyone who can capture "The Phantom," a wild stallion suspected of chasing a herd of mares through a hole in the Bar X fence. The real horse thief, however, is Bar X's unscrupulous neighbor, Mack Larkin (Dick Alexander), who is in cahoots with Baker's crooked foreman, Bert (Charles "Slim" Whitaker). Tom befriends "The Phantom" and is determined to prove the horse innocent. Despite the skepticism of Baker's pretty daughter, Helen (Alice Dahl), Tom and Windy set out to prove Larkin's guilt. Although sharing the same character name, "Windy," the rustic Corbett had little else in common with George Hayes (later nicknamed "Gabby"), the quintessential comic sidekick of "Hopalong Cassidy" series fame. A holdover from the silent era, Corbett was woefully unfunny and an amateurish actor to boot. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Thoroughly geared for the small fry, this pleasant silent western starred the strapping Tom Tyler, freckled boy actor Frankie Darro, and Tyler's faithful dog, Beans. The three pals (with Darro's sister Elsie Tarron in tow) are searching for the villain, known only as the "Black Rider," who murdered Tyler's father (Bert Hadley). Since sneering Harry Woods appears in the cast, Cyclone of the Range is not too taxing a prairie "whodunit." The film's director, Robert DeLacy, was the father of Philippe DeLacy, a boy actor too decorative for the rough-and-tumble world of series westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

John Ford directed this outdoor adventure set in the American Colonial period. Gilbert and Lana Martin (Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert) are a young couple trying to make a home in New York State's Mohawk Valley, but repeated attacks by Indians drive them, along with other settlers in the valley, into a nearby fort, where they watch helplessly as the natives lay waste to their farms and cabins. A spinster with a large farm, Sarah McKlennar (Edna May Oliver), comes to their rescue when she hires Gilbert to work as a field hand and gives the Martins a place to stay. The rugged life of the farm and frontier doesn't always sit well with Lana, who was raised in wealthy and comfortable circumstances; in time she develops a thicker skin and learns to love their new life in the Mohawk Valley, especially after giving birth to their first son. Gilbert joins the militia, who must do battle both with the local Indian tribes and the British soldiers who are provoking them to battle. Gilbert returns wounded, and as he recuperates, a healthy crop rises in the fields, but their satisfaction is short lived when the Indians once again hit the warpath. 1939 was a stellar year for John Ford; along with this highly successful adventure tale, which was nominated for three Academy Awards, Ford also released the ground-breaking western Stagecoach. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide