Blackie Whiteford Movies

The creative team of producer Harry Joe Brown and star Randolph Scott turned out some of the best westerns of the 1950s, and Santa Fe is no exception. Set in the years following the Civil War, the film casts Scott as Britt Canfield, one of four ex-Confederate brothers who head West to carve out a new life. While his three siblings (Jerome Courtland, Peter Thompson and John Archer) cast their lot on the wrong side of the law, Britt accepts a job with the Santa Fe Railroad. Inevitably, Britt is obliged to bring his wayward brothers to justice, though he knows full well that the person responsible for their downfall is "untouchable" gambling boss Cole Sanders (Roy Roberts). In a well-staged climax, Britt squares accounts with the evil Sanders and his hulking henchman Crake (Jock O'Mahoney). Curiously, many TV prints of Santa Fe were processed with the soundtrack slightly out of sync with the action. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though Humphrey Bogart is the official star of Knock on Any Door, the film is essentially a showcase for Columbia's newest young male discovery John Derek. The first production of Bogart's Santana company, the film casts Bogart as attorney Andrew Morton. A product of the slums, Morton is persuaded to take the case of underprivileged teenager Nick Romano (Derek), who has been arrested on a murder charge. Through flashbacks, Morton demonstrates that Romano is more a victim of society than a natural-born killer. Though this defense strategy does not have the desired result on the jury thanks to the badgering of DA Kernan (George Macready), Morton does manage to arouse sympathy for the plight of those trapped by birth and circumstance in a dead-end existence. As Nick Romano, John Derek would never be better, nor would ever again play a character who struck so responsive a chord with the audience. Nick's oft-repeated credo--"Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse"--became the clarion call for a generation of disenfranchised youth. Director Nicholas Ray would later expand on themes touched upon in Knock on a Any Door in his juvenile delinquent "chef d'oeuvre" Rebel without a Cause. Viewers are advised to watch for future TV personalities Cara Williams and Si Melton in uncredited minor roles. Knock on Any Door spawned a belated sequel in 1960, Let No Man Write My Epitaph. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Producer Hal Wallis evidently hoped to recapture the magic of his earlier Casablanca with 1949's Rope of Sand. To that end, he hired three of Casablanca's supporting players: Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, and Peter Lorre. This time, Henreid is the villain, a sadistic police inspector named Paul Vogel. Stationed somewhere in Africa, Vogel hopes to find a legendary lost diamond field. His principal rival in this endeavor is jewel thief Mike Davis (Burt Lancaster), who continues bouncing back from every death trap lain for him by the ill-tempered Vogel. The scenes in which Davis is subjected to various physical tortures is pretty raw for a 1940s film. Claude Rains co-stars as a diamond syndicate head misleadingly named Toady, while Peter Lorre does his shifty-mercenary act. Billed ninth as the nominal heroine is Hal Wallis' latest discovery, French actress/singer Corinne Calvet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this two-reel comedy, the Three Stooges found themselves caught in the middle of the war between the states, a setting not visited by the zany team since 1935's Uncivil Warriors. This time around they keep changing allegiance until three Southern Belles (Faye Williams, Eleanor Counts, and Marilyn Johnson) change their minds for them. Curly Howard's increasingly obvious health problems made this effort one of the team's weakest to date. Uncivil Warbirds was a remake of Buster Keaton's Mooching Through Georgia (1939), and contained quite a bit of footage from that earlier comedy. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Based on a famous book by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., this grueling saga of shipboard oppression is set in the mid-19th century. Charles Stewart (Alan Ladd), the wealthy son of a Boston shipowner, is hijacked by Amazeen (William Bendix), the first mate on a ship bound for California. Francis Thompson (Howard Da Silva) is the tyrannical captain of the Pilgrim who was booted out of the U.S. Navy for mistreating his sailors. Now he wants to set a record sailing time, and he and Amazeen mete out severe punishment for the slightest of infractions. They even deny the men permission to go ashore and pick fruit when they stop in California and pick up the beautiful Maria Dominguez (Esther Fitzgerald). Without fruit, the men develop scurvy and begin to mutiny. Stewart allies himself with the author Dana (Brian Donlevy), whose brother died on one of Captain Thompson's previous voyages. Dana wants to write an expose of Thompson. Stewart steals guns and tries to take over the ship, but Amazeen subdues and imprisons him. The film was shot on a Hollywood set, but with devices on the set that simulate rolling waves so effectively that much of the cast got seasick. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Rough, Tough, and Ready looks a great deal like all those Victor McLaglen - Edmund Lowe "friendly enemy" actionfests of the 1920s and 1930s. Indeed, McLaglen stars in the film as Owen McCarey, though the "Edmund Lowe" part, Brad Crowder, goes to Chester Morris. The story is the old bromide about two brawling buddies, duking it out over the same girl, in this case pert Jo Matheson (Jean Rogers). Owen and Brad own a salvage company, but split up over Jo. Both separately sign up for the army, and both are reunited in the Pacific. One of the protagonists saves the other's life in combat, signalling a happy reunion-at least, until the next dame comes along. Director Del Lord handles Rough, Tough and Ready in the slaphappy manner of one of his Three Stooges two-reelers: one is surprised that the stars don't poke each other in the eyes and shout "Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Charles Starrett stars in the lightning-paced Columbia western Riding West. Somebody is planning to sabotage the new Pony Express mail service, and hard-ridin' Steve Jordan (Charles Starrett) aims to find out who. Though he claims to be "a peaceable man," Jordan isn't above using his fists or fanning his six-gun to rout the villains. Comedy relief is provided by Arthur Hunnicutt as snake-oil peddler Arkansas Higgins, while the "femme interest" is Shirley Patterson, whose Columbia Pictures resume extended from the first Batman serial to a few 3 Stooges and Harry Langdon 2-reelers. Of interest to country-western fans is the presence of Ernest Tubbs and his Singing Cowboys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Johnny Mack Brown essays the title role in Universal's Fighting Bill Forgo. Returning to his home town, Bill Fargo takes over the operation of his late father's newspaper. He quickly gets swept up in political intrigue fomented by political boss Hackett (Kenneth Harlan), who has a cute habit of rubbing out any and all honest candidates for the sheriff's office. When one of Hackett's victims manages to snap a photograph of his assassins, Bill intends to publish the picture and expose the crooks-provided he lives that long. The musical interludes are provided by Eddie Dean, who'd be promoted to cowboy-star status himself in the late1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After a handful of non-formula westerns, Charles Starrett returned to the mixture as before in Thundering Frontier. Starrett plays Jim Fillmore, kind to old ladies, small animals and heroine Norma Belknap (Iris Meredith). In contrast, the villains are kind to no one, least of all struggling building contractor Square Deal Scottie (Alex Callam), whose projects are continually targetted for demolition and his payroll is forever being stolen at gunpoint. A good 25 percent of the film's running time is given over to Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers, whose C&W croonings are pleasant but a bit much. One of the film's few surprises is that Starrett's perennial screen sparring partner Dick Curtis isn't one of the bad guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inspired by the true story of the leader of the Mormon Church, this film features Dean Jagger in the title role. The members of the Church of Latter Day Saints are subjected to religious persecution by the people of Nauvoo, Illinois, where they've settled; so under the leadership of Brigham Young, the Mormons head west, facing tremendous adversity along the way. However, a gravely ill Young has a prophetic dream in which he sees what he believes is his people's promised land, where they will be allowed to live and worship as they see fit. Soon they discover the land Young saw in his dream -- Salt Lake City, Utah. Young and his followers settle there, but their hardship does not end soon. The first winter in Utah is cruel, and while the spring brings the promises of a bountiful planting season, soon a plague of locusts appears, threatening to devour the crops the settlers have just planted. A huge flock of seagulls arrives to save the day by consuming the insects. Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell play a pair of settlers who fall in love in the course of the journey. Brigham Young downplays the more controversial aspects of the Mormon church (particularly polygamy) in favor of portraying Young as a trail-blazing man of the land; in some markets, the film was shown as Brigham Young, Frontiersman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A remake of sorts of the 1935 western The Arizonian, this fine George O'Brien oater features Leon Ames as Sheriff Judd Cronan, a slick lawman running Mesa City as if he owns the place. When schoolmarm Virginia King (Virginia Vale) has had enough of both Cronan's capriciousness and his advances and decides to leave town, the sheriff arranges for his henchman Pete (Joe McGuinn) to commit a bit of kidnapping. Unhappily for Cronan and his cronies, Cliff Mason (O'Brien), a retired lawman, happens by and is easily persuaded to stick around and do something about the general lawlessness of the area. Cornered, the sheriff sends for Duke Allison (Henry Brandon), a hired killer. Marshal of Mesa City was the first of six westerns teaming George O'Brien with RKO starlet Virginia Vale, formerly Dorothy Howe and the winner of the "Gateway to Hollywood" radio contest. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Romance of the Rockies is considered the best of Tom Keene's starring westerns for Monogram. Keene is cast against type as a doctor, replete with non-cowboy wardrobe. Despite his calm demeanor, our hero proves a worthy adversary when the villains try to grab up all the local water rights. The best scene finds Keene "riding" a surging underground stream after a dynamite blast, using a stick as a rudder. The leading lady this time out is Beryl Wallace, a former Earl Carroll showgirl who made quite a few westerns in the late 1930s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide