Blackie Whiteford Movies

In his first of thirty-two B-Westerns for producer A.W. Hackel, bantamweight Bob Steele plays Bob Worth, a cowboy seeking employment at Lita Morton's (Gloria Shea) New Mexico ranch. Lita's brother Bud (Nick Stuart) turns him down flat and instead puts the property up for sale. The buyer, Dyer (Walter McGrail), has Bud assassinated on his way to deposit the first payment and Bob, who merely happens to find the body, is accused of the deed by Lita. Wounded by Dyer, Bob finds shelter with Mexican outlaw Gallindo (Don Alvarado) and concocts a plan to trap the killer. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Directed by his father, Robert North Bradbury, Bob Steele's third Western for independent producer A.W. Hackel remains one of the most bizarre and evocative B-Westerns of the 1930s. Written by set designer/supporting actor Perry Murdock, The Big Calibre is really a horror movie masquerading as a Western, complete with a mad, disfigured scientist who kills by employing vials of poison gas. Steele's onscreen father (Frank Brownlee) becomes the Mad Doc's first victim and the sheriff's investigation points to town chemist Otto Zenz as the killer. Before he can be arrested, Zenz escapes with Steele in hot pursuit. (Eerily, director Bradbury favored stories about sons hunting down their fathers' killers.) Along the way, the young cowboy stumbles over a mysterious and unsettling pile of dried-up bones, a stage hold-up that isn't quite what it appears to be, and a girl (Peggy Campbell) whose ranch is threatened by a greedy lawyer (Forrest Taylor). The latter's co-conspirator, the hideously deformed assayer Gadski, may or may not be the missing chemist/killer. Despite all that, Steele manages to revenge his father's death in a final, desperate struggle during which the maniacal killer is undone by his own murder weapon. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In a slight change of pace, low-budget Western star Bob Steele plays a cowboy-turned-race car driver in this otherwise typical Paul Malvern production directed by the star's father Robert North Bradbury. Steele's happy-go-lucky Speed Brent gets involved with escaped prisoner Killer Joe (Ernie Adams), who hires him to drive him to the Mexican border. Knocked unconscious by one of Joe's henchmen, Speed recovers to find Judge Stafford (John Elliott) seriously wounded and the victim of theft. Along with the judge's bearded foreman Chuck Wiggins (George "Gabby" Hayes), Speed vows to track down the gang and later hooks up with Sonia (Marion Byron), a government agent masquerading as a saloon girl. Killer Joe, meanwhile, attempts to escape by car, but is chased down by Speed, who forces him over a cliff to his death. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Not the best of Tim McCoy's 16 Westerns for Columbia (1931-1932), Cornered, directed by action specialist B. Reeves Eason, was also far from the worst, with plenty of fast riding and shooting to please the small fry. McCoy played Sheriff Tim Laramie whose best friend, Moody Pearson (Niles Welch), is accused of killing the father of his girlfriend, Jane Herrick (Shirley Grey). Tim staunchly proclaims his friend innocent until proven guilty but when Moody escapes, the townsfolk fire him. Tim and Moody join a gang of outlaws headed by Red Slaven (Noah Beery), whom the latter believes killed old man Herrick. When cornered, Slavens freely admits to the murder, but then orders his men to kill Tim. The ranchers, aroused earlier by Tim, arrive in the nick of time and, having cleared his name, Moody begins preparations to marry Jane. As always, this McCoy-Columbia Western was cast with seasoned veterans such as the always hissable Beery and Walter Long. Raymond Hatton played McCoy's comic sidekick and Walter Brennan and silent Western star Edmund Cobb appeared in unbilled bits as a court clerk and ranch hand, respectively. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

At first glance, Cow Town seems to be a documentary, as an unseen narrator describes the changes made in the Old West by the advent of barbed wire. Before long, however, the audience is assured that this will be a typical Gene Autry western. Autry plays a ranch owner who incurs the wrath of his neighbors by placing barbed wire around his turf. The local cowboys are certain that the new "invention" will mean the end of their jobs, since there will no longer be a need for ranch hands to keep the cattle from roaming free. Feeding into these fears is a group of "concerned citizens," who turn out to be a band of cattle rustlers. Autry manages to round up the baddies, smooth the ruffled feathers of the cowboys, and sing several old favorites. The supporting cast includes Gail Davis, who'd later star in the Autry-produced TV series Annie Oakley, and ace stunt men Jock Mahoney and Ted Mapes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tom Tyler and Wally Wales, both refugees from the silent range, starred in this very low-budget oater from Poverty Row company Monarch. Tyler played an innocent victim of circumstances and Wales was the law-fighting postal inspector who mistakes him for a notorious outlaw known only as The Hawk. The real villain, however, is none other than Butch Cassidy, here depicted by an actor as far removed from Paul Newman as possible: Charles "Slim" Whitaker. Alice Dahl, another refugee from the silent era, played the heroine, the daughter of the sheriff (Lafe McKee). Carlotta Monti, W.C. Fields' longtime companion, was a fiery senorita named Lolita. Tyler starred in four Monarch Westerns in-between contracts with Monogram and Reliable. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this western, a Spanish-American war veteran cannot find gainful employment. In desperation, he becomes a cattle rustler until he can get back on his feet. Just as he is ready to go straight, his girlfriend's younger brother is shot. The veteran kills the murderer, but is then arrested by the sheriff, who is also his best friend. Unfortunately for the veteran, justice prevails and he must hang. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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

In this classic Three Stooges short, the boys are tramps on the lam from the railroad police when they happen in on an athletic club. They are enlisted as sparring partners, but when a wrestler, Bustoff, takes a liking to them, they are given the tough assignment of keeping him sober until his big match that night. Of course they are unsuccessful -- in fact, they add insult to injury by knocking him out with a pair of barbells and a locker -- but, with a quick exchange of whiskers they decide that Curly Howard looks enough like Bustoff to go in the ring. Earlier in the picture, it has been revealed that Curly goes haywire when he smells the perfume "Wild Hyacinth," and luckily a woman in the audience has a bottle of the scent. Curly goes from being a sure loser to braining everyone in his general vicinity -- including himself, with the help of the bell. This short has quite a lot in common with the Stooges' 1934 comedy, Punch Drunks. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

"How would you like to star opposite the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood?" Enticed by these words, brunette leading lady Fay Wray dyed her hair blonde and accepted the role of Ann Darrow in King Kong -- and stayed with the project even after learning that her "leading man" was a 50-foot ape. The film introduces us to flamboyant, foolhardy documentary filmmaker Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), who sails off to parts unknown to film his latest epic with leading lady Darrow in tow. Disembarking at Skull Island, they stumble on a ceremony in which the native dancers circle around a terrified-looking young girl, chanting, "Kong! Kong!" The chief (Noble Johnson) and witch doctor (Steve Clemente) spot Denham and company and order them to leave. But upon seeing Ann, the chief offers to buy the "golden woman" to serve as the "bride of Kong." Denham refuses, and he and the others beat a hasty retreat to their ship. Late that night, a party of native warriors sneak on board the ship and kidnap Ann. They strap her to a huge sacrificial altar just outside the gate, then summon Kong, who winds up saving Ann instead of devouring her. Kong is eventually taken back to New York, where he breaks loose on the night of his Broadway premiere, thinking that his beloved Ann is being hurt by the reporters' flash bulbs. Now at large in New York, Kong searches high and low for Ann (in another long-censored scene, he plucks a woman from her high-rise apartment, then drops her to her death when he realizes she isn't the girl he's looking for). After proving his devotion by wrecking an elevated train, Kong winds up at the top of the Empire State Building, facing off against a fleet of World War I fighter planes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in the desert near Lake Elsinore and Lake Hemet, CA, and in the San Jacinto Mountains, The Man From Hell's Edges was the fourth of six Bob Steele Westerns produced by Trem Carr for release by Sono Art-World Wide. Escaping from Hell's Edges, desert penitentiary Flash Manning (Steele) heads for the town of Raleigh where he saves the sheriff (Robert E. Homans) from being ambushed by Lobo (Julian Rivero), a Mexican gunman. The grateful sheriff deputizes Flash, who now uses the name "Bob Williams." Three months later, three of Flash's fellow inmates, the Drake brothers (Dick Dickinson, Buck Carey) and Joe Danti (Perry Murdock), arrive in Raleigh and Flash, whose identity has been revealed by a wanted poster, joins their gang. There is a confrontation with Lobo, who was responsible for the crime that put the Drake brothers and Danti behind bars in the first place, and Flash is revealed to be working for the secret service. The revelation comes as a welcome surprise for the sheriff's daughter (Nancy Drexel), who has fallen in love with him. The Man From Hell's Edges is the kind of lackadaisical B-Western where continuity is less important than action. The wanted poster, for example, mistakenly records Steele's character as "Flash Martin," while he is called Flash Manning throughout the film. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Cowboy star Bill Cody trades his Stetson and chaps for the red uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Mason of the Mounted. Our hero heads below the border to the U.S. to bring in an elusive murderer. His quarry turns out to be the mastermind behind a busy gang of horse rustlers, all of whom are well armed. Be that as it may, the Mountie manages to decimate the other members of the gang and haul the head villain back to Canada. Andy Shuford, a young "Our Gang" alumnus who'd been successfully teamed with Bill Cody on several previous occasion, is back on hand in Mason of the Mounted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Oklahoma Frontier was Johnny Mack Brown's second starring western for Universal. On the eve of his honeymoon with new bride Janet Rankin (Anne Gwynne), homesteader Jeff McLeod (Brown) is thrown into jail at the behest of villain George Frazier (James Blaine). It takes some doing, but McLeod finally manages to elude his captors, reclaim his land and find lasting happiness with his missus. Universal's resident singing cowboy Bob Baker is cast as Janet's brother, who is killed off halfway through the picture-warning enough to Baker that his days as a film star were numbered. Writer/director Ford Beebe keeps Oklahoma Frontier constantly on the move, seldom letting the actors-or the audience-catch their breath. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide