Nolan Willis Movies
Tex Ritter's penultimate Western for Monogram -- and his second-to-last as a solo star -- Ridin' the Cherokee Trail featured no less than 13 musical numbers, several composed by Ritter and his sidekick Arkansas Slim Andrews. Surrounding all this warbling, screenwriter Edmond Kelso and director Spencer Gordon Bennet crafted a fine little story of a couple of Texas Rangers crossing into the lawless Cherokee Strip despite the fact that they lack jurisdiction. The area is terrorized by a gang of outlaws lead by Bradley Craven (Forrest Taylor, who consistently prevents the citizenry to hold an election to join the Union. Tex and Slim join the forces of rancher Wyatt (Fred Burns and his daughter Ruth (Betty Miles) and after several skirmishes -- during which Tex briefly goes undercover as an outlaw -- Craven and his gang are defeated. In gratitude, the citizenry elects Tex to hoist the first Union flag. In the music numbers, Ritter and Andrews were accompanied by The Tennessee Ramblers, a hayseed singing group popular with rural audiences. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tex Ritter, Slim Andrews, (more)
- 1940
Filmed back-to-back with Roll, Wagons, Roll (1939), this minor Tex Ritter Western once again teamed Ritter with the rangy, unfunny Nelson McDowell. Also repeating was a story of a wagon train guided by an army scout (Ritter). This time, however, the train is attacked, not by wild Indians, but by the notorious Greer gang, who murders Tex's brother Jim (Kenne Duncan). Determined to avenge his brother's death, Tex spreads words that he will escort a large shipment of gold on the next stage. Naturally, Greer (Reed Howes) and his gang attack. Outnumbered, Tex releases a band of accused army deserters lead by Lane (Nolan Willis) and together they capture Greer. The deserters are reinstated for heroism and Tex can warble It's All Over Now by Johnny Lange and Lew Porter. Along with most of the supporting cast, leading lady Muriel Evans appeared in both Westbound Stage and the previous Roll, Wagons, Roll, two of Monogram Pictures' worst Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tex Ritter, Nelson McDowell, (more)
- 1939
The Tex Ritter Monogram Westerns had a change of directors with Riders of the Frontier, Spencer Gordon Bennet having replaced Al Herman. But that was really the only difference between this entry and the previous seven. Ritter impersonated a notorious outlaw in order to infiltrate the gang that is slowly poisoning Sarah, the owner of the Rancho Grande (Marin Sais). The situation becomes a bit tricky when the real outlaw (Roy Barcroft) suddenly appears, but Tex and the the marshal manage to bring the guilty parties to justice and rescue poor Sarah within the allotted six reels. The music interludes were kept to a minimum this time, Ritter warbling only Rose of My Dreams and Ridin' Down to Town, both by house composer Frank Harford. Jean Joyce added a bit of romantic interest as Sarah's nurse, with Hal Taliaferro (formerly Wally Wales joining Jack Rutherford and the always watchable Roy Barcroft on the opposing side. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tex Ritter, Jack Rutherford, (more)
- 1939
Tex Ritter, Monogram' low-budget answer to Republic's Gene Autry, got himself a new sidekick in rangy Nelson McDowell in the otherwise dull Roll, Wagons, Roll. Executive producer Edward F. Finney only allowed two songs -- Roll Wagon Wheels, by Dorcas Cochran and Charles Rosoff, and Oh, Suzannah, by Stephen Foster -- and the Western included enough stock footage -- some dating back to the silent era -- that it barely qualified as a new feature film. Ritter and McDowell played army scouts attempting to lead a wagon train safely through hostile territory. The Indians, as it turns out, are under the influence of an evil white fur trader, Coleman (Reed Howes). The wagon master, Grimes (Tom London), who is in cahoots with Coleman, has Ritter and McDowell fired on a trumped-up charge of conspiring with the Indians but the two friends manage to alert the cavalry and the wagon train is saved in the nick of time. Muriel Evans. Ritter's blond leading lady, also appeared in his next film, Westbound Stage (1940). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tex Ritter, Nelson McDowell, (more)
Monogram's low-budget Jack Randall Western series went through a change of supervisor/writer with this entry -- Lindsley Parsons replacing Robert Emmett Tansey -- but the improvements, if any, were hardly noticeable. Randall (the brother of better-known B-Western star Robert Livingston) played a Civil War veteran returning to find his father murdered and the family stage line in the hands of Cartwright (Davidson Clark). The quick-tempered Slade (Don Rowan) is convicted of the crime but the real culprit is, of course, the aforementioned Mr. Cartwright, a supposedly solid citizen. Producer/writer Parsons delivered no surprises and Spencer Gordon Bennet's direction was perfunctory at best. The comedy relief, such as it was, was provided by Al St. John, who brought his popular (and endurable) Fuzzy Q. Jones characterization with him from Gower Gulch company Spectrum's Fred Scott musical Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Virginia Carroll
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