True Boardman, Sr. Movies
American actor True Boardman starred in many silent action films and serials during the 1910s. His son True Boardman, Jr. became a screenwriter of "B" movies during the early 1940s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1971
Jack Cassidy guest-stars as O'Casey, a shiftless dreamer whose get-rich-quick schemes have brought nothing but grief for his wife (Diane Baker) and daughter Cassie (Lisa Gerritsen). When O'Casey hatches a duplicitious scheme to sell and reclaim a race horse, Hoss Cartwright takes it upon himself to reform the ne'er-do-well, and to simulatenously restore Cassie's faith in her dad. Portions of David Rose's background music were later adapted for the series' classic 1972 episode "Forever." Written by old Hollywood and network-radio hand True Boardman, "Cassie" was originally shown on October 24, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
Alexander Hull's novel Shep of the Painted Hills was refashioned into a traditional Lassie vehicle by screenwriter True Boardman. The noble collie turns avenger this time out, hoping to bring the murderer of her master to justice. The perpetrator, played by Bruce Cowling, is hounded (no pun intended) into meeting a fate similar to the one he meted out to the victim. Filmed on a somewhat lower budget than previous Lassie endeavors, The Painted Hills benefits greatly from its all-character-actor cast, headed by Paul Kelly and Ann Doran. The film was lensed in Technicolor, making it a valuable commodity in the formative days of locally-produced color TV in the late 1950s-early 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lassie the Dog, Paul Kelly, (more)
- 1943
The Abbott & Costello vehicle Hit the Ice started life as satire of health clinics, with Lou Costello cast as a hypochondriac who used a streetcar conductor's change-purse to dispense pills to himself. By the time the film hit the screens, it was a standard A&C melange of comedy, music and fast-paced chase scenes, with nary a pill in sight. Bud and Lou are cast as would-be photojournalists Flash and Tubby, who inadvertently snap a picture of two bank robbers leaving the scene of the crime. Accused of knocking over the bank themselves, our heroes find it expedient to hide out at a Sun Valley ski resort. Here they tie up with Silky Fellowsby (Sheldon Leonard), the mastermind of the bank heist, who is led to believe that Flash and Tubby are a couple of Detroit "hit men". In the course of events, Tubby falls in love with Silky's girl Marcia Manning (Ginny Simms), romancing her by pretending (with Flash's dubious assistance) to be an accomplished concert pianist. The final confrontation with the crooks leads to an elaborate chase on skis, with all manner of hilarious (and wildly impossible) sight gags. The barely necessary romantic subplot involves doctor Bill Elliot (Patric Knowles) and nurse Peggy Osborne (played by Elyse Knox, the mother of actor Mark Harmon). Best bits: the classic "packing-unpacking routine, a zany skating sequence, and the old "I'll bet I can stand next to you and you can't touch me" chestnut. Hit the Ice was Lou Costello's last film before rheumatic fever kept him off screen for a full year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, (more)
In a harem in a Middle Eastern palace, the guardian leads the women he protects in telling the tale of Halroun-Al-Raschid (Jon Hall), the Caliph of Bagdad, who found himself an enemy close to home in the form of his half-brother Kamar (Leif Erickson), who was ineligible for the throne because of his mother's having been a slave. Halroun and his followers initially put down Kamar's attempt at usurpation, until Halroun's ambitious vizier Nadan (Edgar Barrier) changes sides. In the confusion of the ensuing battle, Halroun is wounded -- spotted by the young acrobat Ali (Sabu), he is sheltered by a group of traveling players led by Ahmad (Billy Gilbert), whose ranks also include a player and storyteller (and, if he is to be believed, former sailor) named Sinbad (Shemp Howard) and a man named Aladdin (John Qualen) who is searching for a magic lamp -- and a dancer named Scheherazade (Maria Montez), who had beguiled Kamar and welcomes his ascent to the throne, because she has been told that she is destined to marry a king. She loves the wounded man in her care, whose identity she doesn't know, but is intent on marrying Kamar, now that he is Caliph. But her plans are thwarted by Nadan, who wants no competition from her in his sway over Kamar, and has arranged to have her killed; but when an avaricious officer (Turhan Bey)instead sells her and the entire performing troup to a dishonest slave trader (Thomas Gomez). From that moment, complications ensue for all concerned, as the new Caliph goes after his beloved, the deposed king Halroun tries to protect her and regain his throne, and Nadan hopes to come out sitting on the throne himself. Treachery and narrow escapes, and even a few thwarted plans ensue on all sides as the hero Haroun has to watch out for Scheherazade and himself from several sides at once, all while keeping his identity from her. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Hall, Maria Montez, (more)
- 1942
Bud Abbott & Lou Costello invade the wild west in Ride 'Em Cowboy. The boys play Duke and Willoughby, a couple of rodeo peanut vendors who get mixed up in the travails of western novelist Bob Mitchell (Dick Foran). Ostensibly a true Son of the Frontier, Bob has actually never been west of Brooklyn in his life. To prove that he's got the "right stuff," Bob heads to a dude ranch, where he tries to curry favor with pretty ranchowner's daughter Anne Shaw (Anne Gwynne). Meanwhile, tenderfeet Duke and Willoughby run afoul of a local Indian tribe, whose chief Jake Rainwater (Douglass Dumbrille) demands that Willoughby marry Jake's porcine daughter (Babe London). The obligatory climactic slapstick chase finds Foran teaming up with authentic westerner Alabam (Johnny Mack Brown) to foil a gang of modern-day crooks, while Duke and Willoughby do their best to elude Jake and his war-whooping braves. Not quite as consistently funny as previous Abbot & Costello efforts, Ride 'Em Cowboy suffers from a bit too much directorial interference-especially during the classic "Crazy House" routine, which is weakened by director Arthur Lubin's attempts to make it more "cinematic." Even so, the film is an enjoyable melange of comedy and music, the latter commodity provided by Dick Foran, the Merry Macs, the Hi-Hatters, the Jivin' Jacks and Jills, and even Ella Fitzgerald! Best musical number: "I'll Remember April", brilliantly sung by Foran and gorgeously photographed by John W. Boyle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, (more)
- 1942
One of the most often revived of Abbott & Costello's early-1940s films, Pardon My Sarong casts Bud and Lou as Chicago bus drivers Algy Shaw and Wellington Pflug. At the behest of millionaire playboy Tommy Layton (Robert Paige), Algy and Wellington hijack their own bus and speed off to California so that Tommy won't be late for an important yachting race. Our heroes are hotly pursued by bus-company troubleshooter Kendall (William Demarest), while Tommy's trail is dogged by rival yacht-owner Joan Marshall (Virginia Bruce). Eluding Kendall when they inadvertently drive their bus into the ocean, Algy and Wellington are rescued by Tommy and Joan, who through a plot wrinkle have been forced to share the same yacht. After several days of drifting aimlessly across the Pacific, the yacht ends up on a remote South Sea Island, where Algy and Wellington flirt capriciously with the local native girls. Through a fluke, Wellington is served up as a sacrifice victim and ordered to enter a sacred volcanic mountain-which happens to be the hideout for jewel thief Varnoff (Lionel Atwill) and his gang. The story wraps up with a zany Sennett-like chase, with Wellington attempting to rescue the kidnapped Joan from Varnoff's speedboat. Filled to overflowing with hilarious sight gags, cross-talk routines and throwaway lines, Pardon My Sarong scores on two levels: as a devastating send-up of Dorothy Lamour jungle epics and as a first-rate vehicle for Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. One one quibble: the film certainly could have done without the scene in which Bud invites Lou to commit suicide! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, (more)
- 1942
Universal and producer/director Henry Koster had plans to make Diana Barrymore, the daughter of John Barrymore, into another Deanna Durbin with Between Us Girls, an ambitious sub-screwball comedy that undoubtedly owed some aspects of its existence to The Major And The Minor (in addition to anticipating elements of the Van Johnson/June Allyson vehicle Too Young To Kiss). Barrymore plays Caroline Bishop, an ambitious and gifted young actress and the daughter of actress Christine Bishop (Kay Francis). On a visit home, she discovers that her mother is involved in a serious romance -- which could lead to her re-marrying -- with businessman Steven Forbes (John Boles), but that he is under the impression that Christine is at least a decade younger than her actual age. When Forbes announces his intention to meet Christine's "young" daughter -- whom he presumes is on a visit home from boarding school -- in order to help her mother, Carrie pretends to be a 12-year-old; but she also meets his friend Jimmy Blake (Robert Cummings), who takes a paternal interest in the seemingly badly adjusted child, whom he believes is being neglected emotionally. This impression is only reinforced when Carrie must invent an alcoholic "aunt" to explain a picture in the Bishop home. The problem is that she genuinely starts to fall in love with Jimmy -- but by the time she recognizes this dilemma, it's too late to sort out the masquerade without admitting to dishonesty all around. And how will Carrie juggle her two "roles" within the family, and her own life as a theater actress with a production of Rain (in which she is to play Sadie Thompson) coming up? ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diana Barrymore, Robert Cummings, (more)
- 1941
Having joined the army in Buck Privates and the navy in In the Navy, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello signed up with Air Force in Keep 'Em Flying. Abbott and Costello play Blackie and Heathcliff, carnival workers who are fired from their jobs along with their pal, reckless stunt pilot Jinx Roberts (Dick Foran). When Jinx joins the Army Air Corps-the better to be nearer pretty USO singer Linda Joyce (Carol Bruce)-Blackie and Heathcliff loyally join up as well, obtaining low-echelon ground crew jobs. While Jinx tries to cure Linda's brother Jim (Charles Lang) of his fear of flying, Heathcliff pursues a romance with wisecracking waitress Gloria Phelps (Martha Raye), never quite catching on that Gloria has an identitical-twin sister (also Martha Raye). A bit too plot-heavy for its own good, Keep 'Em Flying is at its best when concentrating on Abbott & Costello, who in addition to performing their patented cross-talk routines participate in a zany runaway-torpedo chase and a gratuitous but amusing episode in a spooky carnival funhouse. As a bonus, Costello gets to do a bit of "straight" acting, and he's quite good at it. Deleted scenes include a comedy magic act (later restaged in Abbott & Costello's Lost in a Harem) and a wild episode at a skating rink (reworked two years later in Hit the Ice). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, (more)
- 1940
In this Navy drama, a young sailor finds himself interested in everything but marriage. But then he encounters a runaway orphan who sees the sailor and decides that he would do anything to make him become his father. He begins dogging the salt, who does everything he can to get rid of the troublesome kid. Eventually he can't help but care for the poor lad and so adopts him. A pretty woman comes along and soon their little family is complete. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Dunn, Jean Parker, (more)
- 1918
The first Tarzan starring Elmo Lincoln did so well that, in time-honored cinematic tradition, the studio, First National, made a sequel. This picture covers the last chapters of Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel, Tarzan of the Apes, and brings Tarzan back to civilization -- jungle man or not, Tarzan is still the son of Lord and Lady Greystoke and needs to claim the family fortune. He sets sail for England, along with his ladylove, Jane Porter (Enid Markey) and the villainous Clayton (Colin Kenny), who wants to get his hands on the Greystoke millions. The ship is attacked by natives, and although Tarzan saves everyone else, they sail away without him because Clayton claims he was killed. But this doesn't stop Tarzan -- he swims out and boards another boat. Eventually he lands in California, where Jane and her father (Thomas Jefferson) are entertaining Clayton at their ranch. When Tarzan shows up, Clayton enlists the help of a dance hall girl, La Belle Odine (Cleo Madison). Odine compromises Tarzan and Jane rejects him. So Tarzan returns to the jungle. But Odine, who has fallen for Tarzan herself, goes to Jane and tells her the truth. So Jane goes to Tarzan in the jungle and they reunite. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Elmo Lincoln became the first actor to play Edgar Rice Burrough's "Lord of the Jungle" on the screen when he replaced the now-forgotten Winslow Wilson in the 1918 8-reeler Tarzan of the Apes. During the first portion of the film, Tarzan -- aka Lord Greystoke -- is portrayed by juvenile actor Gordon Griffith. The earlier reels detail the deaths of Greystoke's British parents in the jungle, and how the boy was raised by female ape Kala. Years pass: a rescue party, including high-born Jane Porter (Enid Markey), arrives in the jungle, in search of the long-lost Lord Greystoke. When Jane gets lost in the foliage, it is Tarzan who rescues her from predatory beasts. He then tries to put the make on Jane, as any good ape would, whereupon she stops him with the gentle remonstration "Tarzan is a man, and men do not force their attentions upon women." His aristocratic breeding thus invoked, Tarzan is at last tamed. By any standards, Elmo Lincoln was an awful actor; in addition, he looked about twenty years too old and fifty pounds too fat for the role of Tarzan. Nonetheless, he had great presence, and Tarzan of the Apes made him a star (at least until the talkies came around). Though crudely directed, the film has a lot of energy, especially in the famous scene wherein Lincoln actually kills an attacking lion with his knife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elmo Lincoln, Gordon Griffith, (more)
- 1918
The busy husband-wife directorial team of Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber launched their surprisingly brief 1918 production schedule with The Doctor and the Woman. Adapted from K, a novel by Mary Roberts Rinehart, the film starred Mildred Harris as the daughter of a reclusive minister. Hoping to follow in her father's humanitarian footsteps, the girl becomes a trained nurse, and it is in this capacity that she falls in love with Max, the local hospital's chief of surgeons. An inveterate carouser and ladies' man, Max is "tamed" by the stabilizing influence of the practical-minded heroine. She ends up saving Max from being blamed for the tragic surgical mistakes perpetrated by the incompetent Dr. Edwards, and she also prevents her doctor sweetheart from taking the rap for a murder he didn't commit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
