Irving Briskin Movies

But for the presence of the Columbia "torch lady" in the opening credits, it would be easy to mistake Judy Canova's Louisiana Hayride for one of her concurrently-produced Republic musicals. The rambunctious Canova is cast as backwoods heiress Judy Crocker, who comes to Hollywood in hopes of crashing the movies. Con artists J. Huntington McMasters (Richard Lane) and Canada Brown (George McKay) try to use Judy's presumed gullibility to their advantage, but she proves a little shrewder than she looks. Several of Canova's cornpone tunes were co-written by Saul Chaplin, later a top Hollywood musical director. And that's not all: the star's two handsome leading men are none other than Lloyd Bridges and future producer-director Ross Hunter! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Musical star Ann Miller plays a Broadway leading lady coaxed into reteaming with Larry Parks, her former producer. Parks is now a lowly Army G.I., anxious to produce a show for the troops--with a 200 dollar budget! This being a wartime musical, Ann Miller succumbs to Patriotism and stars in Parks' threadbare production. This being a Hollywood film, the "inexpensive" revue cost several times as much as any real-life show of this nature. Hey Rookie proved a boon to the Columbia publicity department when Ann Miller set a tap-dance record of 550 taps per minute in her climactic musical number. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Female musicians Sally Richards (Jane Frazee) and Sue Ford (Judy Clark) are Beautiful but Broke in this frantic Columbia musical comedy. Sally and Sue's violinist pal Dottie Duncan (Joan Davis) is equally broke, though not quite as beautiful. The three girls try pass themselves off as an all-girl orchestra, with the help of fast-buck theatrical agent Waldo Main (John Eldredge). Vamping for time until they can gather up a few more musicians, the girls don several disguises to fool a potential client, nightclub owner Putnam (John Dilson). Once this crisis is passed, the orchestra finds itself stranded in the middle of nowhere. The finale borrows a page from Buster Keaton when Sally, Sue and Dottie take refuge in a deserted house slated for Army target practice. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A good entry in one of the better B-Western series of the 1940s, A Tornado in the Saddle starred Russell Hayden as the new sheriff of Crestview. Hot on the trail of a gang of claim jumpers led by Dalton (Tristram Coffin) and Slim (Donald Curtis), the novice lawman also has to deal with hotheaded wrangler turned deputy Bob Wilson (Bob Wills), whom he is constantly forced to fight, but only after prudently removing his sheriff's star. The slippery villains prepare an ambush for the sheriff and his deputies, but Hayden's way with a rope eventually saves the day. Ostensibly a music Western, A Tornado in the Saddle refused to let warbling interfere with the almost non-stop action; in fact, the featured music performers, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, mostly have their hands full battling both the new sheriff and the outlaws. Future Goldwyn Girl Alma Carroll, as Curtis' innocent sister, has very little to do other than look fetching and is more or less forgotten by the end of the film. Comic sidekick Dub Taylor's hillbilly act is, as always, a matter of taste. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Rising star Rita Hayworth puts in a little box-office duty in the Columbia "B" Juvenile Court. The star of the proceedings is Paul Kelly as crusading public defender Gary Franklin, who hopes to establish a Police Athletic League to give street kids a new chance in life. His toughest charge is Stubby (Frankie Darro), a born leader with potential for either the White House or the Electric Chair. Once he's won over Stubby, Franklin is able to get the rest of the neighborhood kids to attend his new athletic outfit. The far- reaching influence of Franklin's pet project is proven when a group of young punks change their minds about committing a robbery. As Franklin's girl friend Marcia Kelly, Rita Hayworth has virtually nothing to do but stand around and look pretty. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Columbia's Criminals of the Air is another entry in the "alien-smuggling" movie cycle -- and as such includes the obligatory scene in which the airborne smugglers escape detection by pulling a lever and disposing of their human cargo. Hoping to collar the crooks, detective Mark Owens (Charles Quigley) poses as a down-and-out pilot looking for work. He is hired by the "Honeymoon Express," ostensibly designed to transport newlyweds across the Mexican border and back again, but actually a front for smuggling activities. Fearless girl reporter Nancy Rawlings (Rosalind Keith) covertly covers Owens' activities, ultimately landing in a heap o' trouble when the crooks catch on. In one of her last "B"-picture assignments, Rita Hayworth plays a voluptuous Latina dancer in a Mexican cabaret sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

No relation to the radio program of the same name, The Shadow is a lightning-paced murder mystery with a Big Top background. Rita Hayworth plays Mary Gillespie, the young owner of a travelling circus in danger of losing financial control of her show to hissable bareback rider Peter Martinet (Donald Kirke). Since Martinet has made it known that he intends to fire everybody in the troupe, he has no shortage of dangerous enemies -- few more dangerous than knife-thrower Carlos (Dick Curtis) or hunchbacked horse-wrangler Vindecco (Dwight Frye). On cue, Martinet is murdered during a performance in front of hundreds of witnesses -- but how, and by whom? Road manager Jim Quinn (Charles Quigley) hopes to find out before the cops close the show down or lovely Mary is herself murdered, or both. The ending is a beaut, even if it does fly in the face of logic. Fans of Columbia's "Three Stooges" two-reelers will enjoy seeing such Stooge supporting players as Dick Curtis, Vernon Dent, John Tyrrell and Bess Flowers in important roles, while devotees of Universal's "Ma and Pa Kettle" features will get a kick out of Marjorie Main's interpretation of "the world's only female ringmaster." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this crime drama, an evil ex-con makes his living selling cheap booze masked under expensive labels. He runs a drugstore as a front and also sponsors a girl's baseball team. The story is split between the gangster's illegal activities and the action on the baseball field where the lovely players practice. Trouble ensues when one of the dishonest ex-con's prison buddies appears. To protect his scam, the ex-con kills his friend. Later, the team catcher is poisoned during a game. A dullard cop is assigned the case as a brainless rookie reporter. The ex-con ends up attempting to sell his drugstore and illicit booze in order to escape them. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Hell-Ship Morgan (George Bancroft) is the brawny skipper of a small fishing schooner. Supplying fish for a San Francisco cannery, Morgan works hard and relaxes even harder, boasting not one but several girls in every port. Our hero's roving days come to an end when he marries Mary (Ann Sothern), who agrees to a honeymoon on Morgan's schooner. Once on the high seas, Mary can't help but fall in love with Morgan's first mate Jim (Victor Jory), but before Morgan can take retaliatory action, the tiny vessel is hit by a hurricane. In trying to save his crew from drowning, Morgan is crippled for life. Realizing now that he will never be a "complete" husband to Mary, he obligingly removes himself from the scene in a startlingly abrupt and permanent manner. A mainstay of early television, Hell-Ship Morgan is one of a handful of Columbia programmers currently available on the public-domain videocassette market. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A remake of the earlier The Lone Rider (1930), The Man Trailer once again starred Buck Jones as Track Ames, a fugitive from a Texas range war. He joins a cattle drive lead by the unscrupulous Jim Burk (Arthur Vinton), but opts out when Burk and his gang rob the stage and is instead declared a hero by saving passenger Sally Ryan (Cecilia Parker). Track is awarded the job of marshal of Orkla City, but his murky past catches up with him when Burk and his gang rob the local Well's Fargo. Columbia used the plot a third time in the 1939 Charles Starrett Western The Thundering West. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Columbia's The Thrill Hunter is more of straight action film than a western, though leading man Buck Jones still wears his traditional cowboy garb. Jones plays a small-town spinner of tall tales who claims to be a top-notch stuntman. He's forced to put up or shut up when a movie company, filming an adventure flick, shows up in town. Offering his services as a stunt double, Jones passes muster as a racecar driver, but he loses his job when he cracks up an airplane. Our hero redeems himself by catching a bunch of criminals who aren't play-acting. Dorothy Revier, allegedly the girlfriend of Columbia Pictures chieftain Harry Cohn, is the incongruously glamorous heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A highly unusual Buck Jones Western, South of the Rio Grande featured the spectacle of Jones playing a Mexican Rurales officer named Carlos. Returning to the family hacienda, Carlos discovers that his weak-willed brother, Juan (Paul Fix), has lost everything to a scheming vixen, Consuella (Mona Maris). Deeply ashamed, Juan kills Consuella's partner, Andres (Charles Requa), before taking his own life. When one of his fellow officers, Ramon (George J. Lewis), becomes involved in a similar situation, Carlos remembers his own tragedy and decides to help the youngster. Ramon, it turns out, is also under the spell of Consuella, who now works for the evil Stark (Philo McCullough). Disguised as a peon, Carlos infiltrates Stark's lair, learning that the villain has found oil deposits on Ramon's family land. Unmasked by Consuella, Carlos is rescued in the nick of time by his fellow Rurales. Paul Fix, a busy supporting player in Westerns for six decades, had played a similar role in Jones' earlier The Avenger (1931) and a party scene was lifted from another prior Jones Western, Men Without Law (1930). Both Jones and fellow Columbia cowboy Tim McCoy enjoyed playing Mexican characters -- or gringos masquerading as such -- but as opposed to McCoy, Jones' phony accent left a lot to be desired. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Although based on a story by William Colt McDonald, the creator of The Three Mesqueteers, this Tim McCoy effort from Columbia was a conventional Western at best. McCoy played Tim Madigan, a cowpoke coming to the aid of Jerry Norris (Alberta Vaughn), whose father (Murdock MacQuarrie) is in trouble with a gang of cattle rustlers. The leaders of the rustlers, Hugo Distang (Robert Ellis) and Bull Bagley (Richard Alexander), prove to be the very same villains Madigan was trailing. Aided by a new friend, Jughandle (Wallace MacDonald), Madigan manages to catch the rustlers red-handed. The bandits are carted off to jail and Jughandle proves to be an agent for the Cattlemen's Association. McCoy offered a competent and believable performance but this time the material was not quite up to his usual high standard. Future Three Stooges menace Vernon Dent appeared as an ill-fated bartender. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi