Al Bridge Movies

Charles Starrett plays the title role in Stranger from Texas, but he's no stranger to the cliches inherent in the film's plotline. Things get under way when US marshal Tom (Starrett) finds himself in the midst of a range war. The villains are a band of rustlers who play both sides of the confrontation against one another, the better to move in and claim all the livestock. In time-honored fashion, the plot is resolved with a fistfight between Charles Starrett and his perennial screen foe Dick Curtis. Lorna Gray substitutes for Starrett's usual leading lady Iris Meredith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Capra's classic comedy-drama established James Stewart as a lead actor in one of his finest (and most archetypal) roles. The film opens as a succession of reporters shout into telephones announcing the death of Senator Samuel Foley. Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains), the state's senior senator, puts in a call to Governor Hubert "Happy" Hopper (Guy Kibbee) reporting the news. Hopper then calls powerful media magnate Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold), who controls the state -- along with the lawmakers. Taylor orders Hopper to appoint an interim senator to fill out Foley's term; Taylor has proposed a pork barrel bill to finance an unneeded dam at Willet Creek, so he warns Hopper he wants a senator who "can't ask any questions or talk out of turn." After having a number of his appointees rejected, at the suggestion of his children Hopper nominates local hero Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), leader of the state's Boy Rangers group. Smith is an innocent, wide-eyed idealist who quotes Jefferson and Lincoln and idolizes Paine, who had known his crusading editor father. In Washington, after a humiliating introduction to the press corps, Smith threatens to resign, but Paine encourages him to stay and work on a bill for a national boy's camp. With the help of his cynical secretary Clarissa Sanders (Jean Arthur), Smith prepares to introduce his boy's camp bill to the Senate. But when he proposes to build the camp on the Willets Creek site, Taylor and Paine force him to drop the measure. Smith discovers Taylor and Paine want the Willets Creek site for graft and he attempts to expose them, but Paine deflects Smith's charges by accusing Smith of stealing money from the boy rangers. Defeated, Smith is ready to depart Washington, but Saunders, whose patriotic zeal has been renewed by Smith, exhorts him to stay and fight. Smith returns to the Senate chamber and, while Taylor musters the media forces in his state to destroy him, Smith engages in a climactic filibuster to speak his piece: "I've got a few things I want to say to this body. I tried to say them once before and I got stopped colder than a mackerel. Well, I'd like to get them said this time, sir. And as a matter of fact, I'm not gonna leave this body until I do get them said." ~ Paul Brenner, 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

Set in a northern California logging community the trouble in this western begins when a lumberjack is killed while sawing down a tree. No one believes it was accidental as everyone is aware that the deceased had just stolen the heart of his partner's girl. Unfortunately, the partner, while jealous sure enough, is innocent and sets out to prove it. He finally wins their belief when he saves the town from a raging forest fire. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

James Cagney stars in the humorous Western The Oklahoma Kid, set during the land rush of 1893. John Kincaid (Hugh Sothern) and his son, Ned (Harvey Stephens), try to settle on a plot of land, but they are met by the villainous Whip McCord (Humphrey Bogart) and his band of miscreants. McCord runs a saloon and ends up turning the town of Tulsa into a haven of gambling and drinking. Wanting to clean up the town, John runs for mayor and Ned runs for sheriff. McCord doesn't want to lose his power, so he has John framed, jailed, and eventually lynched. Soon, Jim Kincaid (James Cagney) shows up in town and joins his brother Ned in seeking revenge for his father's murder. They stage a big shoot-out in McCord's saloon in order to bring him to justice. Also starring Rosemary Lane as Ned's girlfriend Jane, the daughter of the good Judge Hardwick (Donald Crisp). This movie features James Cagney singing the tunes "Rockabye Baby" and "I Don't Want to Play in Your Yard." ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Featuring the husband-and-wife team of Jack Randall and Louise Stanley, this lukewarm Monogram Western eschewed the musical interludes that had been a Randall trademark thus far. Randall (the lesser known brother of B-Western star Robert Livingston) plays Jack Lane, a drifter who comes to the aid of an Eastern girl, Nola Day (Stanley). The girl travels West to meet her new guardian, Uncle Moose Walters (Henry Rocquemore), but Uncle Moose has been murdered by saloon owner Bill Larsen (John Merton) and it is Larsen posing as Moose who greets the young lady upon arrival. Jack senses that "Uncle Moose" may not be all he claims but Nola is blissfully unaware of Larsen's deception and becomes furious over the newcomer's interference. The evil Larsen is caught red-handed, of course, and Lola discovers that she has fallen in love with Jack. Al St. John, in between his Westerns with Fred Scott and Bob Steele, did his usual shtick as Randall's sidekick. Gunsmoke Trail was directed by Sam Newfield, one of the busiest -- and most careless -- B-Western directors of all time. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The cornpone comedy of the Weaver Brothers & Elviry permeates this ramshackle Republic musical. The plot gets under way when the government tries to buy up some of the Weavers' property for a dam project. The hillbilly family wants nothing to do with the "furriners", but eventually they change their minds when construction engineer John (Ralph Byrd) falls in love with the Weavers' pretty daughter Mary (June Storey). Featured as John's sidekick is bespectacled crooner Pinky Tomlin, whose principal vocal contribution is a musical nursery rhyme. Down in Arkansaw wasn't aimed at the New York intelligentsia: its target audience was rural, and by delivering exactly what its fans wanted the film succeeded spectacluarly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this desert adventure, a cruel commander viciously rules a regiment of foreign legionnaires. They tire of his brutality and rebel, stranding the despot and his few loyal soldiers in the burning sands with a few supplies. The deposed commander vows that he will return to civilization and have his revenge. It is difficult, but eventually the leader and his men make it back to the lonely outpost and find that it is under attack by Arab raiders. The soldiers inside take the leader back and they help to vanquish the invaders. Later the ring leader of the mutineers is awarded a medal for his courage then court-martialed for his crime. The leader too gets his just desserts when his second-in-command tells the court of his superior's cruelty. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This entry in the Dead End Kids series of adventures makes critical comments about the failings of reform schools. The story begins as the boys are sent to the Gatesville Reformatory, a cruel institution where the discipline is often violent. They boys do their best, but it is difficult to cope. Things get a little better when the deputy commissioner of corrections makes a surprise visit to the institution. He is appalled and immediately fires the sadistic warden. He then begins instituting gentler ways of treating the inmates. The grateful youths save the new warden's life after he is machine gunned during a political double-cross. As a reward, the boys are paroled. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Sad-eyed, uniquely talented child actress Edith Fellows was Columbia's "answer" to Shirley Temple, Jane Withers and Deanna Durbin. In Little Miss Roughneck, Fellows is cast as Foxine LaRue, a tomboyish sort who is being prodded into a show-biz career by her stage mother Gert (Margaret Irving). Young Mr. Partridge (Scott Colton) becomes Foxine's agent, principally because he's sweet on the girl's older sister Mary (Jacqueline Wells). Blackballed from Hollywood because of her mother's pushiness, Foxine tries to help out Partridge and her own family by cooking up a bizarre publicity stunt, enlisting the aid of easy-going Mexican "papacita" Pascual (Leo Carrillo). Along the way, both Edith Fellows and Leo Carrillo are given ample opportunity to display their singing skills. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1938, Jezebel was widely regarded as Warner Bros.' "compensation" to Bette Davis for her losing the opportunity to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. Resemblances between the two properties are inescapable: Jezebel heroine Julie Marsden (Davis) is a headstrong Southern belle not unlike Scarlett (Julie lives in New Orleans rather than Georgia); she loves fiancé Preston Dillard (played by Henry Fonda) but loses him when she makes a public spectacle of herself (to provoke envy in him) by wearing an inappropriate red dress at a ball, just as Scarlett O'Hara brazenly danced with Rhett Butler while still garbed in widow's weeds. There are several other similarities between the works, but it is important to note that Jezebel is set in the 1850s, several years before Gone With the Wind's Civil War milieu; and we must observe that, unlike Scarlett O'Hara, Julie Marsden is humbled by her experiences and ends up giving of her time, energy, and health during a deadly yellow jack outbreak. Bette Davis won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Julie; an additional Oscar went to Fay Bainter for her portrayal of the remonstrative Aunt Belle (she's the one who labels Julie a "jezebel" at a crucial plot point). The offscreen intrigues of Jezebel, including Bette Davis' romantic attachment to director William Wyler and co-star George Brent, have been fully documented elsewhere. Jezebel was based on an old and oft-produced play by Owen Davis Sr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western a traveling gun ends up in a small town and rescues an important rancher. Out of gratitude the rancher hires him to protect his land and cattle from his violent rival. It is revealed that the gunman is the son of the ruthless rival; he therefore, loses his job and finds himself entangled in the midst of a range war. He must eventually face his father when the bad guy takes over the only trail to the market. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this western, a lawman tries to help prove that his friend did not commit murder. He rides in and saves his pal from a lynch mob. Soon afterward, the accused takes off and the sheriff loses both his job and his community's respect. He must now prove that he and his friend are innocent. He finds the real killer, a true psycho, and after a tremendous gun battle is able to bring the killer to justice, restore his own honor, and save his friend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide